Bold and Splashy Mandala Monday

It is a fact, universally acknowledged, that a crafter in possession of new inks (in this case from the latest release of Stellar Inks from Simon Hurley and Ranger) must test them out, ASAP.  And thus I have done so, in mandala form, obviously:

I chose five of the newest shades: Roar!, Red Flag, Siren Song, Overzealous and Cold Shoulder. I used one of my favorite watercoloring methods to create the basic shapes; by smooshing each ink pad (sequentially) onto my craft sheet and using a waterbrush to pick up the ink and paint with it in my Dina Wakley MEdia Watercolor Journal. Then I flicked clear water over the design and blotted up some of the color, for a fun mottled effect. When the whole thing was dry, I added black and white outlines (with a Letter It Fineliner and a Posca Paint Pen, respectively) and at the very end I flicked some Dina Wakley White Gloss Spray onto the design.

I hope your week is off to a bold and colorful start! ♥

Color + Pattern

It's a bold and bright Memorial Day Mandala Monday featuring lots of gorgeous Archival Inks, a few of my favorite Make-It Stencils, and plenty of Posca Pen and Letter It Fineliner details... all in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal.

If you're having a cookout today... save me a burger, k? ♥

Carousel Mandala

This page in my Dina Wakley MEdia Watercolor Journal started out as a way to test my newest set of Posca Pens and also to try out some of the newer shades of Ranger's Liquid Pearls. Serendipitously, I discovered that if the mandala you started with literally NO plan in mind happens to have a lot of bright colors AND stacked sets of straight-ish, flaring petals, midway through, it is going to start looking like the top of an old-fashioned fair ground carousel. Who knew?!

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ALL the Colors!

Using (nearly) ALL the colors of my Tombow Dual Brush Pens... with lots of splashy blending and messy outlines... across two pages of my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal from Ranger. Wishing you a bright and beautiful week! ♥ 

Perfect Pearls Mandala Monday

I don't always fill an entire page in my Dina Wakley MEdia Watercolor Journal, but this time I was having so much mixing Perfect Pearls powders with clear water and painting shimmery concentric rings, that before I knew it I had gone from the bottom right all the way up to the top left corner.

After my rings were dry, I added lots of lines, dots, scallops, hearts and faux stitching with my Letter It Fineliners et voila: another Mandala Monday in the books!

Stencil Testing Pages

If you're anything like me, when you get new supplies you want to use them IMMEDIATELY upon unpacking... which is often considerably before you've actually got a plan as to HOW you want to use them. So here's my solution: the stencil testing journal page! 

This could not be easier, because it's literally just stencils in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal. Yes, I made an attempt to line them up somewhat neatly; and yes, I used shades of ink from the same family; so it makes the double-page spread look quite decorative. 

Technically, only three of these Simon Hurley Layering Stencil Sets are brand new, namely: Happy Arches, Star Tile and Trellis. I filled in the rest of the page with some older sets: Geo Leaves, Geo Circles, Deco Diamonds and Tiny Diamonds, to be exact. To make the page look more cohesive, I used Archival Inks in greens and blues: Avocado Toast, Olive, Emerald, Best Dressed, Beach Cruiser and Seafarer... with a little bit of Graphite to anchor them.

Next time you open that box of new goodies, have a journal or sketchbook handy and have some fun!

The Blues Are Still Blue

It's a bold, blue (and green!) Mandala Monday featuring precisely half of the newest Archival Ink release from Ranger; to wit: Best Dressed, Big Plans and Avocado Toast. In my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal, with some Make-It Sprinkle Hearts Stenciling on top. Letter It Fineliner and Posca Pen details. 

Use ALL the Colors

This *might* be the most colorful art journal page I've ever made... and thus it's currently my favorite! I used ALL of the new Ranger Archivals and all of the new Liquid Pearls; some of the Make-It Stamps and Stencils, plus lots of lovely Dina Wakley MEdia Collage Sparks.

There are eight brand new varieties of shimmery Liquid Pearls (Firecracker, Sweet Potato, Rubber Duck, Kiwi, Emerald, Blue Velvet, Royalty and Truffle) and the reason they've been applied quite randomly on a double page in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal, is that I'd been using them on other projects, and this is what I did with the extra Liquid Pearls I dispensed. I often use up extra paint, ink, paste or watercolor on a journal page rather than throw them out. Sometimes they add up to an interesting background... as I felt they did here; sometimes they just make mud and later I cover them up.

As for the six new shades of Archival Ink (Avocado Toast, Sweet Treat, Big Plans, Dark Roast, Best Dressed and Sandcastle); some was applied randomly when I cleaned off my Pegboard and Sprinkle Hearts Stencils; some got there quite deliberately when I stamped the numerals from the Make-It Chic Birthday Stamp Set and the big stars from the Charmed Set, to which I added some White Gesso. I also used an ink blending tool to splash a little extra color over any areas that were blank, so the entire page would be covered. 

At the very end, I felt like there needed to be some larger elements across the center of the spread, so I raided my collection of Dina's Collage Sparks and cut out lots of circles and hearts that had similar colors. PS: If you're thinking that I *should* have taken a photo before I embarked on the intentional portion of the pages, I agree!!! But alas, I forgot. Next time!

Blue Roses

Happy Valentine's Day! If you're allergy-ridden like me, your favorite flowers are probably the ones you paint yourself, lol. Additionally on the plus side, the painted ones can be any color, any shape, any size you want; and they'll never fade or die or drop petals all over!

Blue Roses painted with Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors in my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal from Ranger.

MM06: Stencil Cleaning Background

When I'm using stencils and Ranger Archival Inks* I use alcohol wipes to clean the ink off the stencils. If my sketchbook or journal happens to be close at hand, I often turn to a blank page and wipe the ink off quite randomly onto the page. After a few repeats, depending on the colors and patterns, sometimes you have a random-but-interesting melange; sometimes you just have a grungy layer of more or less mud. Either way, your page is no longer blank. Occasionally, such a background might even turn out to be the start of something bizarrely cool, which is what happened here.

I had been using the three new Ranger Make-It Stencils (Bow Lattice, Peg Board and Sprinkle Hearts) with a palette of rainbow-inspired Archival Inks, so there are a lot of random shades. A few are the pure ink colors, but most are the mingling of two or more shades. I decided to draw a very loose mandala on top, and eventually instead of traditional petals I started adding swirls and flourishes and... tentacles? 

After all the shapes were on board I added doodles and some additional color. Feel free to hum along to Octopus' Garden... or any other silly, whimsical tune you like! I wish you a warm and colorful week! ♥

*This idea works with any type of ink, paint, spray or paste; but the heavier the consistency, the sturdier the journal or paper you use as the "clean up" page should be. Luckily, Dina Wakley's Mixed Media Watercolor Journal stands up to pretty much ANYTHING!

In Winter...

...you have to paint your own flowers. So I did! In my Dina Wakley Watercolor Journal from Ranger. It's got really sturdy watercolor paper that has jusssssssst enough texture and stands up to watercolor, inks, glosses, pastes... basically anything you can throw, spray, scribble or brush onto it!

I smooshed some Simon Hurley Stellar Inks onto the craft sheet and used a waterbrush to paint swirls of pink and triangles of green; with a few splatters of both because I can never resist, lol! When the page was dry, I drew swirly rose(ish) shapes with a Letter It Fineliner and  et voila!

Wishing you a warm(ish) and wonderful day in which you get to take a little time out to play with your art supplies! ♥