Harry Potter Art Journal Page

This week’s Documented Life Project prompt was to use vellum.  I do not possess any vellum and I had no desire to buy some so I decided to have another whirl at using deli paper.  A couple of weeks ago, I used the deli paper as a collage material; this time I decided I would use it as a surface on which to paint.

Since we had just spent a fun day at last weekend’s Harry Potter Festival, I decided to actually document my life and work on a Harry Potter inspired page.  I painted Harry on my journal page and then used washi tape to fix a “flap” of deli paper onto the page.  I then painted Voldemort onto the deli paper “page” so that his face covered that of Harry beneath.  I found the deli paper quite hard to paint on because it was so crinkly and the paint took longer to dry.  It was a good way to add a flap since it meant I had an extra page without adding any additional bulk but I think I prefer deli paper as a collage material.

Deli Paper Boulders

October’s theme for the Documented Life Project is use of translucent papers.  The prompts for this first week were to use deli paper and the phrase “You had me at hello”.  The phrase did not speak to me at all so I decided to just focus on using deli paper.  I have some very limited experience of using deli paper in art projects so I was glad of the opportunity to create a page focused on this material.

Since I had just returned from a trip to the Boulder Field at Hickory Run State Park, I took my inspiration from the rounded shapes of the boulders and decided to create an abstract page focused on shape.  I painted up some sheets of deli paper in autumnal colours, given the turning of the leaves that is happening all around me, and one sheet in black in order to provide some contrast.  Once I had cut out my shapes, it was just a case of layering them with overlap so as to make the most of the translucency of the paper.  It is a really simple art journal page but I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Just Keep Layering

This week’s Documented Life Project challenge was layering and “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough!” (free earworm) so clearly the idea was to layer a page to the maximum.  Layering is something I have struggled with.  Finding that balance between creating interest and it tipping over into visually chaotic mess, between colours that chime and sing together and making mud, has been a steep learning curve for me and one where I have yet to reach the summit.  Regardless, I decided to amp up the level of difficulty even more by deciding to work with a colour palette I would find difficult to keep from turning into grungy sludge: flamingo pink, bright yellow, turquoise and lime.  Alas, my lime acrylic is not quite limey enough so it did get a bit muddy.

I couldn’t embark on a page without having an end goal in mind.  I know a lot of art journallers and mixed media artists can just playfully develop a page or piece without having any level of intention in mind but I need to have something I am working towards from the get-go otherwise I stall.  Since this week is Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be appropriate to make that the focus.  My favourite love song – and one of my very favourite songs generally –  is ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ by The Smiths so that was my inspiration.

Not that I imagine anyone can learn anything from my process but here are the layers involved in creating my page:

1. Turquoise and lime acrylic scraped on the page with a gift card
2. Scraps of yellow and pink tissue paper glued onto the page
3. Strips of washi tape stuck in rows to the page
4. Yellow paint through a dot / small circle stencil
5. Large yellow circles stamped on the page with a cork
6. Turquoise circles stamped onto the page using the end of a wooden utensil
7. Pink paint through a love heart stencil
8. Stamped pink circles using the end of a pencil top eraser
9. Spatter of pink, yellow and turquoise paint
10. Small dots of lime paint
11. Dots of white acrylic paint around the edges of the pink love hearts to emphasise the hearts on the page
12. Stamped the chorus of the song lyrics onto deli paper and adhered that deli paper to the page using gel matte medium

Twelve layers!  That’s an all-time record for me.