Mermaid Haven Journal Pages

 

 

Back in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, I began looking for some new art to work, that would challenge me and keep me busy. I knew we were into a scary time and wanted to be safe at home.

One idea was to play around with gelli plate printing. I managed to make lovely flat designs, but also used craft foam and carpet two sided tape to make themed printing blocks. You can see them in the circular portholes.

I got into mixed media and found books by Jane Davenport. I learned to draw mermaids with her "Marvelous Mermaids." book. Here they are swimming in brightly colored watercolors.

It's now 2022 and I haven't done anything with the portholes or the mermaids. I do have an art journal where I can experiment on two page spreads.

Here's how I designed the background for the pieces I worked on back in 2020.

I continue to experiment with Dylusions Ink Spray by Ranger.

I sprayed water on the right side page and used two different color sprays over the top

I closed the adjacent page over the sprayed page and pressed it down.

I filled in the blank spaces with ink and blotted with a towel.

I used two different size circular stencils placed in spots around the two pages, spraying water thru the holes creating a ghosting effect.  During the process I blotted the pages with a paper towel roll.

When the inks dried used the eraser top of a pencil to apply white acrylic dots to the pages.

When the paint was dry I adhered the mermaids and portholes to the pages.

I found some cute quotes on Pinterest and wrote two of the journal pages.