Spring Art Journal Tutorial with DecoArt

After a long hiatus, I’m back with super fun and happy art journal tutorial for you! This page comes together really quickly and really plays with using lots of mediums to create texture.

Now, this tutorial is for everyone and anyone. You can follow the steps and replicate this page completely, or you can take just parts of it to incorporate into your own work. I love sharing how-to’s for people who don’t know where to start, aren’t sure of their skills, or just need some direction. However, I love it even more when people interpret an idea and make it their own. So this tutorial is for all art journalers – take the parts you want, and leave what you don’t!

SUPPLIES:

Paints

Deco Art Media Fluid Acrylics in:

• Hansa Yellow Light
• Titanium White
• Cobalt Teal
• Cobalt Turquoise

• Golden Fluid Acrylic – Deep Gold
• Pebeo Studio Acrylic – Fluorescent Pink
• Deco Art Media Modeling Paste – Black
• Deco Art Media Matte Medium
• Posca Paint Markers – Medium Tip

Stencils

• Deco Art American Mixed Media Stencil 6″x8″, Aztec Pattern
• Deco Art American Mixed Media Stencil 6″x8″, Scribble
• Deco Art American Mixed Media Stencil 12″x12″, Split Angles
• Handcut chipboard stencil – DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE HERE

• Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen, Soft Tip
• General Pencil China Markers – White & Black
• Sakura Gelly Roll Pens – Moonlight Set

• Paintbrushes
• Makeup sponges
• Textured craft foam (bubble wrap would also work!)
• Palette knife
• Newspaper scraps
• Baby wipes

Let’s get started!

Step One: Using either a brush or your fingers, blend the paints together to create a background. Let it dry completely.

Step Two: Using the handcut stencil and makeup sponge, stencil on some shapes with white paint. Let it dry.

Step Three: Using the same stencil, offset the stencil by 1/2″ to the side, then stencil over top with yellow. This creates a bump image, as you can see on the right! Super cool, hey?

Step Three: Using the scribble stencil, stencil small areas to create more texture on the page.

Step Four: Using the Deco Arts Black Modeling Paste and the Split Angles stencil, push the modeling paste through the stencil with a palette knife. Go slow and ensure that the stencil stays put so there’s minimal smearing. Let dry completely.

Step Five: Apply some gold paint with your fingers, then use a baby wipe to smear/wipe the paint away. Apply some white & yellow paint to the modeling paste areas with a makeup sponge to bring out the texture.

Step Six: Use the Matte Medium to apply a newspaper scrap in an “empty” spot on the page. Make sure to coat the back and the entire front of the paper to seal it. Let it dry completely.

Step Seven: Paint a circle with fluorescent pink on top of the newspaper. While the paint is still wet, press the textured craft foam or bubble wrap into it. Lift the foam and press it elsewhere on the page to stamp the removed paint.

Step Eight: Use the china markers to create a flower out of the pink circle.

Step Nine: Using the Aztec stencil and the Tombow Fudenosuke Pen, trace shapes on the page. I added some triangles and diamonds in various places across the page.

Step Ten: Use the paint pens to continue adding detail across your page. I added lines, dots, and shapes across the page. Trust your instinct and add as much or as little as you want!

Step Eleven: Use a pen to add a quote or journaling to the flower, then go around with the yellow Gelly Roll pen to add highlights.

And we’re finished! How fun was that? I love all the layered textures in this page, and the happy colors make me excited that spring is finally upon us.

In fact, I loved the textures so much, I turned this page into a desktop wallpaper. Yup! You can download it below!

***Download your Free Tech Wallpaper HERE***

If you like this post, you can say thanks in one of these ways!

• Follow on Pinterest
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• Link back to this page!
• Pin the images above!

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