Mad scientist

OK, OK, so I know I haven't blogged in a while. Life takes over sometimes and you end up with lots to say, but nothing you'd want to throw out on The Internet. It happens.

So let's just pretend these last couple of weeks, months, didn't happen and go right back to Art Journaling, how's that?

My dear friend Leslie Herger from Comfortable Shoes Studio posted a series of rants on her blog, about what she calls 'The Cult of Stuff'. It's about how we all get talked into buying 'the right tools' for art journaling and other creative outlets, and end up not using it at all. And yet you still go back to the store for more stuff. Go over to Leslie's blog to read her posts, they are so dead on!

Annyyywayyy... That series of blogposts inspired her to start a workshop over on Artjournaling.ning.com (Oh yes, I said it!) where in turn she inspires us to look at all those supplies and tools we've got in our drawers and in our stash that we don't use or maybe don't even like using, and actually try them out in your journal. She calls it 'be a mad scientist in your art journal', and she encourages everyone who's taking part in this workshop to give it a go.

So here's what I've done:
I've had my Pearlescent paint set for about two years now, and I hardly touched them. They are too glittery for my taste, and I've only used them for accents, and only sparingly. So what could I do to change things?

What if I mixed it with gesso?
It of course became a bit more pastel, and more opaque, which is great for this journal I am currently using, a ruled and squared notebook. Also, the glitter completely disappeared. Great news!

What if I mixed it with charcoal?
I put down a lot of charcoal, and then added the paint. The glitter was still there, but it was a nicely grunged up and I absolutely loved the effect!

Let's keep going.
What if I mixed it with charcoal and gel medium?
I put down a lot of charcoal, then a thick layer of gel medium, and then the paint. Oh yes, I love that! The paint is not as fluent anymore, and you can really see the brush strokes. Nice!

What if I add water or alcohol drops?
The water made the already fluent paint run even further. The alcohol drops did not do all that much, but then maybe I should have first put down a different coat of paint of maybe gesso. After it dried, I doodled a bit, answering another question: yes, you can write on top of Pearlescent paints.

What if I stamp with it?
Two layers of gesso and then stamped on it. What I like about it is that you can use two or more colours with this method, but the paint is probably a little too thin for stamping.

And then....

I forgot that I was sitting on my bed and I knocked over one of the bottles. It went all over my duvet cover:

Nope, that's not art, but I'm sure that stain will somehow end up in my journal.... It's all about recording your life, right?

If you want to join the fun, and I really hope you do, please sign up for the Cult of Stuff workshop over on Artjournaling.ning.com. The ning site is free to join, and the workshop is donation based. If you like it, we'd appreciate the donation to keep the Ning-site going. Hope to see you there!