Earlier in the challenge I spoke about discovering the ease and flexibility of using oil pastels in my art journal. On our first night in Niagara Falls, my husband and I were chillin’ on the sofa in the suite watching television. I was all cuddled up on his chest with simply my art journal and my oil pastels in my lap.
As I sat chatting and watching television, I was randomly scratching colors on my gesso’d pages. Khalid was watching me with a raised eyebrow, wondering what the heck I was making by just randomly grabbing a color, scratching it here and there over the page spread, and then going on to the next color. I left lots of white space on the page, knowing the colors would blend together and the entire page spread would be covered with color.
After scratching all of the 24 colors randomly on the pages, I began dry blending it with my fingers. My husband watched in awe as what he thought was weird turn into a beautiful background for my next creation. His comment: “You look like a big kid playing with your crayons.” My response: “Good! That’s what I am supposed to look like! You’re supposed to let your inner child out to play when you’re arting so I am glad that I have reached the pinnacle of creativity while creating!” LOL!! He got a good chuckle out of me “playing with my crayons” but most of all he loved how relaxed and peaceful I was while I was creating as well as how much joy creating had brought to me.
Once I had completed the background, I sealed it with some gel matte medium. I didn’t want the oil pastels to rub off if I was journaling or just with people handling the page. Now it’s ready for me to collage some postcards and other ephemera I have been collecting on my Niagara Falls getaway. Here’s a look at the background:
Art Journal Love 