Hello and welcome to June’s edition of Art Journaling for Beginners.

If there is one product that I simply could not live without, it would be paint.  Now I LOVE real, physical paint.  I mean really LOVE the stuff.  In fact, one of the things that kept me from switching to digital scrapbooking and art journaling for so long was the feeling of loss I had in regards to paint.  It was not until designers were regularly putting paint in digi-kits that I felt I could make the switch.  And even today, when I see paint in a digital kit I get all giddy inside and I just have to play with it.

Paint is one of the simplest ways to give a page that arty feel.  There are tons of things we could talk about regarding paint, but for this month let’s keep it simple and just get familiar with it (we can get a little crazy next month eh?)

I know a lot of people are a bit uncomfortable with paint.  In real life it can be messy and hard to control. In digital form it brings an organic look to a page that can feel strange.  I hear many people saying that they don’t like paint for various reasons, but I am here to tell you paint does not have to be scary.

Now don’t worry, I won’t make you use a bottle of spray ink just yet, but I do want to encourage you to play around and experiment with paint some on your next page.  The biggest help to becoming comfortable with art journaling is experimenting.  Honestly, I have come to see the whole process as a chance to play.  These pages are not going into any album, they are just for me, and the experimenting part is where I learn how things work, and what I like.  That means that there are a lot of experiments that have gone in the recycle bin – and that is OK.  It also means I have figured out some things I never would have otherwise.

So, if you have never been a big fan of paint, maybe start by just using a wee bit, perhaps one splatter to bring focus or attention to a certain part of your page or provide balance.  In this page I used a splatter to offset the word art I used.  It leaves the overall feel still fairly clean while giving a slightly arty edge.

Paint is also good for adding a border.  In this example the focus of the page is a quote – a quote I really love by the way!  I used paint along the edges to draw the eyes in to the quote and added a cluster to the bottom to give the page some weight.

So this month I want you to find a quote you love, something simple and short enough to work with on an art journal page, and remember, it can be word art  – let the designers do the hard work!  Then add some paint somewhere on the page.  You can add other elements too if you like – or not – totally up to you, but I want you to play with words and paint.  Then come back here and link me up to your page.  I would love to see how your experiments are going.

Now I know some people are already quite comfortable with paint.  If that is the case then I encourage you to experiment and try something new. If you usually use a lot of paint, try going minimal this time, and vice versa.

There are loads of painty and arty elements in the Digital Scrapbook Ingredients Store that are perfect for playing with.  If you have not already, take a look and see what inspires you.