Hey there!  Erin back with another look at Art Journaling for Beginners.

Last month we started looking at paint.  I showed you how adding even a little bit can make your page look more artsy.

Have you noticed that there are some awesome Artsy Bit packs in the shop?  Have you ever just played with them?  I find it so therapeutic to just play with the paint bits on a page.  Sometimes it comes out looking awesome, other times I throw the page away, but just playing really calms me down after a crazy stress filled-day.

For example, this page I made one night after dealing with three sick kids all day.

I really did not have much energy to make a pulled together scrapbook layout that night, but I wanted to play with some goodies.  I pulled out A Taste of Summer and just played for a bit, all the arty goodness in there is just so yummy! Some pieces are already layered up or colored for you and you can just plop them right on a page. I LOVE that!  In fact, for this page I basically did just that; plopped all my favorite painty pieces on a page, moved them around till I was happy, and then found a quote I liked to go with them.  It was easy and stress free – and this time I really liked how it turned out so I kept it.

Now I know, some of you are saying “easy for you maybe.”  I have had several people tell me that this does not come easy to them, and that is OK, it takes practice before you feel confident enough to make it easy.

Let me give you a few hints to help make the process a bit more fun.

1. Choose a neutral or at least a fairly solid background. When you are planning on using a lot of paint you want a fairly plain background to start with so your paint shows up and your eyes do not get overwhelmed by all that is going on.  For example, look at this same page with a busier background.

It still looks OK, but to me it does not feel calm, and I was needing calm when I made this page.  The neutral kraft background gives a good solid foundation to build on with paint and artsy bits and really allows all the pieces to show up.

2. Choose a color scheme. If you know what colors you like then go with those, but if you are having a hard time, then check out some color sites or browse through Pinterest looking at color for inspiration. You can try HERE

Having a certain color scheme in mind will help your paint flow together creating a more cohesive composition.  Using painty bits from one kit (like I did with Taste of Summer) helps too, since they are already all coordinated by the designer.  Remember, let the designer do the hard work whenever possible!

3. Start with a quote. If you are not really feeling inspired you can always start with a quote.  Allow the feelings or emotions associated with the quote to guide your color choices and element placement.  Often the wording will help inspire the direction I want a page to go, which is easier than starting with a blank slate.

4. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the paint. That is the beauty of digital, if you don’t like something just delete it.  Add layers, hide layers, move things around.  Play with the blending options, opacity, fill.  See what you like, what you hate.  Even if you don’t end up with something you want to keep you will learn more about what you like and don’t like which will help build your confidence in playing with paint in the future.

5. Have fun! Honestly, this is the most important part.  Enjoying the process and allowing it to be a calming factor in your life is really the key to art journaling for me.  If it causes you more stress than fun, try taking some deep breaths and mentally focusing on the fact that there is no wrong way to play, and that is what we are doing really, playing

So go for it. I encourage you to just play with some digital paint this month and see what happens.  And if you do make something link us up here so we can see what you did!