Words, front & center

Dark clouds chase the air… blowing towards my atelier and sailing over the rooftop towards Antwerp… the rain beats against my windows and between the rain drops I see the turret of the late-Gothic town hall of Middelburg looming from behind the trees and roofs. I sit high and dry in my atelier and while outside the fierce wind blows and the rain spatters, I will splash and spatter colors of ink and paint of my own – I love to keep the balance.

Before I start waving my brushes, I want to show you another art journal page I created for The Documented Life Project. I made photo’s in between the steps so this blogpost reads like a little tutorial… enjoy!

December 5
December Theme: Storytelling with the Written Word
Art Challenge: Words Front & Center
Journal Prompt: Life is a book. We fill the pages.

Step 1: Glue a piece of design paper, a photo from a magazine or, like I did, a mono-print from your stash on to the page. ( I used Washi tape because the mono-print was a bit smaller than my page, the tape filled up the page nicely.) Be sure the background (paper or photo) is a bit monotonous, which makes it suitable to write over it. Next, draw lines with a white pen (Signo uni-ball.)

Step 2: Writing! Just fill up the spaces between the lines with all kinds of text. Use a black marker. I wrote about how it feels to still work on these Documented Life Project prompts while the new year already started…

Step 3: To make the journaling stand out more; add extra contrast by filling all the spaces.

Step 4: Use a white pen to draw the outlines of a big, bold word or quote over your journaling. (If you’re a bit afraid to use a white marker right away, you can sketch your text with a soft pencil first.) Fill the space around the quote with white paint or gesso. A thin layer makes the journaling shimmer through for an interesting effect. In this case, I left the Washi-tape border as is.

Step 5: Use a black marker to outline the quote, so that the lettering stands out more. You can also doodle a fun border if you like.

So this is my finished page for the DLP prompt of December 5th. I finished all the other prompts too (and bound the pages together into an art journal) but I will show you those some other time.

Have a great weekend. Stay warm and do something fun.
Draw big letters!