Harvinaisen Kaunis Elämä: Quiet Moments - Art Journal Cover for Finnabair

Hello darlings,

I want to share my Quiet Moments with you. It’s a journal I have recently started, to capture those precious, still, quiet, little moments in life that may not at first seem much, but when you actually stop and see, are actually everything.

In other words, my Quiet Moments journal is one that I pour my soul into, using whatever inspires me right there and then. It’s a nature journal of a sort, as I love using dried and pressed plants I have collected from our own garden. So, I thought the cover needs to reflect the concept of the journal and wanted it to look as natural as it can be, something lost and found in the forest.

The journal itself is a Finnabair Art Daily Square Journal, 5.5 inches, 14cm in size. I had no clear vision in mind when I started decorating the cover, as I wanted it to be just like the inside; made with love and care, listening what my heart wants to say. So, I just picked some inspiring elements and started. You can see the entire process in my video, from start to finish, how I started layering and picking colours and so on, intuitively and slowly building the look I was after. One thing I knew from the start was that I wanted the cover reflecting life with its full beauty: the light, the rough darkness in one harmonious balance.

So, I started with attaching some jute cord ribbon with Soft Matte Gel into the background to give it roughness to start with, and then primed the cover with Heavy Gesso.

Then, I started to arrange the composition. I wanted to include some familiar elements I love and am always using, like ripped old cardboard pieces, lace I have dyed myself, using plants and flowers from our own garden, but I also wanted to use the inspiring, new Finnabair Winter 2021 Release products.

I layered some lace and cardboard to make the background and added a broken clay frame piece from the new Grungy Frames mould that I had managed to drop to the floor and break. I thought it’d make a beautiful detail and underlines the thought of my journal; everything has beauty in it. For me, broken pieces are usually the most beautiful and meaningful, so I wanted the broken frame to have a prime spot.

I attached everything with Heavy Body Gel and as I wanted some roughness in there to resemble moss, I added some White Sand Texture Paste and Mini Art Stones to the cover, too. Then, I primed everything with Heavy Gesso.

I wanted the cover to look mossy and tattered, like it has been left into the forest for ages, so I tried to imitate that with my paints. I mixed Impastos Snow White, Pitch Black, Burlap, Linen, and Dark Chocolate and used brush and baby wipes to blend the paints to the cover.

Next, I added some shadowing in form of Liquid Acrylics Burnt Sienna, Ink Black, Umber, Ochre, and Avocado Green.

I also thought that where there is darkness, there is also light, so I used the new Gold Metallic Flakes to give some warm glow to the composition. Using Gilding Glue, I attached just a hint of gold flakes here and there. Then I gently added some new Sage Leaves Matte Wax on top of the gilding, as it is just the perfect shade to make the gilding gold look more aged and worn.

And my Quiet Moments cover was finished. You can follow the whole creative process from start to finish in my long video, where I explain in detail what I am doing and how and why and guide you through the whole intuitive crafting process, sharing my thoughts about quiet moments and life along the way.

Link to the video: https://youtu.be/YMedX5foXfE