Harvinaisen Kaunis Elämä: Art Daily Cafe Inpsiration

Hello, Art Daily Cafe friends,

Here is an art journal spread for your Art Daily Cafe inspiration. The pages are from my very special and personal Grace Notes journal that I have created, page by page, without planning anything ahead. I have just let my heart and hands do the creative part for me. All I have done is listened to my favourite music very, very loudly and then, when the page was finished, I typed or wrote a line from the song that had played right there.

Here’s how it was done…

First, I primed the pages with white Heavy Gesso, using a large brush and then added tea bags, botanically dyed cheese cloth, ribbon, lace, and die cuts with Soft Matte Gel, and added another, soft layer of gesso to make the background looking an inviting canvas to play with. I also mixed some Mini Art Stones with gesso and added some on the pages.

Mixing Impastos Pitch Black, Dark Chocolate, and Manor Blue, I then painted with very random, large brush strokes and wiped most off with a baby wipe. With black ink I stamped some background images to the pages, and the background was ready.

I wanted a dried common yarrow on the page because its meaning is so wonderful. (Symbolising courage, healing, strength, and everlasting love; it suits pretty much every art journaling theme I create…) I attached it, along with some linen cord, with Soft Matte Gel, and then stitched very rough hemp yarn through the pages.

When the pages were almost-but-not-quite finished, it was time to pick a line or two from the song I was listening to at that precise moment. I ended up with lines that also fit, in a way, for the November Art Daily Cafe theme of Under Cover of Night: in the darkness, there’s always a glimmer of hope. And as the shiny effect, there’s also some Gold Metallic Flakes I glued using Gilding glue.