In the March/April issue of Somerset Studio is a wonderful article “Blogstock Divas – Manifest Journaling” by Elizabeth Bunsen.  The concept of manifest journaling drew me in and I have been pondering it for weeks now.  I finally sat down at the art table and decided to try my hand at creating this background paper.  I pulled out a sheet of 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press watercolor paper and followed the ideas from the article.

Above is layer one and two.  For layer one I used liquid waterproof ink and a bamboo calligraphy pen to write loopy lettered words.  I let that dry overnight.  I then applied masking tape and drywall tape to create a grid like pattern on the paper.  I painted yellow tinted gesso over the paper and tape and let that dry then peeled off the tapes.  Notice the texture from the drywall tape.  Very cool.  Once this dried I replaced the tapes in a different pattern and then began to paint areas with Golden tube acrylics.

I then pulled out a selection of stamps, stencils and other oddities to stamp with using the Golden acrylics and StazOn ink.  I also sprayed liquid watercolors to give the page a bit of a graffiti look.  Once these layers had dried, I retaped areas and then pulled out the liquid ink and bamboo pen and wrote more loopy lettered words on top.  I will be adding a bit of gold Luminiere paint to add some sparkle.  I will art the backside of the paper in the same way and then cut/tear the sheets into smaller sheets to create a handmade journal.  Click here to go to Background Pages – Part Two.