Bloom and Grow Art Journal Pages with Suzi

Today I'd like to share with you my latest project in my large art journal, I decided to have a go at the Pulled String Technique to create some abstract flowers on my pages.

First of all I decided to give the technique a quick test before trying it in my art journal;

I mixed up some Terracotta Brushos, Matte Medium and water in a palette, and instead of string used some cotton embroidery thread.

I soaked the thread in the mixture for a couple of minutes, before adding to a page, and pulling the thread.

After my test pull, I decided to mix up some colours for my main project.

I used Brushos in Terracotta, Scarlet, Moss Green and Voilet.

I added a layer of white gesso to my pages with a sponge, then using a background stamp added some random stamping in brown archival ink, before adding and pulling the string.

I then added some outlining and shadows with brown pen before adding some white gesso in places to create some depth.  I then mixed up a stronger mixture of the Violet Brushos with Matte Medium.

I added the Violet mixture to the Violet and Scarlet Flowers.

The paint mixture is wonderful to paint with, lovely intense colour which I added to the flowers then blended out with a little water.

I then used an embossing tool to add some dots around some of the flowers. Using a Ruling Pen I doodles some words and grasses.  I used a sponge to soften the doodles grasses and then used some of the colour on the sponge to add to the top of the pages.

Here are some close ups of the finished pages;

I hope you'll give this technique a go, as its great fun, and a wonderful way to start of a page in your art journal.

Bye for now Suzi

xxx