Creating Pages Together
Mon, January 9, 2012 at 09:38AM My daughter and I painted similar art journal pages with two different types of paint.... curious to see what would happen.
left page: folkart craft acrylics (me) | right page: golden fluid acrylics (my daughter)
here's some detail of the page my daughter (12) made with golden fluid acrylics:
Detail of the page I made with craft acrylics:
Some work in process shots...
11 x 14" white 110 lb paper
left page: my page - folkart craft acrylics
right page: my daughter (12) page - golden fluid acrylics
My daughter and I painted similar art journal pages with two different types of paint. This was so much fun! We laughed and giggled and traded ideas for each layer and wound up with some very cool art.
So here's what we did.
We started with some butterfly stencils in magenta, then some magenta and orange sections on the left, a medium blue, some white, bright yellow pushed around with a straw, then a layer of light blue wound up mixing with the yellow and on the craft acrylics wound up with a pale minty green and the fluid acrylics wound up a bright green. This is not due to anything about the paints but because we did not use the exact same blues. We wiped the pages with wet paper towells to try to get the earlier layers to show up.
Anyhow, lots of swirls and a flower in bright yellow and orange followed. My daughter suggested we add the word "BE" to our pages. She painted hers with fluid acrylics in carbon black and I painted my word with a metallic black (didn't have black craft paint). More orange, yellow and blue, and the pages were finished.
Here's a little more info on the paints used:
Lots of people use craft acrylics for art journaling, brands like folkart and delta and americana sold at stores like Michael's and Hobby Lobby for about $1 per bottle. My daughters and I use craft acrylics to paint birdhouses (lots of them) and little wooden people.
craft acrylics
golden fluid acrylics
We compared folkart to another popular type of acrylic for art journaling... Golden Fluid Acrylics. Today at Dick Blick, an ounce of fluid acrylics in carbon black sells for $3.54. Cobalt blue is $5.40 and Quinacridone Crimson is $5.13.
What we learned. We had fun creating art journal pages and both pages look fabulous.
The fluid acrylic page is smooth to the touch, with a slightly glossy look, and more saturated color... the paint flowed more smoothly.
The craft acrylic page has a lightly rough texture, a matte look, the color is more pale. The paint is thicker and less flowy, so for example it took more strokes to write the word "be" and it was somewhat rough at first.
The next day, we wrote on the pages. My daughter wrote a few words in black gellyroll and more words in black ultra-fine point sharpie. Very smooth. I wrote a few words in black gellyroll, and I could feel the grittyness and decided I might ruin the pen if I kept going. I switched to the sharpie and it wrote just wonderfully, no problem.
I wrote about a recent trip to Six Flags amusement park where I went on a famous old wooden roller coaster twice. I swear I felt every bone in my way-over-40 body jolted around and I kept my eyes closed, but I loved it. And I wrote about being in the moment more, choosing that, instead of looking back or ahead all of the time.
This was really a fun project to do together. Lesson learned yet again - at bedtime, the kids will help you with any kind of artwork you want to explore!!!
Reader Comments (6)
Those look great! I'm starting an art journal this year, and bought some acrylic paints yesterday to experiment with.
You are so inspiring!! I need to involve my kids more in my art journal. These pages look amazing.
I LOVE seeing the things you do with your girls :-). Mine are 5 and 3, so just beginning to join in the fun with the 'good' art supplies. I can see the fun that lies ahead. Thanks, Tammy!
What a fun and special experience for you and your daughter! My four-year-old is a definite candidate for this kind of collaboration...she loves to "art" and "craft" with me. It is such a joy and treat to be able to share something I love with her. Well, you know....!!
what a cool project...I got a couple great ideas from looking at it. thanks.
Oh! I'm so excited to be able to make messy art pages with my daughter. Right now she is only 2 and loves coloring but always wants to grab my permanent paint markers or sharp scissors. I tend to give her stickers and tapes to decorate with pages while I use the "dangerous" stuff. I can't wait until she's old enough to use all those fun supplies with me.