“Agape” {Mixed Media Art Journal}

One of my favorite “objects” or “symbols” is a heart. I’m a romantic by nature, and I have always loved everything about hearts. Perhaps it is mainly because it is a symbol of love. No wonder Valentine’s Day is one of my favorite holidays, and my art around this time of year almost always contains heart images.

For many months, I have not been doing mixed media. I have been focusing on Bible art and Sketch and Paint. But it was actually mixed media “art” that drew me into the art world and caused me to be able to see myself as some sort of an “artist.” I collected way too many supplies for mixed media, and I created TONS of pages and journals and boards and canvases. Then I realized that much of my mixed media art would not be something I would want to keep forever, whereas that does tend to be the case with Bible art and Sketch and Paint art. I felt like I should be doing something that “mattered,” something of lasting value. So I pared down the mixed media supplies and stored them away.

Recently I’ve been having difficulty finding my art “mojo.” So, it dawned on me that perhaps I should return to my first “love” of art, and that was mixed media. Who says I can’t do all the different styles that I enjoy? I suppose the point was driven home to me by my husband, who pointed out that if I enjoy the process of mixed media, who cares if the product is not something I would want to save forever. Just do it for the fun of it. Hello.

So, I dusted off the supplies, gathered together some of them on my art table, got out one of the several blank journals I had on hand, and set to work. Oh, yes, now I remember the therapy of spreading gesso on a blank page, and then adding some collage elements (like torn pieces of old book paper, a stitched piece of kraft paper) with decopauge….Then spreading some molding paste through a stencil, followed by lots of acrylic paints. Focal image, a heart of course…a Stabilo pencil with water brush for shading…Lots of stamps for the background, and more paint dabbed through stencils.

Yep, that’s mixed media. Yep, it was fun. Yep, it was therapeutic. What more is needed? Well, hello there, Mojo!

#MixedMedia #ArtJournaling #acrylicpaints #stamping #stencils #agape