The Key to Life is Balance

Who doesn’t love elephants?! I especially love this image which began as an old wall poster that hangs in my office space. Being in the office usually means I have paperwork staring at me – translation – piles of stuff that is begging for my attention. So, I have decorated all of my walls with images and words that inspire me and this is just one of several images that encourages me.

I took a picture of the poster and reworked it in my computer so that I could easily resize and make a tracing. (The background for this page was created in an earlier episode of Drama-free Friday.) The elephant and ball are painted with black acrylic paint to create a silhouette.

I seldom ever finish an Art Journal page in one sitting. How about you? My Art Journal pages usually have to marinate for a while. As I contemplated Balance in my life, I wrote a list of the things I “need” to balance. I’m sure that I’ve forgotten a few, but my elephant could only take so much balancing without falling on its trunk!

I chose a white Posca Paint pen to trace my penciled-in words. I love using words as the basis for a page, so this was the perfect solution to the enormous blank elephant on the page. 😉

The border is a scribbly line with scribbly words that I wrote with a Black Pilot Multiball pen. Surprisingly, this pen writes with a rather fine line width over most dry acrylic paints and mediums.

When everything was finished and dry, I added a little shadow with a Pitt Artist Big Brush pen.

Next question: What do I do with that blank facing page? For the most part, in this journal, I’m doing most of the arty stuff on the right side of each 2-page spread. The facing page usually needs something . . . so . . . I chose the Balance card from my Mandala Madness Inspiration Deck, separated the back and front by peeling apart and glued the quote section onto my page with Beacon 3-in-1 Glue which dries quickly and doesn't wrinkle the paper. The border around the quote is a Zentangle® design and I’m sure that I unintentionally “made my own”. It’s drawn with Sakura Gelly Roll Pens. (See the finished pages below.)

I always finish the pages by inking around them – usually with Cobalt Archival Ink. I Love this page! I may have to include this elephant in every Art Journal I create just to remind me of the difference between Urgent and Important. (We chatted about that during the Live Stream.)

Thanks again for stopping by. Join me each Friday at 2 pm Eastern for the next episode of Drama-free Friday.

Until next time,

Remember to Get Creative today!

It’s Easy!

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