Art Journaling with Inktense Blocks

Hello, everyone!

Branka here and today is my turn to bring you an Inspirational post.

I would like to show you how to create an art journal spread using only Derwent Inktense blocks, in less than 30 minutes. It's quick, easy and fun.

Let me say a few words about Inktense blocks.
These vibrant chunky water-soluble ink blocks can be used dry or mixed with water which will transform into truly inspiring ink-link paint.
The chunky shape makes them extremely versatile and making it easy to cover large areas really quickly. Once dry the color is permanent and can be worked over the top of. The blocks can be used on fabric, too (silk and cotton).
The full set contains 72 blocks.

All you need for this project is an art journal (I am using my Dylusions small one), clean water, a brush (I am using a watercolor flat 3/4 brush), something to protect your working surface, stamps and stencils (I am using Dina Wakley stamps and stencils here), Black Archival ink, some paper scraps, some washi tape and Inktense blocks.

So, let's start!

Pick the blocks in colors you like and apply them randomly onto your pages. I wanted to achieve a kind of a Dina's style look so I decided to leave some white spaces.  

Use your wet brush to activate the ink.

You can use these blocks like you would use your watercolor pans. Dip the brush into the clean water and pick the color directly from the block. That is what I did here to create some patterns using my stencil. I used my brush to apply the ink through the stencil because I wanted to achieve a watercolor look but you can use a cosmetic sponge if you want.

I added some paper scraps and applied some white gesso on top to blend them together with my background. 

You can play with your washi tapes to create more texture.

I stamped my birds using my Dina Wakley stamp set and my Archival ink in black. I used my dry Inktense blocks to add more color onto the birds. As you can see, I wasn't neat :)

I stamped the quote onto some white tissue paper, cut it in stripes and glued down onto my page.  

Here is the finished vibrant art journal spread.

I hope I have inpired you to create your mixed media piece using some stamps or stencils or both and to join in our Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep! challenge here at Stamps and Stencils.

Hugs! Branka xx