Art Journal: Vacation-Inspired Page

Yesterday's vacation video prompt in Natty Malik's FREE online art journal course, In The Sun, inspired me to create this tutorial on making your own DIY mini polaroid prints. (No Polaroid camera required!) Today, I want to show you what I created using those mini prints. [Ironically, yesterday was my first day back to work after a three-week vacation!]

For the background, I wanted to do a blue similar to the blue used in the Young Veins video. As I was painting, I decided I didn't want to do the whole spread blue so I just did the edges on the left page, plus added some texture with sequin waste. I used orange and yellow homemade spray paints (just acrylic paint and water in a spray bottle) to brighten it up.

When I looked at the solid blue page, I decided I didn't like it all solid, so I wanted to do something to break that up. I suddenly imagined a palm tree there. I'd had a magazine earlier this week with a palm tree on the back cover, but I must have recycled it already, because I couldn't find it. I did, however, know exactly where my green tissue paper would be. I ripped the paper into shapes I hope would approximate a palm tree, then when I looked in the tissue paper box again, I realized I still had some brown tissue paper that my friend, Cherie, had given me years before. I made a trunk for my tree using that. I used gel medium on top and bottom of the tissue to add it to my page.

I played around with the DIY polaroid prints a bit until I found an arrangement I liked. I attached these using my Tombow, but I'm sure gel medium or double-sided tape would have worked well, too. When I came home from work and looked at my spread in progress, I thought of the Weezer song, An Island in the Sun. I decided to use the lyrics for the page, since it sure looks like the kids in the photos are having lots of fun: "On an island in the sun, we'll be playing and having fun."

I really love how the text turned out! I did the text in a blue Decocolor market. Then I outlined slightly inside the letters with a white Uniball signo pen (best pen ever!). After that, I traced around all the words to add brightness with a yellow Sharpie poster-paint marker. Finally, I outlined the letters with a black Sharpie poster-paint marker.

Here's the finished page:

Well... I think it's finished anyway. I might end up adding some detailing to the tree on the right side, but, really, I think it looks great as is, so I might just leave it alone. What do you think?