Creating Contrast in a Journal Page

This new journal page was an interesting study in contrasts. While I started with a bright splash of cadmium yellow to cover the entire background, the somber mood and expression of the focal image served as a stark reminder of what is real versus what is wishful.

This page has cool and warm shades bumping along together in a way that works, rubbing shoulders, mingling in parts while staying discernibly aloof in others. The overall effect is very different from the first spread in this same journal.

I am asked often how I decide on my color schemes. I wish I had a more acceptable answer but the truth is that I don’t give color any thought. I grab what is closest and what my eye lands on, most days. Some days I close my eyes and pick some colors. I gravitate toward the bright hues of yellow one day and seem to pick out deep dark shades of blue the next.

It’s hard to explain what drives my color choices because, honestly, I don’t completely understand it myself. It’s part laziness, part curiosity. I would never know what certain colors would look like next to each other if I didn’t do it this way. And yes, it doesn’t always sing harmoniously but I almost always find that, during the journey of creation, something wildly unexpected catches my fancy and seems to bring it all together.

Let me share a secret with you: You don’t always have to know why you’re doing what you’re doing. You don’t always have to have the answers. It’s ok to just make subconscious choices and see what happens. It’s called leaning into your intuition and following your heart instead of trying to think of which particular rule you need to follow.

I allow the here and now to guide me with nary a thought. And this is what results. When I glued the watercolor portrait on the page, I had no idea what would emerge but I was curious to see the interplay of bright colors against dark ones.

There’s always a subliminal story in all my work…sometimes it’s easy to recognize while at other times it speaks to me after months of creating a piece. Regardless, all my work comes from my heart. It’s unique, it’s authentic and it’s rewarding.

Supplies used:

• Scoring Board
•  Grafix Opaque White Craft Plastic
• Awl
• Waxed thread
• Curved needle
• Cadmium yellow acrylic paint
• Dictionary paper
•  STABILO Woody pencils
• Caran D’ache NeoColorII crayons​
•  Derwent  Inktense Pencils​
• Water mister
• Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz  distress crayons Set 7
• Princeton Art & Brush Co round brushes
• Assorted washi tapes

Tell me, how do you choose your colors?