Art Journal Cover Page

I actually have about 4 journals going at the same time.  They have different types of papers so, some I use one just for sketching, one for heavy paint, another for medium paint and the 4th one is a mod podge of things.  You have seen me work on the one I'm posting today but, I decided it needed a cover picture.  I had a collection of pretty roses on nice quality paper so, I decided to use those.  Here is what I came up with:

Before

Base coat of green, a beige and a redish brown color, mixed slightly and painted with a breyer

Added stencil using various shades of green

Fussy cut the roses and glued them on with a gel medium

Light coating of gesso mostly around the flower edges then I sprayed it with a yellow and green ink spray

Stamped letters outlined with a gel pen

Edges inked with green then black.  The final page


I also thought about using the saying "Where Creativity Blooms" but, it did not balance well so I shortened it to "ideas".  I'm wishing now I would have done the back at the same time!

 I plan on letting this sit for about 24 hrs and since it will see a lot of possible wearing, I'm going to give it a quick spray with a fixative.