Mixed Media Journaling - Part 2 of 2

Creating expressive journals, a life captured in words and images...

Embrace Spring with a New Creative Journey: Mixed Media Journaling

As the new year begins, it is the perfect time to set fresh intentions, explore new creative outlets, and document the journey ahead. Mixed media journaling is a vibrant and expressive way to combine art and storytelling, offering a unique platform to capture your dreams, plans, and reflections in both words and images. Here is how you can start this exciting creative journey and make 2025 your most inspired year yet.

Firstly we are going to look at what ‘Mixed Media’ is and then walk you through some pages in our mixed media journal that we have created.

What Is Mixed Media?

Mixed media is an art form that blends multiple materials and techniques into a single piece of work. Imagine combining watercolour paints, fabric scraps, photographs, and handwritten notes into one beautifully layered masterpiece. It’s a playground for creativity, allowing you to experiment with textures, colours, and elements that tell your personal story. Any wet or dry medium when used together is classed as mixed media. There are an infinite number of possibilities when it comes to using mixed media. And you don’t need to use all of them all at once.

Whether you’re a seasoned artist or a beginner, mixed media offers endless possibilities. The beauty of this medium lies in its versatility—you don’t need expensive tools or extensive training, just an open mind and a willingness to play. There are no fixed rules for using mixed media but there are some good guide lines, which we will share along the way.

Why Start a Mixed Media Journal?

A mixed media journal is more than a diary; it can be a visual record of your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Here’s why it’s the perfect project for the new year:

• Capture Memories Creatively: Combine photos, ticket stubs, pressed flowers, or doodles with your written entries to create a richer story of your year.
• Set and Visualize Goals: Use your journal as a vision board to map out your aspirations. Include inspiring quotes, sketches, or even collages that motivate you.
• Mindful Expression: The act of creating can be meditative, helping you process your thoughts and emotions while practicing mindfulness.
• Track Growth: Looking back at your pages throughout the year will remind you how far you’ve come.
• Develop your creative skills: Practise and repetition using a variety of materials will help you understand the characteristics of each medium you use and you will develop a comprehensive understanding of how some materials will work together in harmony or not at all!

Getting Started with Your Mixed Media Journal

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how we put together some mixed media pages to help you begin your journey. We were inspired by found beach debris, dried seed pods, lyrics, poems and inspirational words.

Setting up your creative space, always use what you already have in your toolbox first. The products below will help you to create, develop and advance your creative skills but are only suggestions.

For more information on Journals link to our first blog What is Journaling

1. Gather Your Materials

Start with a blank journal—choose one with sturdy, thick pages to handle the layers of paint, glue, and other materials. We used Canson Mixed Media Artist Art Book - 300gsm - 28 Sheets - A5 - Landscape, but equally as good would be; Canson Saunders Waterford Art Book - 300gsm - Cold Pressed - 20 Sheets - A5, Seawhite Hardbacked Watercolour Book - 350gsm - A4 Landscape

Don’t feel limited to this list below. Mixed media is about embracing what inspires you, even if it’s a found object or an unexpected texture.

Have a look in your tool kit and you will probably already have a lot of the items listed below. You don’t need a lot to get started but you can expand your tool box as you develop your journaling skills. Below is a list of materials and tools that may aid your creative journaling journey!

• Paper scraps (old magazines, postage stamps, postcards, maps, stickers, old books, music sheets, cut out words, sewing pattern paper and tissue paper) are great for collage.
• Stamps, stencils, and washi tape; for creating repeat patterns, areas of interest, details, creating numerical details or for creating text.
• Bubble wrap, bottle tops for mark making.
• Old Photos, fabric, small buttons or small keepsakes for collage artwork.
• Baking paper/parchment to put in between pages secured with bulldog clips. This stops paints leaking onto the other pages whilst you're working on your current page.
• Spray bottle for spraying water on your pages to create textures.
• Wax crayons or clear candles to create some wax resist, especially when using inks and watercolour paint.
• Collage glue; use matte or satin or gloss acrylic gel medium, this will help create your layers of paper collage and you will be able to work over it with any medium once it has dried. Here are some great brands; Liquitex, Golden, Winsor & Newton.
• Watercolour paints, acrylic paints, inks, watercolour pencils, marker pens, fine liners.

Tools and equipment for Art journaling

You can add your own equipment as you discover what you need in your tool kit.

• Rollers or brayers can be a very useful part of your kit. Great for rolling paint onto your base layers to create textures, and for applying paint to block printing blocks.
• Old bank cards, great for spreading paint, gesso and glue.
• Paint spreaders.
• Tooth picks or kabab sticks for creating textures and scraping.
• Glue brushes or any old brushes.
• Acrylic Round brushes and flat brushes for painting with Acrylic paints or inks and Water colour brushes just for watercolour paints and inks. (Never use watercolour brushes with Acrylic paint as they will become clogged up with paint).
• Scissors for cutting scraps of paper, and interesting fabrics.
• Craft knife/scalpel for creating stencils and paper collage.

Tips for Your Creative Journey

• Start Small: If a full-page spread feels intimidating, begin with small sections or even a single focal point.
• Incorporate Themes: Dedicate pages to specific topics like gratitude, travel, food, poems or self-care etc.
• Be Kind to Yourself: There’s no right or wrong in mixed media. Celebrate the process over the outcome.

Mixed Media Art journaling

These double page spreads have been inspired by natural objects collected on walks and holidays and many years of sketching and observing them. We have chosen 4 double page spreads to inspire you to create your own mixed media journal, your starting point can be anything familiar to you or just even your favourite poems or lyrics worked over some abstract shapes and colours.

Organic inspiration. Double page spread, step by step.

These first pages were covered in 4 different tones of green using Inktense small blocks, if you have XL blocks use them. Derwent Inktense Watercolour Ink Blocks - Set of 24 Any 4 different greens will do to create a variegated page of colour. Inktense spreads easily and you don’t need to use a lot of pastel or apply too much pressure. The colours are so intense and vivid, once activated with water they blend seamlessly into each other.

Apply dry and before you wet them with water, place backing parchment under each of the pages so the colours don’t leak on the pages underneath.

Place backing parchment to protect pages underneath. When the Inktense pastels are activated with water they will act like watercolour and blend together. Once dry they become waterproof, however you can layer up each colour and use more pencils or acrylic markers on top.

Once the Derwent Inktense base layer had dried, we used a hb pencil to draw some simple organic shapes and then went over the outlines with a Winsor & Newton Fineliner - Sepia - Set of 3 in Sepia. These finliners also dry waterproof. Seed pods, leaves, twigs, plants are all great sources of inspiration for journaling.

Derwent Inktense pencils and Acrylic markers were used to add colour to the organic shapes. Again water was used to blend the Inktense pencil pigments for a more vivid appearance. Remember the base colour of the paper will alter the colour applied above, if you wish to use a vivid colour you may need to apply 2 layers. Acrylic markers are great for working over water soluble pencils or acrylic and watercolour paints. They do remain vivid and most of them are opaque in character. We used Frisk Acrylic markers but Liquitex Acrylic Markers have a great range of colours, as do Posca Marker pens and Pebeo’s 4Artist multi-application Oil-based Marker pens.

Derwent Graphitint Pencils - Set of 24 were used for more subtle hues. Graphitint pencils are also water soluble but do not dry waterproof so can be rewetted, layered and reworked. Use dry for lovely textured mark making or wet for a smoother, more blended effect.

Adding some old book pages to create pod shapes add an interesting texture to draw over. However you could similarly use brown paper or patterned paper if you wish. We used a Glue Stick 40g - Non- toxic to stick to the pages.

Once the paper collage glue has dried you can then draw directly on top with either fine liners or gel pens or inks, pencils or markers. We added a few words and details to all of the organic shapes using Pentel Hybrid Gel Grip Pensin gold and white Pentel Hybrid Gel Grip DX - White.

This Chinese Painting Bamboo Dip Pen - Double-Ended was really fun to use for both creating descriptive words, and sketching some linear details over the collaged paper.

Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks - 30ml

Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Aquarelle - Water Soluble Wax Pastels - Set of 30 was used to add more hues to the background. You can use these crayons dry for a textured finish or add water to create a creamy semi opaque colour.

We consider this page a work in progress. A mixed media journal is a dynamic, ever-evolving creative space that serves as both a living document and a continuous source of inspiration. Unlike traditional journals, it invites you to revisit, layer, and rework pages over time, allowing ideas to mature and transform as your skills and perspectives grow. This process of returning to your initial thoughts fosters deeper exploration, enabling you to refine concepts, experiment with new techniques, and uncover connections you might have missed initially. As a result, your mixed media journal becomes a rich reservoir of material to draw from for future projects, continuously feeding your creative journey.

Stone inspiration. Double page spread, step by step.

These stone inspired mixed media pages were great fun to create, we started by creating a lot of texture first on the blank white pages with a variety of wet and dry mediums.

We started off by using Isomars Canvaa Oil Pastels Sky Blue, Liquitex Acrylic Inks 30ml Dropper Bottles Muted Grey, Derwent Tinted Charcoal Pencil Ocean Deep and Derwent Inktense Pencils True Blue.

Taking inspiration from the stones’ surfaces, irregular shapes and varying textures, we covered the journal pages from edge to edge with a variety of scribbles, wavey lines, broken lines, continuous lines and splatters of ink. See below for inspiration. Try not to be too precious at this stage.

Once the double page spread was covered with various marks we used the acrylic ink dipper to draw stone shapes on both pages.

The negative space in between the stone shapes were painted with the Liquitex muted grey ink on one side and we used white acrylic paint on the other; STUDIO Heavy Body Acrylic Paints Titanium White. Some of the acrylic paint reignited some of the blue Inktense pencils as we painted but this just added to the whole composition and muted the Titanium White slightly which is what we were hoping for.

Lastly acrylic inks were splattered over the dark page to create even more texture. There are no limits to how many layers you can add to your artwork if your journal pages are a good thickness. Aim for at least 175gsm or watercolour journals which can take a good load of paints. If your paper is 175 gsm or less, consider gessoing the pages to create a more sturdy base.

Final details applied with; POSCA Markers - 0.7mm - 4 Mono Tones - PC-1M, Frisk Metallic Brush Pen Set of 10 - 1mm

Shell inspiration. Double page spread step by step.

For this very colourful double page spread we used a selection of shells, and starfish for inspiration. This was a very easy page to put together as we drew around the shells and star fish, so even non sketchers can recreate this page! Derwent Inktense pencils were used to draw around the shells and starfish in the colours relating to the palette; Mauve, Amethyst and Fuchsia. These are fabulous colours and once activated with water become beautifully vibrant.

At this stage of the drawing, you can add some clear wax crayon or you can use a wax candle to add a textured wax resist detail on the shells and starfish. We used watercolour washes wet on wet technique to create the shell patterns. Laying down water first then adding the pigment to the dampened paper enables the blending of hues to create seamless transitions of colour. Small dabbing strokes using a round brush was used for this detailing. We used our Studio Set Artist Quality Watercolour Half Pans - Set of 24, for their vibrant colours.

Once the watercolours are dry you can add more layers of watercolour or use Inktense pencils to add details and texture.

Candle wax used to create a wax resist to retain the white of the paper against the watercolour paints.

The finished pages were quite textured so at this point no words were added but for the future some transparent pages with notes, poems or lyrics could be tied into the middle with some string.

Feather inspiration. Double page spread step by step.

Taking feathers as our inspiration for this last double page spread, we have used wet and dry media and paper collage. For the first page on the right we started by creating a feather shape on the paper with just water and a size 6 round brush.

We then dropped a small amount of Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks onto the shape and let the water take the ink down the page. Tilting the journal to spread the ink works really well. Using the Chinese Painting Bamboo Dip Pen - Double-Ended we scored lines into the wet paper and ink. This created the very thin lines of the feather.

After creating 3 different feather shapes we used white Gouache paint mixed with a little Yellow Ochre and painted around the feather shapes. On the darkest part of the feathers we used the gouache to create some contrasting lines.

On the second page we glued down three different paper shapes using brown paper, paper from an old book and white tissue paper. We then wet the negative space around the shapes with water to dampen the paper and then dropped the same Calligraphy ink Winsor & Newton Calligraphy Inks around the feather shapes and let the inks bleed and spread into each other and onto the paper collage.

All the details on the feathers were created with ; White Pentel Hybrid Gel Grip DX , POSCA Markers - 0.7mm - 4 Mono Tones - PC-1M and Winsor & Newton Fineliner - Sepia - Set of 3. When applying the pens you may want to start with the white gel pen, then alternate and layer up more details with the Sepia and Gold.

A poem by Emily Dickinson was added using the Sepia Winsor & Newton fineliner pen in the negative space around the feathers.

‘Hope is the thing with Feathers’
“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little BirdThat kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -Yet
 - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

Conclusion

Mixed media journaling offers a dynamic and deeply personal way to embrace the new year and every day. By blending words and visuals, you create a tangible keepsake that reflects your growth, creativity, and aspirations.

Don't wait! Gather your materials, carve out some time, and let your imagination run wild. 2025 is waiting to be documented—one beautiful page at a time. Let's explore some ways to make your journaling practice even more rewarding.

• Embrace the Unexpected: Mixed media is all about experimentation and play. Don't be afraid to try new techniques, use unexpected materials, and let go of perfectionism. Some of your most beautiful pages will be the result of happy accidents.
• Find Your Flow: Journaling should be a relaxing and enjoyable activity. Find a time and place where you can focus and let your creativity flow.
• Tell Your Story: Your journal is a safe space to express your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable and honest.
• Celebrate Your Progress: As you look back through your journal, you'll be amazed at how far you've come. Celebrate your growth and accomplishments.
• Connect with Others: Share your journal pages with friends, family, or online communities. You might be surprised at how many people are inspired by your creativity.

Remember, there's no right or wrong way to journal. The most important thing is to find a practice that works for you and to enjoy the process. Happy journaling! 🌟