I posted a sketch from my Provence travel journal a few weeks ago, and I wanted to share with you what I’ve added to the page since then. Here’s the original sketch – you can read all about it here.
Here’s how the two-page spread looks now…
I had ordered some inexpensive plastic stencils online, planning to use them for my mixed media and acrylic work, but when I got them I decided to incorporate the French signage into some of the blank pages in my Provence journal.
The page opposite the St. Remy sketch had originally been left blank, so I used one of the French stencils to create a decorative page which would complement the existing sketch.
The finished page looks, oh, so French! And it has the same color palette as the sketch facing it, so it ties in well with it. It gave me a chance to play around with my new stencils and have some fun in my sketchbook without trying too hard. It was all an experiment, and I’m happy with the way it turned out.
I thought you might enjoy seeing the process I used to create this stenciled page, so I made a sample and photographed each step as I worked, to show you how to achieve a similar look for your own “complementary” pages.
I started by placing lots of paper towels behind my blank sketchbook page to catch any paint runoff, then I wet the paper and painted a watery wet-in-wet wash using Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow Medium, and Permanent Rose watercolor.
The brush strokes looked splotchy at first, but I tilted the paper up at an angle and spritzed it lightly with a fine mist sprayer to help the paint blend, giving me a nice soft background wash.
While the paint was drying, I chose the stencils I wanted to use for my design. (Find plastic stencils like these at Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff, Amazon, or Temu.)
Next I squeezed a bit of tube Titanium White opaque watercolor onto my palette and tinted it with the blue, yellow, and rose colors I had used for the initial wash, making three separate pastel primary mixes. The paint needs to be fairly thick to use it with stencils – the tube white gives it the body it needs.
After the base wash was completely dry, I taped the French stencil in place and used a stencil brush to brush on the opaque paint colors.
Note: After you dip the brush in the paint, tap it on a paper towel to remove excess paint. The brush needs to be almost dry before using it with the stencil. If it’s loaded with paint, it will run under the stencil and ruin the design.
The brush was rubbed around in a circular motion using light pressure to transfer the paint to the paper.
Next I taped the swirly leaves stencil onto a corner of the page.
But this time, instead of painting the design directly, a damp Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was gently rubbed over the openings in the stencil. This lifted the paint from the paper, leaving the stencil design as a white pattern on the painted background.
Two polka dot stencils of different sizes were also used on the page.
(I blotted everything with a tissue to remove excess moisture from the stencil before lifting it off the page, and then blotted the paper again after the stencil had been removed.)
To complete the page, I scrubbed over some areas of the French stencil design with a paint brush to distress it a bit and make it blend into the background in places. Excess water was blotted with a tissue.
I also applied some light washes of color here and there to tone some of the stencil patterns and give the whole piece more of a vintage look.
Here’s the finished sample page…
And here are the pages from my sketchbook.
A “complementary page” can be a fun addition to a travel sketchbook. The idea can extend to include a collage filled with trip ephemera…
simple painted or stenciled patterns, or even a plain or variegated watercolor wash.
Can you think of other ways to liven up blank facing pages? I’d love to hear your ideas!
