An art journal is a wonderful playground to experiment with new colors and ideas. It’s a great way to expand your creative comfort zone! On the page I’m sharing today, I’ve been playing with deep, dark blue. I hope it inspires you!

Last week I hosted a free Color Challenge online and one of the colors I demonstrated was a deep, “midnight” kind of blue. It’s not a color I often use but when I do, I really love it! In the color challenge I explored it through the making of a mini abstract series. And this art journal page was another way to explore it, and become more comfortable with it.

I believe that when it comes to finding your “style”, or rather your authentic voice as an artist, it’s super important to get to know your creative “comfort zone” and embrace it wholeheartedly. Because the things that feel easy and come naturally to you, are a true expression of who you are! Lots of people will tell you to get out of your comfort zone, but to me it is a priceless gift. You need to really know it first, and then you can gently expand it. That’s what we did in the color challenge and that's what I did on this page too!

Here is how the page started:

What started it all was this beautiful blue paper from an old blue-print. I loved the picture of the cabin-like little house, so I started looking for other papers in my stash that would go well with it. Since this kind of blue is not a color I use a lot, I didn’t find much. But very often, having limited options is a blessing in disguise: it can really boost your creative muscles! And that’s what happened here.

I found the picture of the leaves with a dark blue background, a vintage floral pattern, a magazine image of a china bowl and a personal photo of tree branches with a bluish glow. That was enough to get me started! Then I added plenty of neutrals to the mix, including lots of darks. With just this layer of collage, I had my composition mostly done and a whole atmosphere started to emerge.

Even though the main color was out of my comfort zone, all the other elements are part of my personal style:

• botanical elements like leaves, branches and flowers

• favorite symbols like a house, birds, butterflies

• personal mark-making (that includes my handwriting)

• lots of neutrals

• the familiar textures of dry-brushed gesso and tea-bag paper

All of these add up to create a page that’s authentically me, because I used my personal art language to create it!

I have a whole class painting class dedicated to exploring your unique art language, to express the stories of your soul. It’s called Soulful Abstracts and even though it’s not an art journaling class, you can of course apply everything you create there to art journaling. Your art language is the same no matter what kind of art you make!

Soulful Abstracts opens only once a year, click below to join the waiting list:

here are some close-ups of the page:

This page has turned out to be one of my absolute favorites, and it really makes me want to use this deep blue more in my art. It’s not just the finished page that I love, it’s the feeling it evokes as I remember the joyful process of creating it: a sense of playfulness and possibility!

To me, that’s the best way to grow as an artist:

• get to know yourself and your art language really well

• be playful and delight in the process, with no end-result in mind

• don’t be afraid to try something new!

here is the finished page:

I hope this page has inspired you and makes you want to experiment with color!

What is one color that you would love to try and become more confident with? I’d love to know!

What if your journal were a magical portal into imaginary lands? These 3 art journeys will take you into an Enchanted Forest, a White Wonderland and your own Secret Garden… The perfect class to complement The Artist & the Journal!

Leave a comment for me!