Art Journal: Life's Prickly Pear

Life is filled with cacti and thorny situations. We have the option of growing our own thorns and 'getting our own back', or we can grow flowers and make life a better place to be in. I contemplate these sentiments in today's art journal blog.

I start today's blog on black paper with a white polycolor pencil.

I make a quick sketch of my cacti.

I then use a gold pencil to journal the words for this page:
"At times life can seem like a prickly pear. You can either grow thorns and 'get your own back,' or you can grow flowers and make it a better place to be."

I then add a basket of flowers at the bottom of my page.

The layout of the page.

I use soft pastels to paint my cacti in.

I then use a white charcoal pencil to draw the thorns on the cactus.

I use soft pastel pencils to paint the basket of flowers in.

I colour the flowers.

Then I add the greens.

When I am done, I spray the pages with a fixative to prevent them from smudging.

The completed journal entry.

You can watch a compilation video of the above steps on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/N2NLOCgKsqw

Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy my books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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