This art journal is nothing fancy, a plain lined paper notebook, its about 5*8, with a tough vinyl cover , that i grabbed from the dollarstore. Some of the pages I have gessoed, some have been decoupage, and some papers are gelli print one offs - like this one. I like to use this one only because I like the size of it.
I didn't have any idea when i started on what i was going to do. I try and use the most patterned part of the paper as the focal point. I took my blue watercolor pencil and sketched out a basic cat shape. I don't worry about details, you will be suprised on how many are created just because of the background.
Now start to carve out your image by painting the negative shape. I used a blue gray wash to ghost the image so that some of the background still shows through. Use a light touch at first. It is alot easier to cover mistakes in a thin wash than a thick opaque line. When that is dry,, I finger painted the rest of the background letting the colors mix on the paper.
Add your details. For this I used a black oil pastel, this works well for blending and adding that furry fuzz illusion to your cat. Paint the eyes, don't forget those highlights. There is no way you can ever recreate this painting as no two gelli papers are the same. I hope you are inspired to try this idea. 5* 8 inchmixed media (gelli print on paper, acrylics, paper, oil pastel, oil marking pencil, ink) 
