Watercolor abstract painting ideas with simple shapes, dots, modern marks, and layered blue green mixed media texture.

Abstract Art | Building Layers in an Art Journal With Gouache + Pencils

Today I’m filling another spread in my handmade Bare Spine Beauty art journal from my Bare Spine Beauty class, and I’m doing a fun color experiment using palettes from The Color Cube. I’m painting two abstract pages with the same palette, but I’m changing the dominant color on each page to see how the mood shifts when the colors get used differently. I also taped off different sized rectangles so the abstracts feel playful and varied inside the book. For layers and texture, I’m mixing Holbein gouache with Faber-Castell Black Collection pencils, Kingart gel sticks, Kuretake silver ink in a fine line bottle, and lots of mark making with a Pandafly white pen and Posca pens. If you love art journaling, abstract painting, and color palette inspiration, come create along with me and watch these pages build step by step.

Check out the Bare Spine Beauty Art Journal workshop on my site: https://2lilowls.com/product/bare-spine-beauty-master-the-art-of-coptic-bookbinding/

Looking for the supplies I used? I’ve listed all my favorite and most-used materials on one easy-to-update page here: https://2lilowls.com/favorite-supplies-for-mixed-media-abstract-art/

(Some of the links are affiliate links. If you use my link, I get a small commission, which will go toward my art supplies and to support this channel! I appreciate your support!!)

Note: I don’t list individual supply links on every post any longer, simply because keeping up with that for each video or project took more time than I have. Instead, I’ve created one easy-to-browse page where I’ve listed all my favorite and most-used art supplies. It’s always up to date, and a great place to find what I’m working with most often.

**Facebook Group for Art Peeps: https://www.facebook.com/groups/deniselovecreativecommunity

Abstract watercolor painting on white paper with blue green washes, black dots, white paint pen marks, and art supplies nearby.
Open handmade art journal showing two abstract gouache paintings in different rectangle sizes with warm colors, curved lines, dots, and pencil marks.
Close-up of a warm red, orange, and brown abstract gouache painting with curved white lines, dark pencil marks, and white dots.
Abstract art journal detail with red blocky marks, scattered white dots, dark pencil lines, and flowing silver and ochre curves.
Close-up of curved dark pencil marks over orange and brown gouache with white dots and fine white lines in an abstract painting.
Abstract gouache painting detail with gray and ochre washes, charcoal marks, red texture, white dots, and sweeping metallic lines.
Layered abstract painting in rust, orange, brown, and red with arched pencil lines, white dots, red marks, and fine white curves.

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