Ranger Dylusions – The Color Chronicles

I finished the first page of my scrapbook over the weekend! The most fun part of this project is choosing the right piece of scrap to make an interesting composition.

This scrap on Arches Rough was a tester of Sennelier Indanthrene Blue mixed with Paul Rubens glitter paint and Finetec Iridescent Paint. The background is a wash of Mission Gold Indigo and Sap Green, with a little bit of Daniel Smith Mars Yellow. It looks moody, like tears, and I thought it was an apt way to start my scrapbook. I suffer from depression and art is very therapeutic for me. I don’t want the whole project to display my sadness—I want to keep it upbeat and colorful—but I do want it to be a true representation of who I am.

Anyway, here it is! I was really impressed with how the page of the Ranger Dylusions Flip Journal held up to the watercolor wash.

I have a seemingly endless pile of color-test scraps in my studio that I couldn’t bring myself to throw away. They are so bright that it would be a shame to see them in a trash can.

Papercrafting is one of my other favorite hobbies so I decided to assemble a scrapbook comprised primarily of literal scraps.

A tiny selection of my mountains of scraps

I chose a Ranger Dylusions Flip Journal because the pages are made of thick cardstock that will accept water and ink. I haven’t tested it yet, but I’m fairly certain that it won’t buckle or bleed based on the thickness and texture of the cardstock. I also liked it because it has a thick outer sleeve with an envelope attached to the inside. My only complaint about the journal is that the right-side corners are rounded which makes it difficult to put a decorative border on the edges.

I wanted to put a bright border on the inside and outside covers, so I painted ROY G. BIV squares using my beloved Sennlier L’Aquarelle paints on a long piece of Strathmore watercolor paper. I didn’t want to use thick cotton paper because I wanted to be sure the covers closed correctly.

Highly-pigmented, smooth, gorgeous Senneliers.

After the paper dried, I cut some 1″ wide strips to glue on the edge of the covers. It’s not perfect – I blobbed glue too heavily on one of the strips – but, despite the glue disaster, it turned out well.