Abstract art journaling tutorial for beginners: Embrace the pause

Join me at the art table as I show you how to paint a textured mixed media intuitive abstract painting in your art journal

I had filmed this expressive abstract painting at the end of 2020, and forgot all about it! But it was fun to go back and listen to my musings on struggling with the pause between one year and the next as I created this abstract acrylic painting, and to see how much better I have become now, at the start of 2022, with embracing the pause!

Though I am working on a small piece of mixed media paper, you can easily follow along in your art journal.

Watch the process: Abstract art tutorial for beginners: intuitive and expressive abstract painting

If you enjoyed this video, you will also love this easy abstract art journaling tutorial I shared a while ago. That’s less textural and much more colorful and vibrant. Perhaps you can incorporate techniques from both these tutorials to create something that is unique to you!

Art supplies used for this abstract art journaling spread

I used minimal supplies and paired some acrylic paint colors that I don’t often use (like iridescent blue and Napthol carmine) with some of my absolute favorite colors (I’m looking at you, turquoise blue and payne’s grey) to create this painting.

While you could substitute most of the supplies and colors I’ve used, I can’t think of a good alternative to the Fineline applicator. If you have acrylic inks, you could try to use the bottle’s ink dropper to draw a thin line on your painting and see if you get a similar effect. But try it on a scrap piece of paper first, because I’m not quite sure if it will work quite the same way as the Fineliner. It certainly will be almost impossible to get a fine line with the ink dropper.

Mixed media paper

Acrylic paints in your favorite colors. I used the following:

Pebeo paints: Payne’s grey, Napthol carmine, Turquoise blue, iridescent blue

Daler Rowney: Phtalo blue

Camlin paints: Black

Color pencils in a variety of colors

Fineline applicator (20 gauge) filled with white paint

Mechanical pencil

White posca paint pen

Your favorite brushes. I used the Catalyst mini blade no. 5

Note: Most of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you’re an India-based artist, I highly recommend ArtLounge — I get most of my art supplies from them, going to Amazon only for the few brands that they do not stock. Use the coupon code SHINJINIM at checkout to get an 8.5% discount.

I hope you enjoyed this video, and that it inspires you to pull out some paints and create in your art journal! I’d love to see what you create – use the hashtag #ArtJournalWithMG or tag me @moderngypsy.in on Instagram so I can show you some love!