Fantastical Blue Forest — Bullet Journal Set Up
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After creating tall, vertical weekly setups for some time, I decided to change up my layout with a horizontal spread. What better way to fill a wide space than with a mysterious fantasy blue forest?
My Materials
- Archer & Olive Watercolor Dot Grid Journal
- Sennelier Watercolors
- Grumbacher round paintbrushes
- Sakura Micron Drawing Pen
- Heat tool
The Process
This blue forest was created with a negative painting technique. Basically, I used negative space to outline each tree, gradually making the background trees darker and darker. This is what gives the effect of the trees fading into the darkness. To speed up this process, I use a heat tool to dry my layers quickly.
Then, once the trees were all outlined, I used a small round brush to paint the dark areas around all the branches. This fine detail work took a bit of time to do, but yielded some stunning results. The final trees almost look like stained glass windows!
Finally, once the forest was all buttoned up, I swiped a single stripe of blue for each day of the week. I used my drawing pen to quickly letter a simple cursive header for each section.
Watch the Set Up
Catch the full setup video on my IGTV — don’t forget to subscribe while you’re there!
Add a Little Mystery
I find forests to be so provocative and interesting. They can be dark and spooky or bright and cheerful — there are so many ways to shape a forest theme to your whim. Perhaps next time I’ll use lots of colors for the branch details and really lean into the stained glass look!
When you’re thinking up your forest theme, think about how you can make it fit your mood. You can dramatically change the feel of your forest by switching up seasons, adding animals, adding a water feature like a river, or evening changing up the trees themselves — a forest of birch trees feels very different from a forest of gnarled old oaks. Be imaginative and come up with a forest all your own!
If you’re wanting to start your own bullet journal just like this, check out this massive guide that will walk you through absolutely everything you need to know to get started!
SheIby, your message was spot on for me. I wanted to be an artist my entire Iife and never pursued it because I was convinced I didn’t have the “taIent”.
To make a very Iong story short, I am now 73 and I stumbIed on to watercolors. I am in the process of making greeting cards to be (hopefuIIy) soId at a craft fair in October. Just so you know, when someone says “You are so taIented”, my immediate response is “No, I’m not!” I compIeteIy understand why that meant to be compIiment can be a downer.
Thank you, SheIby,
Ginny
Better late than never, Ginny! I’m glad you could join the creative bandwagon and have fun with watercolors. I wish you the best selling your greeting cards!
Oh my goodness! I am obsessed with this! I just watched your video and can’t believe you do these things without sketching first. So much talent and creativity! I have never done anything like this before – but now I am thinking I might try an underwater/medusae kind of setup, using your technique… It might be a little more forgiving 😀
Thank you for sharing. I love everything about your blog.
Thanks so much, Esther!