Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Today I wanted to share a quick little inspiration video. It starts with a rainbow of watercolor circles, juxtaposed against dark vintage text patterns, and finished off with inky florals and lettering. I love throwing a few different ideas together like this and seeing how they play off each other.

It's a beginner friendly project and a great way to practice building a color story without worrying about making anything perfect. You're very welcome to journal along with me, whether you use my exact supplies or something completely different.

Canvas Setup

Base: Free Procreate Journal Template (landscape version)
Template settings: Spiral binding on, watercolor paper texture on
Brush Sets Used:
Watercolor Stamps for circles and splatters
Pattern Decay for the text background
Color Palette: Mediterranean

Step 1: Stamp Your Watercolor Circles

In the "draw here" layer, start laying down watercolor circle stamps on both sides of the page. These stamps tilt with your pen, so experiment with the angle to get different effects.

A few tips:

Put each stamp on its own layer so you can rearrange them later
Try moving through your palette in a rainbowy direction for a natural color flow
If your palette doesn't have quite the color you need (mine has no purple), pick a nearby color and adjust it on the value tab, shifting the hue and saturation
Don't love a color? Lower the layer opacity or nudge the hue rather than starting over

Keep rearranging until the composition feels right, and let the circles tell you where they want to go.

Step 2: Add Splatters

Before leaving the Watercolor Stamps set, add a new layer on top of everything and stamp in some splatters. Keep the colors neutral and light so they add texture without competing with your circles.

Step 3: Build the Text Pattern Background

Group all your circle layers together (keep them separate inside the group in case you want to adjust later), then add a new layer below the group.

Switch to the Pattern Decay brush set and choose a dark color. I used the really dark blue from the Mediterranean palette.

Brushes Used (Pattern Decay, letterpress section):

Drugstore – old-timey drugstore and candy ads
The Tribune – newspaper text
Encyclopedia Britannica
Handwritten Ledger – lovely running up the sides
Signatures – great for filling small gaps
Poetry – old-timey poems

Keep the color consistent across all the text patterns, make them fairly small, and let them overlap. The goal is a grungy, layered background that contrasts with the bright circles.

Step 4: Doodle Some Florals

Add a new layer above everything. Using an inky pen (I used Night Jar from the Procreate library, but the Ink Blot or Toothy Fine Liner from my Mixed Media set work beautifully too), doodle some loose leaves and florals coming in from the sides.

Keep it really doodly and let your hand be random with the pressure so the lines come out blotchy. That imperfection is what gives it character.

To fill the leaves, double tap next to white in your colors, then use color drop to drag white into each leaf. If the color floods the whole page, your leaf outline isn't fully closed, so just undo and doodle the gap shut.

Step 5: Final Lettering

Go back to your dark blue and the same inky brush, make it small, and add a little lettering around the shapes to finish the page.

More Ideas

Try a completely different palette and see how it changes the mood
Swap the circles for other watercolor shapes
Draw shapes with other brushes instead
Experiment with color dropping white across larger areas (my accidental full page drop was actually an interesting effect worth exploring)
If you don't have the Pattern Decay brushes, do your own lettering across the entire background instead
Or, fill the background with Ephemera scraps
Use any inky pen you have on hand for the doodles

Over 80 antique pattern brushes for Procreate, built from real vintage sources and reactive to every bit of pressure. Lay down a pattern, ease off the pressure, watch it crumble, add an additional texture, add some gilding, and just let the whole thing feel a bit old, a bit decayed, and a bit magical.

Pattern Decay is a whole vintage pattern toolkit in a single set. Because the brushes are pressure sensitive, any one of them can read as a barely there texture or a bold pattern, which makes them right at home in collage, junk journals, art journaling, mixed media, and anything with a moody, antique edge. Nothing about the opacity is changing, it's the pattern itself crumbling and rebuilding as you press.

Three color palettes come along with the set, Pattern Decay, Letterpress, and Rust and Patina, to get you going, though any colors you love will work beautifully. There's also a section of hardworking texture brushes for aging, distressing, and gilding, and those will earn their keep well beyond this set.

WHAT'S INCLUDED:

1 Brush folder (.brushset file), 3 color palettes (.swatches files), and a PDF download guide. Files are installable in the Procreate iPad app with pressure sensitive Apple Pencils, and will not work in any other application.

81 Procreate brushes (in one .brushset file) across four categories:

Curiosities (19 brushes): Scientific and natural history focused motifs, based on vintage encyclopaedias, illustrations and diagrams.
Letterpress (26 brushes): Patterns (not fonts) filled with vintage type, including newsprint, ads, manuscripts and letters, book pages and ephemera.
Ornaments (26 brushes): Both traditional and wildly fanciful decorative patterns including vintage wallpaper and tilework.
Textures (10 brushes): The workhorse brushes. These aren't meant to stand on their own, they're here to distress, age, and grunge up everything else.The first two are metallics, and the rest include concrete, plaster, cracks and flakes; perfect for adding grunge and decay.

Also Including:

3 Color palettes: Pattern Decay, Letterpress, and Rust & Patina.
A written User Manual explaining each brush category with tips and ideas for best results.
Full video walkthrough and demo (see above).
Free support: I am always happy to help with any questions or issues! For support, please send me an email at hello@alainajensen.com

This brush set pairs beautifully with my free Digital Journaling Starter pack for Procreate. Get it here.

215 watercolor stamp brushes for Procreate, made from high resolution scans of real watercolor painted on real paper. Pick a stamp, pick a color, tap the screen, and a finished watercolor element lands on your canvas. No painting, no brushwork, no waiting for anything to dry.

To make these brushes, I spent a small fortune on professional watercolor supplies and countless hours of scanning at high res so that you can have completely organic, realistic watercolor accents for your projects. With 215 brushes to choose from, and the option of layering them over each other for countless combinations, you will always have something unique to work with.

Every stamp turns with your Apple Pencil as you place it, so nothing has to land in the same direction twice, and they work beautifully in any color you choose. Stack and overlap them with element sitting on its own layer, so you can move, resize, rotate, and flip anything long after you've placed it, and keep rearranging until the composition feels right.

What's Included:

1 Brush folder (.brushset file), 1 color palette (.swatches file), and a PDF user guide. Files are installable in the Procreate iPad app, and will not work in any other application. An Apple Pencil is needed for the tilt feature.215 Procreate stamps (in one .brushset file):

Splashes (53): Irregular pools of paint with soft, unpredictable edges, from small blooms to broad sweeps of color.
Washes (40): Broad areas of flat and mottled color for laying ground under everything else.
Branches (31): Ready made sprigs and stems, some fine and feathery, some full and leafy, and enough on their own to carry a composition.
Splatter (30): Flicked and scattered paint, the marks that make a piece look like it happened by hand.
Leaves (18): Single leaves in a range of shapes, which double as petals when you arrange them around a center point.
Brush Strokes (10): Clean painterly bands of color for borders, banners, and anything you want to letter over.
Circles (9) and Triangles (5): Simple watercolor shapes with real paper texture in them.
Flourishes (9): Loose painted curls and swashes for accents and decorative detail.
Flowers (3), Dots (2), and a Heart: Small elements for finishing touches.
Paper (4): Watercolor paper textures. These work differently from the rest. Stamp one in a dark color on a top layer, set the blend mode to Multiply or Linear Burn, and lower the opacity to give your finished piece the tooth and grain of real paper.

Also Including:

1 Color palette: Watercolor Garden.
A written User Guide with brush previews, techniques, and project ideas.
Commercial Use
Video tutorials showing the stamps in use (see below).
Free support: I am always happy to help with any questions or issues! For support, please send me an email at hello@alainajensen.com

This brush set pairs beautifully with my free Digital Journaling Starter pack for Procreate. Get it here.

You are very welcome to join our free facebook community - a space where artists who use my brushes can share their work, inspire each other, share tips and ask questions. If you are interested in joining, we would love to have you!

If you need support, you can email me at hello@alainajensen.com and I will be very happy to help!

A warm, sun washed palette of terracotta, olive, and Mediterranean blue, with soft neutrals to tie it all together. Great for art journaling, collage, and any project that wants a relaxed, earthy feel. Free to download and use in your own creations.

Digital artist, brush maker, online educator and texture whisperer, prone to creative hyperfixations. I live in rural Hertfordshire, U.K. and have been creating art and design resources for fellow creatives since 2014.