Star Gazer

California Dreamin

This is the third page I have created using my homemade molding paste and possibly the most successful.  As soon as I layered on the other pages the texture from using the masks (stencils) disappeared.

To get the stamped image and writing to sit right over the texture I used tissue paper then blended each in using a little acrylic paint.

I hope you like it.

Starry Night

The background for this page is made up of Distress and Spritzing inks. There was a reaction between the metallic and plain inks leaving dots which made me think of stars then the Van Gogh's painting, starry night.  I used acrylic paints to create the stars along with a thick white Posca pen and Gelly Roll pens to give the effect of the bright stars.

Beauty

Using my newly acquired Sakura glaze pens I created a doodle butterfly from book pages.  By the time I had finished my doodles there wasn't much left of the text showing through but I do like the paper colour and, to me, it had a real Japanese feel to it hence the title.

The background was achieved using Kuretake paints with lots of water to allow it to flow and bleed.

Beautiful Dreamer

I'm a little bit disappointed at how this journal page turned out although on the other hand I really like it.

If I explain, this is this the second page where I have used my homemade molding paste (recipe shared yesterday).  After thickening the paste I was really please with the effect and boldness of the result after using the stencil.   I painted over it with acrylic paints then touched it up with some distress inks and glimmer inks to give it a little sparkle.

Where the face is concerned, I don't always feel confident drawing faces so I quite often use copyright free line drawings as a starting point, then carry on to add my own touches to it.  I wanted to keep the image transparent as I didn't want it to detract from the writing.  I used the parlour song, "Beautiful Dreamer" by Stephen Foster which most people may remember was sung by Bing Crosby. Finally I coated the page with a layer of matt Modge Podge

I feel this page has a ethereal look about it which I am more than happy about, but I am a bit disappointed that the texture was lost.

Breast is best

The workings of the breast is complicated.  It's function is to provide us with a portion of our feminity.  It nutures our children, it forms a comfort blanket, it allures and attracts.

This page was the about exploring texture.  I've discovered a recipe for molding paste on Linda Donelly's blog and I'm always up for trying out different ways of doing crafts without spending a fortune on products.  The recipe (non edible) calls for 1 part acrylic paint, 1 part talcum powder and 1/2 glue (I used Modge Podge).  Mix it thoroughly and it's ready to use with your stencils or mark making tools.  I did find I needed to add a little bit more talc as it seemed a bit runny, if you look in the images some of the white bubble shapes have smudged, but otherwise I like the result.

Right on Time

The concept of time has always fascinated me.  When is the right time?  Time goes slowly when you're not enjoying yourself and really fast when you are.  I'm sure I am not the only one who feels that they can squeeze more things into a given time.

This page was an excuse to use some of the decoupage paper I had left over.  I bought it for £1.50 from my local The Works shop and added to my old hand crank Singer called "Jonesy" to make him a little more personalised.  He really is a lovely machine, solid and a great one to take out to workshops to allow people to experience sewing with a machine the gentle way.

So the cogs you see in this page are the decoupage paper, the rest of the page is covered with cream, brown and gold tissue paper, then I've used a pink highlighter to emphasise areas of the page.  handwritten letters and roman numerals complete the look.

LEMON: fruit. tree, colour (yellow)

It's interesting where ideas come from for the art journal pages.  I tend to allow my mind to drift to various places and build on those thoughts.  I had been thinking of the times I had travelled to Spain or Greece and how readily available citrus fruit is.

I journeyed back to one such holiday where I plucked a lemon from a tree whilst out bike riding.  How wonderfully fresh and tangy and full of life that lemon seemed to taste in my drink.

This is the first time I have used textile in a page and I quite like the 3D effect it has given the overall feel of the tree.  As per, I used what I had available to me, which was a left over bunting triangle which just happened to have a leaf print.  After painting them with acrylic paint I found I had to cut the leaves in half as they were twice the size of the lemons.  I then looked for words relating to lemons and lemon trees; poems and songs.

I used the poem "The Lemon Tree" by changers writer and a line from the folk song by Will Holt made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary plus the third verse of the poem "A Lemon" by Pablo Neruda

The background was created using acrylic paints and layer with gesso to add in the truck of the tree.  When make or create, things tend to happen organically, hence the small label that was sitting in my scrap box.... perfect.
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Welcome to my Garden, a cacophony of collaged flowers seen through a window drawn with alcohol pens.

I am grateful for......

How many things can you be grateful for?  Can you count them?  This was quite the challenge and I really had to put my thinking cap on but once I got started the ideas started to flow.

Mandala

This mandala was created using Kuretake paints and alcohol pens.  It's not evenly space but I think the imperfection works.

Shadows on the road

Since doing this challenge, I am looking at my environment in a slightly different way.  I look at the backgrounds in my journal or I am cutting words out of a magazine and an idea for a page pops in my head.

I was heading over to the Wistow Gallery,in Leicester yesterday to do a Photo Textile jewellery workshop when I noticed the shadows on the road.  Shadows remind me of books I read as a child, by Enid Blyton or E Nesbit and many others.

This page was created using alcohol permanent pens.  I love the way you can layer the work, yet still see you pen strokes below.

Protect and Reflect

This is a re-make or update of a page I did many moons ago.  It's an exercise in building a verbal and visual picture of yourself.

Start with a image of a person and then build amour around them, adding words that could be inspirational or hopes and dreams or where you are now.

The page background was made up of a hodge podge of layers; tissue, watercolour paint, gold acrylic, music paper and a magazine image.

The Bluebells

This time I worked with a cleanish white page.  When I say cleanish I mean there was a little staining from other pages at the edges.

I worked with permanent or alcohol pens, Sharpies, Promarkers etc.  The poem was written by Emily Bronte and the full poem is below.

One the whole page was drawn and the poem added, I felt that the words didn't show up that greatly so I decided to put some white back onto the page by using a correction pen.  This adds some dimension to the overall look I feel especially adding a few highlights to the bluebells.

The Bluebell is the sweetest flower
That waves in summer air:
Its blossoms have the mightiest power
To soothe my spirit's care.

There is a spell in purple heath
Too wildly, sadly dear;
The violet has a fragrant breath,
But fragrance will not cheer,

The trees are bare, the sun is cold,
And seldom, seldom seen;
The heavens have lost their zone of gold,
And earth her robe of green.

And ice upon the glancing stream
Has cast its sombre shade;
And distant hills and valleys seem
In frozen mist arrayed.

The Bluebell cannot charm me now,
The heath has lost its bloom;
The violets in the glen below,
They yield no sweet perfume.

But, though I mourn the sweet Bluebell,
'Tis better far away;
I know how fast my tears would swell
To see it smile to-day.

For, oh! when chill the sunbeams fall
Adown that dreary sky,
And gild yon dank and darkened wall
With transient brilliancy;

How do I weep, how do I pine
For the time of flowers to come,
And turn me from that fading shine,
To mourn the fields of home!

Perhaps in days gone by, bluebells used to bloom in summer.  So strange how our seasons have changed.  I'm not sure we really have defined seasons anymore.

Let your hair down

I've been struggling with the black sugar paper pages I put in my journal.  It's finding pens, crayons, inks and paints that will cover the blackness successfully.

With this page I used good quality crayons.  Here I have used a combination of the student coloured pencils from Specialist Crafts and Derwent crayons.  Both have a good coverage and are lovely and soft to use.  The top part of the page is an envelope inner which has been marbled lightly marbled, although I feel it hasn't really shown in the image  The lettering and swirls were completed using permanent pens.

I think the woman looks a little intense and slightly Fae.

Seeds of Change

This page started with a random used page found in my scrap box it had some olive green ink smeared in the middle and some random circles drawn on it by someone at one of my workshops.  I don't like waste and I thought it would be a good starting point to develop a page.

Materials used:  A window envelope, a strip of decorative paper, a flower cut from some wallpaper, turquoise ink, gel and highlight pens and the typewriter.

The journal page represents how change can come about from the simplest of ideas.

Permission to Fly

I really enjoyed putting this page together as it was a gradual process and a mish-mash of various papers, stickers and stamps.

Materials used include a gold foil from a chocolate bar, crepe paper, book paper, map paper, butterfly stickers and rubber stamp.  Handwritten and stamped words and a spray of brush ink.

Art Journalling with a Key theme

I have a lovely collection of large keys on my window sill in my lounge.  I acquired them from a car boot and was very please to give them house room.  They have been coated with a thick black paint so I guess most people would have passed them by, but I thought they had some presence.

My journal is a mix of different papers including brown paper, I love a challenge although it is rather difficult to work with thinner paper.

This page has evolved over a period of time.  First I added torn strips of masking tape in readiness for when I wanted to use the page.  I love using excess paint of my brush on other pages in my journal. I'd been using gold one day and like the idea of creating a shimmer on the brown paper. After sketching the keys using my waterbased wash pens I ripped off the masking tape which also tore away some of the key images.  I just went over them and this gave them a two-tone effect. I then wrote over the whole surface using a pink metallic gel pen.  I love the way the writing looks pink then silver in some places.

...by the sea

Working with my Kuretake paints and table salt I wanted to create a beach scene.  The salt really does give it a textured, grainy effect which makes it almost impossible to work over in any detail so I decided to use a image transfer method using sticky tape.  It's an interesting effect to experiment with and it's great to see the reaction salt has on the paint.

The process is quite straight forward, but can be a bit unpredicable, some paper works better than others.

1.  Cut a small image from a magazine or book and place it image down on the sticky tape.

2.  With the sticky side of the tape faced up, wet the back of the image.  In my case it showed some printed text.

3.  Rub the surface in a gentle circular motion until the paper starts to roll.  Add a little more water with your finger when needed.

4.  Keep rubbing in this way until you see only the image and it becomes transparent.

5.  Now apply it to your project.

Peacock Feathers

This page is worked over some blue tissue paper with my brush pens.  These are vibrant and easy to use.