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.