I recently purchased the Dina Wakley class, Paint it Out from Interweave. This is a great class. I really enjoyed her step by step process.
Dina is great fun as a teacher. I love that she doesn't take things too seriously. It is so cool when she says, "It's just paper. We can buy more paper." I also love it that she ends up with paint on her hands and arm.
This is my first try at layering the way she suggested. I realized after the fact that I left out two layers. Oh well, I'll give those a shot later.
I really like how the yellow, green and pink peek through in different places. I loved using the exaggerated writing technique she used. It was very freeing to write with giant loopy letters and not care if anyone could read it.
It's like there are all kind of things hiding on my pages just waiting to be found!
The supplies I used are: three colors of acrylic paint plus white, baby wipes, a Lori homemade oval stencil, a Delta rectangles stencil and white and navy Stabilo All pencils. I also used a piece of plastic window screening as a stencil to make the tiny squares.
Link to: Dina Wakley, Paint Party Friday, Mixed Media Monthly Challenge, Rubber Dance Monthly Challenge
I saw a graphic at church on Sunday of a heart. It inspired me to use a heart in my journal.
Most of the images in my journal look flat I am beginning realizing. I wanted this heart to look like it was on top of the background. I have no formal training in art and things that are automatic for trained artists are often difficult for me. I kept playing and adding paint until it looked like the heart was raised.
After laying a background of craft paints, I used wine colored paint and drew the heart with my fingers. Then I stared adding lighter colors of paint around the edges of the heart. When I was finished the whole thing was way to bright so I took a single white layer from a paper napkin and glued it over the whole page using matte medium.
As the napkin was drying I rubbed the napkin with my fingers so that piece of it curled up. This gave me great texture and the 3 d illusion. I added purple paint over the top of the napkin on the heart. I added more touches of different colors with my fingers all over the page. Finally, I used two Mr. Huey stencils to have some additional interest. The circles were made with a piece of sequin waste. I use very inexpensive children's brushes from Michael's for my stenciling. They make wonderful stencil brushes because the bristles are stiff.
The whole purpose of this page was to play. I believe that adults would be happier if they played more. I have at least two friends who don't know how to play. Everything they do has to have a purpose. That makes me so sad. All our lives have stress, anxiety and sadness in them. Art Journaling is my way of letting all of the "stuff" of life slide off my shoulders.
When I sit down with paper and paint, I become one with the little child inside me who wants to play and be happy. More and more I realize that my time with my journal is when I'm closest to God. I believe no mater the state of the world, God wants me to be content within myself. I can lose myself when I journal and be one with God.
Link to: Paint Party Fridayl, Art Journal Everyday
I love this stamp. It's made by ERA and was given to me by a friend. There is just something about that happy girl dancing that makes me smile.
The Summer of Color Project begins this week. The first set of colors are Yellow, Aqua and a touch of hot pink. Those are happy colors to me and that's why I chose the dancing girl.
The background is yellow craft paint. The girl is embossed with aqua embossing powder. The pink accents are a pink glitter sharpie.
Link: Summer of Color 4, Artist Play Room
Gelli Printing is just plain fun. The color combinations and the textures are endless. Each pull is a surprise. As you can probably tell, I like color. Oranges, Blues, Hot Pinks... have been calling to me all summer. The background of this page is made with pieces of Gelli Prints. I tore them and glued them in a random arrangement. The flower is another set of Gelli prints done with a flower stencil that I bought at WalMart and then cut out.
Then the doodle bug hit me and I doodled away until my butterfly was born. This page is a bit simple. That's one of the joys of an Art Journal. Anything goes... even a 4 line ditty about the change in seasons. I won't win a poetry award but it made me happy to write it, so this page was a success.
I've heard many people talk about the Zen-like meditation they experience while doodling. Doodling doesn't affect me that way. Cutting does... I can go almost into a trace while trimming images. I could do it for hours if my elbow didn't protest. Years ago when I taught stamping classes, my students would moan because my samples always had neatly trimmed images. I would have a card finished before I realized that I'd spent 45 minutes trimming all those tiny pieces of paper.
Link to: Sept. Gelli Party, Paint Party Friday
