Yummy Color

If you follow my blog you know I've been having an issue with my muse going on vacation without my permission.  One of the things I do when my muse is absent is glue. I don't like to throw away pretty pieces of color so they pile up on the side of my work space. This page is a result of pretty paper and glue.

I started with a gessoed page that I stamped with the the background lines from Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge.  Next I just started taking different piece of paper and gluing them randomly on the page. This page has pieces of napkins, tissue paper, book text, gelli prints and a Stampin' Up image on watercolor paper.  

The grid on the left is a matte medium transfer. The splats are another stamp from the Gorgeous Grunge set and the swirls are a very old Angel Company stamp. The only color I added to the page was the bright yellow which is a kid's quality gel watercolor crayon.  The last touch was to stamp numbers randomly using a Hero Arts stamp.

All the ink I used was Archival Ink.  This was a very easy fun page. I just glued and pasted until I thought it was finished. I love this technique. It is so relaxing and all that color just makes me happy.

Link to Paint Party Friday, The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge, Moo-Mania & More Challenge

Spiral Journaling

I'm having an odd few weeks. Mondays and Tuesdays have been dark and dreary weather wise. All I've wanted to do go home after work is read and sleep. The studio didn't call me at all. This is very strange for me. Wednesday was sunny and I was back in the studio. I'm beginning to think I might have a touch of the Winter Blues... I'm hoping for more sunny days because I don't like this up and down with my moods and energy levels.

I prepared the background of this page by using a thin coat of gesso on the page.  After that dried I went back with a Mr. Huey stencil and a heavy gesso and stenciled haphazardly.  I added a layer of Artist Loft light violet acrylic paint that was thinned with water. I used a baby wipe to spread the paint and then another clean one to wipe the paint off the gesso. I love how the gesso resists the paint.

The DLP- The Journal challenges: for this week were Art Challenge: WritingJournal Prompt: Words with Friends.  I realized I have several groups of friends: some at work, art friends, school friends I've reconnected with after years of no contact, to name a few and some really close friends who know all my secrets.  

Spirals were calling to me so I drew some with a pencil on a piece of copy paper.  Next I wrote a few sentences on the spirals to remind of of things about my different groups of friends and I talk about. I wanted to use more but I ran out of space on my copy paper.  I used a sharpie to write with so it was easy to erase the lines. After I cut out the spirals using my deckle scissors I used a wash of orange craft paint and water to color the spiral words.

I also drew some smaller spirals for the background and I colored those using craft paint on my tag size Gelli Plate. It makes a great mini palette.  I added a few lines using gesso and a credit card that I drug side ways.  I also used Archival Ink and a Hero Arts stamp to put a bit of lettering in the background.

Link to:  Paint Party Friday, DLP, Art Journal Everyday, Gelli Print Party

Canson Drive

I recently took a class from Ed Brickler, who works for Canson Paper and he gave me this book. It's a book all about their paper and so I begged a second one so I could alter it. He told me to be sure and send him pictures of my altered book so this first page is for him.  I can't wait until I can start using some of the different kinds of paper they have in the book.  It is full of wonderful different weights and textures. Can you tell I love paper?

The background was done by layering pieces of old book pages, gesso, storm blue paint and then a wash of gesso. The words are by Clearsnap stamped in Archival Ink. I am in love with Archival Inks by Ranger.  They are permanent and waterproof.  I put a gesso wash over them so they would go to the back just a bit.  They did not run at all. I love, love, love Archival Ink!

The houses are leftover pieces from my patchwork page. I sanded the embossed areas to give them a more distressed look.  The sizes were determined by what was left.  

This is Canson Drive in honor of Ed and Canson paper's book.   I'm sure artists live in all these little houses.  

Link to:  Art Everyday Month, Inspiration Avenue