My Arty Journal Page

I've been pondering over this art journal page for a couple of weeks now and originally I tried doing it in acrylics as that seems the done thing and I struggled. I realised what was bothering me was the materials, they weren't ME. I couldn't express something as personal as an art journal page using things that were impersonal to me so I ditched it and went with what I know and what works for me whether thats conventional or not because I'm not the most conventional of folk.

In this case I went with distress inks, a splash of moonshadow, a misting of radiant rain, a splodge or two of gesso and good old ink.

What did I want to write about is my next challenge and following the thought of changing materials as they were more me I went with how others may view me and how I view myself so I've stamped the eyes from Tracey Coates' Alluring ladies sheet which is of course from The Stampman. I use this as a blog header as its distinctive and it took me an hour to colour and I'm very pleased with the result :)

I've used distress inks and moonshadow ink to colour the page and swiped some gesso here and there and added a band of an old book gessoed and distressed across the centre. After I stamped and embossed the eyes I left it for a bit of pondering and the words from the same stamp sheet were jumping out at me and I thought well I don't have ANY of them! Anyone who actually knows me personally (and only the very brave few stick me out!) will agree I'm not in the slightest bit elegant, graceful, glamourous, don't have flair and most certainly don't have any sense of style.

My favourite shoes are black CAT boots which are a bit like steel toe caps without the steel. OK I've added bright pink laces to mine.

I've reflected this by using Helitrope purple plum starburst stains (From the Japanese gardens set) which is like a hot pink with a purply tint. The embossing is midnight teal, another firm favourite. I've also added the flying heart from the Artistic Elements sheet because I think its just fabulous and reflects my love of art & craft and the sentiment is also from there.

So here's a little page about me and my unconventional self complete with sparkly bits :)

Dewdrop Craftz #5 - New Year New You

The challenge set this fortnight at Dewdrop craftz is "New Year New You" so interpret as you wish such as a new technique. I've chosen to make a start on a new art journal. I had a lot of anxiety over it, ummed and ahhed of how it should look or not but you know and art journal is YOUR book, your pages so do with them as you please and simply go with the flow :D

I also had some fab guidance and direction from Sarah over at The Art of Moodling so got stuck in and sprayed and dropped and swirled and just played. These pieces were done with distress inks in spiced marmalade and faded denim on a craft mat, sprayed some solar gold radiant rain then some water to mingle them all then layed over some watercolour paper. Did this a few times till Iwas happy then whilst the corners were wet I dropped in some walnut crystals and dried them off.
After the pieces were dry I randomly pushed some gesso over to tone down some places and dried that off too then started stamping firstly the dragon in the background then the swirls and the large letters (which are done with acrylic dabbers) Then I've stamped and embossed some fireworks. The stamp is by anitas and its absolutely pants, sorry have to say it. Its always left halos no matter how careful you are *but* in this case I particularly wanted them there so used it. I've added some text and highlights with a white souffle pen.

And finally onto the image which is Kimono 2 digital by Dewdrop Craftz coloured with promarkers, I went again for the blue and orange theme to match the distress inks. The reason I chose this stamp is that its the very first page in my journal and I did it on New Years Day (started at 1am actually lol!) We'd just been outside watching loads of chinese wish lanterns floating by and seeing all the fireworks. I've put orange dots using a paint thats like liquid pearls and added some glamour dust. Also my choice of image is the way she's hiding part of herself which is very much like me personally so its new year new me :)

I did umm and ahh about embellishments but I'm not particularly an embellishment person, I like to put the work into backgrounds and colouring so this is quite reflective of my personal style :)


Hope you can join us over at Dewdrop Craftz challenge You do need to use one of their images and there are freebies available too to try!