Sweetness: A Mixed Media Journal Page

This is the first double-page spread in my Goddess and Poet Moleskine journal. The idea is to shabbify (is that a word?) the background with layers of mixed media while still enhancing your goddess. Then you write a little poetry to accompany the mood of the piece.

I started out with a color palette of lime and raspberry, taken from the rub-on on the goddess' neck. Then it varied between pinks and greens and golds. I ended up having to paint her hair with Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay White India Ink. It started out a pale lime green paint which was cool at first but then blended too much into the background. Then I added heavy layers of clear Gesso to give a lot of texture to the hair (and the background, too, while I was at it). Next I tried painting the hair with Silver Lumiere paint and a small brush. I didn't like that so I just painted over it all with the India Ink. I did like this. Ooh, I have a whole set of these...must paint with more of them!

Next, I wanted her eyes to be luminescent. I used Golden's Fluid Acrylic in the color Interference Violet. I am sold on the Interference colors; I'm getting them all. This photo below was taken at an angle so I could try and capture the iridescence of her eyes and the texture in the two pages from the Clear Gesso. You can click on the photo and get a better look at these:

So I'm playing around with the poetry in Photoshop first. When I decide on the final poem (or verse) I'll write that in with something, either a gel pen or one of the inks. I WISH I knew how to do Calligraphy. I have a how-to book and a beginner's set but have never really sat down with it and applied myself.

This workshop of Suzi Blu's is so much fun! All of the experimentation with the layers and layers and layers of paint, papers, inks, etc. really motivates me to start more pages and expand the journal even further! So I'll be working on these for awhile. I won't post all of them all of the time, but wanted to give you a peek at the journal work from the workshop. Tomorrow's lesson, when posted, will be the first of a two part series on working on the graphite portrait that's been applied to a wood support. I'm really looking forward to this one. I want to start working more with wood. I talked hubby into buying the 36" x 36" piece of birch plywood and he's been cutting it up into 6" x 12", 9" x 12" and 12" x 12" pieces for all of the art I've yet to make. :)

Now I've really got to get serious about the faux encaustic workshop canvasses I've started. The process looks to be so cool! I haven't forgotten about it...just been giving all of my time to these little goddesses! I hope to have something to show by the end of the week.

Two Journal Pages

I've been a little behind in some of the projects I committed to doing and thought I would take a deep breath. I've been so excited about the Petite Dolls painting that I let other things kind of slide. So, I started to catch up today. I like to keep up with the digital art journal that I have going at Digital Whisper.ning and I've missed the last two prompts.

The first photo is from the prompt that showed a stone wall. The prompt was something like "you've been told that you CAN'T do something. What is your response?" I changed the wall a little bit and added other things that brought out what I was thinking when I made this piece.

The second prompt said to think of a word that applies to how you felt this week. Well, I had two words: hurried and under pressure (ok, three words). That's why I'm so tired! So, this page just kind of came together pretty quickly with that prompt!

Now I can re-group and start these other little projects that I've been putting off. AFTER I take a nap!! ;)

"Read To Me"

This is a digital collage I made from the elements in the latest studio kit, "School Days", that I received through my Artella membership. If you click on the image, you'll get a larger picture. Each month they send you a nice digital studio kit and then they have a monthly contest for the kit recipients to submit whatever you decided to create from the kit. There are usually quite a number of files of background papers, brushes, images, etc. to choose from. I haven't done anything with a kit for awhile so I thought I would enter this little collage; the title is: "Read To Me". Some people print out the images and adhere them to canvas or watercolor paper; it's all up to you what you want to do with the images.

I remember when I learned to read. What a world that opened up! Mom would take me to the library and I could pick out any book I wanted to read! These images brought some of that magic back to me. I remember she would get a huge stack of books for herself and I couldn't believe she was going to read all of them. She usually did, too. Mom was a very fast reader. I am, too. That's one of the multitude of gifts that she passed on to me! Thank you, Mom! I love you!! I know she hears me in heaven. :)

Well, I'm finally starting an art journal. I've had a sketch book laying around here forever, and I bought it with the intention of starting a journal, but I just never knew where to start. The blank pages were intimidating and I could never figure out what to put on them. Thanks to the art journal course I've signed up for from Artella I now have a place to begin. It's a really cool course and it goes slow. That way, you have time to work on a journal page before the next lesson (about every 4 days). So, I'm working on my first page now and when I finish, I'll post it.

I've always envied some of the beautiful journal pages I've seen from other artists. How do they come up with these ideas! Wish me luck as I start on my own journey. It's like any art project: just jump in and do it. There's no right or wrong way to do a journal page; I know that. I just didn't want to "mess" up my sketch book. Duh! It's for experimenting!! So, that's what's new right now.

I'm also working on my first ATC art doll for the Halloween theme. I am loving this project! I get to make 4 dolls on ATC's and when I send them in, I'll get 5 back in return. The hostess sends you one of hers in addition to the other swappers! And, of course, I'm still trying to come up with another 60's Flashback ATC. All of these will be posted when finished.

I did check to see where our Magic Key ATC's were. It's been a while since I sent mine in. The hostess said some people were late getting their cards in by the deadline and as soon as they were all received we would get ours. I think for future swaps, she has an alternate plan for late senders. When I get those, I'll post them here.