Documented Life Project Weeks 8-9

So this is the finished page. It has the ‘repeating elements’ of week 8 and the 5+ layers of week 9.

 

This is what it looked like after the first 3 layers. I initially carved the feather stamp and stamped the background, then painted it with Inktense. Then I gelli plate printed over the top, and here I have added more feathers and stamped with an unmounted script stamp. I then messed it up a bit by printing with quite opaque pink over the top. So I printed with more white gesso and other colours, added yet more feathers and paint splodges and writing. I think it’s finished….not 100% sure yet. I like that I used my own handwriting loosened up. First time I have risked doing that and I will definitely do it more :) I need to get a new dip pen which holds a bit more ink.

Documented Life Projects Weeks 5-7

Okay so I cheated a bit. This is DLP weeks 5-7. That covers the February theme: Layers You Will Love! and the weekly prompts:

week 5:  Art Challenge:  Under Paper (paper on your work table that gets all inky while you work)  Journal Prompt:  What Lies Beneath?

week 6: Art Challenge:  When Not To Stop  Journal Prompt:  “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough!” (Ooh)

week 7: Art Challenge:  Cover Up Good Stuff  Journal Prompt:  Going Undercover

So I might need to explain a bit! I used some gelli plate prints which were lovely (the good stuff, week 7) but were also only useful as a background really (under paper, week 5, I know stretching it a bit, but I ripped up the 2 prints into strips, so it really was from scraps). I layered and layered including the following materials: 2 gelli prints, Inktense blocks, gesso (multiple layers), patterned tissue paper, brayered on layers of acrylic, Possibly some distress stain (can’t remember), layers of embossing powder and obviously alphabet stamps. There were a few occasions when I wasn’t happy with it. So I just added more gesso and then more layers (week 6, when not to stop).

What I might do with the next one is to take photos/scans and show in stages how I did it. Let me know if you’d like to see that :)

 

Documented Life Project Week 4: Words With Friends

 

So this is my 4th page. I may have overdone the brightness and contrast, it’s not quite so bright in real life! This one is less ‘painterly’ than my other art journal pages, so I might eventually move it to a different art journal. I do like it. Whether it is ‘finished’ or not I am not sure yet. I sketched the girls out, then painted them and added the heads to the background after which I painted on the shoulders. It was my first proper attempt at hand drawn text. I think the text could be neater, but I quite like it. My scanner is not quite big enough to get the whole page, which is why the end of the writing is missed off.

 

 

The Documented Life Project Week 3 – The Colour Wheel

This is my attempt at DLP week three, using book pages (or in my case patterned tissue paper and gesso. I used handmade stamps to put coloured shapes in the background and covered over with gesso (actually it was white emulsion). Apologies that the centre is unclear, it didn’t scan too well where all the strings are! I stamped in black archival on all the individually painted mini tags. I’m quite pleased with it. Not every thing is perfect, but it has a neatness to it that I don’t normally have in my art.

Documented Life Project Week Two – The Beginning is Always Today

 

So here is my attempt at week 2. I created a background with the insides of envelopes (very interesting visual textures). I wanted to try meditation/mindfulness as once of my goals. I also wanted to include handwritten text. This layout isn’t quite finished, but I like parts of it. I need to add an alternative quote at the top somewhere. I am practising my handwritten text a bit more before I do!

January Week 1 DLP

So I’ve been a bit busy and haven’t posted anything for ages!

I’ve been taking part in two online weekly challenge thingies (not sure what you call them!)

The main one I am doing is the Documented Life Project 2015. I am also using the techniques of some of the Journal Journey Driver Reviver.

This is the piece I did for DLP week one. The prompt was about creating your own goals and you have to use book pages in your background. I used brown paper and wrapping paper in by backgrounds instead. It’s the first time I’ve properly used washi tape on a page too!

I am up to date with the challenges, so I’ll post some of the others when I get time!

First Attempt at Upcycling a Table

So I bought a cheap plain wood table from Dunelm, painted it, sanded it and varnished it. I like the way it turned out :)

First Attempt at Decorating a Baby Grow – Oh Dear!

So my friend gave me a baby grow to decorate for her. I used archival inks and hand-carved stamps, then used sharpies in my Blitzer.

I was quite pleased with the results…..then I washed it at 60 degrees :(

Twit Twoo – Canvases for my friend’s new baby!

So, one of the projects I worked on a couple of months ago was for my friend’s baby’s nursery. She wanted something feminine, but not just the classic baby colours. Or maybe that was my influence, as I wanted to do something brighter! She chose grey for the walls so she could bring in colour with the accessories and she didn’t know the sex of the baby at that point.

As soon as I knew she had had a baby girl I could get going!

I decided I wanted to do owls, so I started sketching and looking at other owl designs for inspiration. I already had my owl stamp as a starting point, but I wanted two owls for this set of canvases to go side by side with a name canvas in between.

The first step was to use a stencil I had my Mum cut for me on her Silhouette machine and some coloured texture paste I made with Modge Podge and baby powder. Oddly it dried dark pink, which was a little disappointing as I’d wanted the same colour when it dried as it is in this picture.

So then I had to replace the stencil, mix in some white paint and redo it. I left a bit of bright pink showing through.

The next step was to add some contrasting blue. Sorry the photos aren’t the best quality, I took them on my phone!

Then I began cutting the canvas shapes I needed for each owl. Here is how I started positioning them:

Then I coloured the pieces and stitched around each eye and tummy piece with blanket stitch, before finally gluing them all on!

This is the final result:

So!! Hello Google!

I’ve noticed I’ve still had traffic, despite not adding to my blog much recently. It turns out my stuff has been showing up on google searches! :)