Not feeling it, in so many ways ...

The theme for May at The Documented Life Project was

Touchy Feely
(Textures)

The Art Challenge for

Week 22.  Textured Paper

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 22.  I'm So Not Feeling It!

Well this turned out to be an interesting journal prompt.

I 'm so not feeling the inspiration for this weekly challenge.

It may pass & I may be back later in the year,

but for now I will put this challenge to one side.

Sometimes, you just need to let go ...

move on ... 

do what stimulates your own creativity ...

follow your own path ...

do what's right for you.

Thoughts of Summer

The theme for May at The Documented Life Project is

Touchy Feely
(Textures)

The Art Challenge for

Week 21.  Cheesecloth

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 21.  Say "Cheese"

On to a base of dried white gesso,

I added pieces of cloth with gel medium & left to dry thoroughly.

I added colour with acrylic paint & left to dry. 

Then I added words cut from a supermarket newspaper,

Gelatos, glitter, Perfect Pearls, white Posca pen, Accent Beads ...

Not sure what this textile is - just something I found under the kitchen sink !

Casting Shadows

The theme for May at The Documented Life Project is

Touchy Feely
(Texture)

The Art Challenge for

Week 20.  Modeling Paste

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 20.  Rising to the Occasion 

I will not be creating a new journal page this week for The Documented Life Project. 

Instead I am revisiting earlier pages in which I have used texture paste.

Firstly, my double page for weeks 8 & 9

Here I used Ranger's Texture Paste through Tim Holtz Layering Stencils to create a textured layer.

The bright morning sunshine helps to show the dimension that this gives to a page.

Here the texture paste, applied through the Faded Dots stencil, has been left uncoloured.

I coloured over the Typo numerals, once the paste had set.

From this angle, you can see that although it adds texture,

it does not add too much depth to the art journal page.

In week 16, I used the texture paste through the Bubble stencil.

Here is was used as a white highlight to an already visually busy background.

The Sound of Laughter

This month's theme at The Documented Life Project is

Touchy Feely
(Texture)

The Art Challenge for

Week 19.  Stitching

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 19.  "All that I'm after is life full of laughter."

I started by painting a piece of burlap with white acrylic paint.

Once dry, I cut into a tag shape & stitched a border with blue thread.

My inspiration for this piece was taken from a piece of printed white grosgrain ribbon,
which had been attached to a pair of denim jeans.

My inspiration & some of my supplies

Using denim as my theme, I mixed watercolour paint with a blend of Golden Soft Gel Medium
& water, I used three colours to create a denim look to the background.

I started with Colbalt Blue,
then added Prussian Blue
& then finally a drop of Black.

Once this had dried thoroughly, I added a stitch doodle around the edges.

I added heart shapes cut from book text & an old denim shirt, then stitched on the buttons.

I couldn't find a quote that seemed right, so I wrote a few words about what laughter means to me.

The sound of laughter is like a babbling brook,

which dips and rises over the pebbles of life

and carries us along on our journey,

with joy in our hearts.

A Picture of our Lives

The new theme for May at The Documented Life Project is

Touchy Feely
(Texture)

The Art Challenge for

Week 18.  Fabric

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 18.  The Fabric of Your Life

I took inspiration from Leona Lewis's song The Fabric of our Lives.

The different colours paint a picture of our lives.

Imagine all your dreams & plant the seed.

Let the rivers of your heart & mind collide.

& close your eyes.

I searched the book I have been using for #DLP2015 to find the words for the quotation,
which is Pride & Prejudice.

Their edges were inked with Black Soot Distress Marker.

I used a cover from an old edition of the John Lewis seasonal magazine

together with fabric by Vanessa Arbuthnott (wild rose).

Funday Times

The theme for April at The Documented Life Project is

Colour Safari
(Exploring Inks and Paints)

The Art Challenge for

Week 17.  Inks

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 17.  Before the ink dries

Well the prompt this week just screamed playtime so I coated the blank pages with gesso
& grabbed my alcohol inks & plenty of kitchen towel.

I went to the paper recycling box to find an old newspaper (to protect the desk)
& found this wonderful image,

so before I set to with the inks, I cut the image out
& once adhered to the page, I covered it with clear gesso & left to dry.

I used my kitchen cookbook stand to secure my journal in an upright position

& then let the ink drip down the page.

I added a few more words found in the same newspaper.

I used Ranger's Adirondack Alcohol Inks
(Eggplant/Stream/Lettuce/Butterscotch/Cranberry/Wild Plum),
Liquitex Clear Gesso
Sakura Pigma Micron Archival Black Ink Pen

time to create and have fun

Take a moment

The theme for April at The Documented Life Project is

Colour Safari
(Exploring Inks and Paints)

The Art Challenge for

Week 16.  Gelli Plate

& the Journal Prompt for

Week 16.  A lot on my Plate

Take a moment to pause & remember to breathe. 

I am interpreting the prompt as those occasions when you have so much to do
that you may begin to feel overwhelmed.

So my aim this week is to portray the feeling of being overwhelmed,
the moment when you realise that complicated mixture of emotions are rising to the surface.

This influenced my choice of colours & style of my page.

A feeling of restraint by the harsh ordered strips of background paper & use of the bubble stencil,

but also of release by the softness of the floral design & the escaping butterflies.

Or maybe the butterflies represent time slipping through your hands
& the feeling of not being able to control your situation.

There are the many layers of all the tasks before you
& some things that always remain hidden, out of sight.

One tag is fixed & cannot be moved.

The butterfly hinge

The other is hinged, so that you can see underneath.

A place to journal

I took inspiration from a digital piece that I did a few years ago, which I resized & printed out.

I waxed the printed elements to create a translucency,
so that the background would show through.

I used gesso, a Gelli Arts gel printing plate, a Speedball brayer,
acrylic paints (Tide Pool/Mulch/Pure Gold),
Ranger's manilla tags, Archival Ink (Jet Black) & Texture Paste,
Tim Holtz stencils (Bubble/Flourish),
Woodware clear stamp (Plant a Meadow) & ric-rac ribbon.