Autumn wings

Whilst in Kew Gardens a couple of weeks ago I was struck by all the different colours and shapes of the leaves and I collected several that had left their trees. Theme Thursday's challenge of 'seasons' has given me kick-start to do something with them. I wanted something to complement the leaves and these Tim Holtz images just seemed to fit.

The Three Muses challenge this week is 'wings on things' (I hope people count as things!), so this piece is my response to to challenges.

To start, I laid down several layers of acrylic paint on 10 x 7 inch piece of acrylic paper. I used six different colours - yellow, burnt sienna, green, orange, red and titan buff - to give the autumnal background. Once dry I stamped and embossed the gold flourishes at the top and bottom and edged the paper with a gold Krylon pen. Having stamped the images onto a browny gold paper I stuck them on using matte medium. I varnished the leaves and sprayed some of them with solar gold Radiant Rain. Once dry, I then stuck them to the background using tacky glue. This was the hardest part, due to their unusual shapes but I did manage to get them to stick with a bit of perseverance. Not sure how I'm going to dust it as the leaves are pretty delicate ........

Botanica - Sunday Postcard Art

This is my response to the challenge 'Botanica' set by Sunday Postcard Art. I used an old ledger as the background and faded various elements into it. I then added the focal image of the birds on top.

Here are the components of my collage:

Completed Journal

The post arrived earlier and brought with it the 1.25 inch O Wires I had ordered to bind my journal pages together. I used my Bind-it-All for the first time and am pleased with the result. I decorated the wires with ribbons and a charm.

The finished project!

ACF is back - hurrah!

Art Creations Friday is my favourite challenge site and it is back after its summer vacation. The challenge this week is to use the lovely picture of a woman that they have provided. Here is what I did with it.

I decided the woman looked very wistful, so I imagined she was going on a long journey, leaving loved ones behind, and the time she had left with them was passing quickly, hence the egg timer!

Below you can see the elements I used to create my picture (background coutesy of Stamping Rika).

It's Friday ... have a great weekend!

Jack jumped over the candlestick

Sunday Postcard Art's theme this week is 'nursery rhymes'. Here is my entry:

These are the elements I used to create it:

The last seven pages

Here are the last seven pages of my journal. I have thoroughly enjoyed making it and have learnt a lot about paints and collage. Kelly Kilmer's 'A Prompt A Day' course was great to follow as it gave inspiration for each page. The journal prompts were particularly helpful, as I would not have known what to write about; however, towards the end I was beginning to want to choose my own themes, so I now have lots ideas for the future!

All it needs now is a cover and to be bound together using my new toy (a birthday gift) the Bind-It-All.

Pages 23 & 24

Here are the last two pages for today.

Pages 20, 21 and 22

I am having great fun creating these journal pages! Layering different colours of paints, mixing colours, rubbing the paint hard or more gently, wet paint, dry brushing, all producing different effects. The other great thing is that, apart from the paper I start with, all the other elements are made from scraps or pieces that I have put aside to be used at another time.

Journal pages 15 - 19

Here are the next 5 pages of my journal:

Three Muses - Art in the Round

Here is my take of the theme 'art in the round'. I used a background supplied by Art Creations Friday and shaped it into a circle. I then copied it and reduced it in size and put the smaller image into the larger circle of the original image. Having added the girl, courtesy of Lisa's Altered Art. I then changed the white lines to the same colour as the girls dress. Then comes the text, taken from the song 'Circle Of Friends' by Better Than Ezra. The frame was the final touch.

Journal pages 12, 13 & 14

Here are the next three journal pages, made using the same principles i.e. layers of acrylic paint rubbed dry between layers, focal image and background papers added as directed by the prompts (see below) and, lastly, the journal entry itself.

On both of the pages, above & below, I used metallic ink. it doesn't show up too well in the photo, but it does look effective in the real life.

On the last page I wrote my entry using a Sakura Souffle pen. As I am a little impatient, I used my heat gun to help it on its way. To start with I was a little disappointed as the ink started to dry as it became very pale. Interestingly, after it dried I continued to heat it and it became darker, and readable, again!

Journal pages 10 & 11

The journal prompt for this page was secrets. It also instructed to layer the words, so I wrote my journal entry across the page (I'm not telling you what it says, it's a secret...) and then turned the page clockwise and wrote the same thing, in a different colour, directly on top of it. I then placed my focal image as directed, together with the three pieces of background paper.

The theme for page eleven is fun, which, for me, is usually with friends. The focal image is a transparency of Marlene Dietrich.

Sunday Postcard Art

Here is my entry for the 'bingo' challenge set by Sunday Postcard Art. Images courtesy of Lisa's Altered Art.

Here comes the sun

'Here comes the sun' was the theme for the second PDA challenge. This time I decided to go digital and this was the result.

Journal pages

Here are pages eight and nine.

I think page eight is my favourite so far. The page was divided diagonally in half and each side painted with a selection of different colours. Once dry I applied a large mask and painted over it with turquoise paint. I then used a smaller mask with the same pattern to paint on three white flowers. The pierrot was added as the focal point and the other background papers positioned as guided by the prompt. I deliberately kept these papers quite delicate, they are actually bits from a printed copy of one of my collages. I then added the words, this time ignoring Kelly Kilmer's prompt, as today it didn't seem to fit my page.

Page nine used similar colours to the previously posted 'Purple, orange & blue.' Although it is difficult to see here, the clothes the girl in the photo is wearing complement the background colours. I used 'vintage photo' Distress Ink to make the photo look older. The journal theme was 'what did you think you wouldn't like, but did.'

Purple, orange & blue

One of PDA's challenge themes this week is 'Purple, Orange & Blue,' probably not colours I would normally use but I am glad I had a go! I started off with the blue acrylic paint, once dry added the orange and then the purple. To give it additional interest I used the side of my paint brush to add the vertical lines. To give some focus I then stamped on the words, and decorated it with the flowers in the coordinating colours.

More journal pages

These are two journal pages I have created this afternoon, using Kelly Kilmer's prompts. She not only tells you what colours to layer on and in what order, but also how many background papers to use and where to position them and the focal image. My finished pages are very different to her examples (she gives illustrations of her final pages) but that is the beauty of art!

So Artful challenge

This is my contribution to the So Artful challenge for this week, which was to use the purple weave background.

Creating a Journal

Whilst browsing the web, I came across the mixed media artist Kelly Kilmer. She runs an online course called "A Prompt A Day" to inspire people to create an artistic journal and other projects. Already, I am learning about paint thicknesses as I colour the paper. It is an interesting challenge as it urges me to use colours outside of my comfort zone and to think about what elements to add to the page. So far, I have tried to add elements that are relevant to the journal prompt, which, helpfully, give an idea about what to write on each page. So far, I have created five pages, which you can see below.