Step Outside

Hello everyone, lovely to have your company for a little while today.  It's time for a brand new challenge at Fun With ATCs, and our theme this fortnight is Windows and/or Doors.  Remember: ATCs only... 2.5 x 3.5 inches, and no more!


All the challenge details, as well as fabulous projects by my amazing teammates to inspire you, can be found right here.


Here's my little offering, a dimensional trompe l'oeil, and it was such fun to make! Hope it fools your eyes...


Because I didn't want to interfere with the illusion, this one had to have its sentiment on the back; and once again, it's inspired by a song - well, really a song setting of an amazing quote by Rilke.  But more of that later...










The little door is a Wendy Vecchi ArtPart which I got in my very first parcel from eclectic Paperie, and it's been patiently awaiting its moment ever since.

I knew it was perfect for an ATC; and as soon as I sat it in the middle of one of the canvas ATCs I knew what I had to do... draw.  Aaagh!











Okay, deep breath... it's only lines, straightforward rules of perspective.  I didn't want to use a ruler and make it all "perfect", so I took my pencil in hand and just went for it.  

I ended up with this, which didn't completely make me squirm... (You'll notice the windows didn't make the final cut!)








Then I set to with the inks and paints to start to give my little corridor a little more life.

First stage was a wash of white on the walls and door.  And I decided to try using the Ranger Enamel Accents to give my dado and skirting some dimension.  

Forgive the late night flash photography, but at least it gives you an idea of how glossy the Enamel Accents are - like glossy woodwork (if less neat at this stage - I gave it another piped layer later on).

Most of the painting is done with either Fresco or Distress Paints.  I stuck to a wash of paint, diluted with water, so that I would keep a slight translucency back to the pencil lines underneath.

The "wallpaper" was a coat of white, followed by some stamping in Blue Violet Archival with one of the tiny Prima stamps, Sparkling Spring.







The panelling is done in Weathered Wood, because I wanted it to look like weathered wood - oh the deep thought involved!!  I started with Distress Stain, but ended up preferring the extra opacity of the Distress Paint.

And because the pencil couldn't really hold its own as well against the browns, I used a PITT pen to boost the definition of the floorboards.

I used another tiny dot of Enamel Accents, this time the black, to make the door knob.

Within the window frame, I decided to go a little bit abstract, and used up some leftover bits from one of my Distress Paint tag experiments (you've already seen a bit of this one: I used it for the Umbrella Man on my rainbow triptych, A Thousand Splendid Quotes) to create the open sky outside the door.


It's only when you "Step Outside" - that's to say, turn the ATC over - that you see the rest of the sky, and the quote, stamped in the completely gorgeous Worn Text (one of the recent Tim Holtz releases) onto some more leftover wrinkle-free distress paint tag.


The full quote is, of course, at the foot of the post, and I love it.  I first encountered it set as a song by Helen Chadwick (that's Helen Chadwick the composer and singer, rather than Helen Chadwick the artist) called Where Distance Begins.  


I've quoted the song lyrics below, a slightly free translation of the original Rilke, as that's the version I love, but you'll find other variations around.










I wish that I could give you an immediate link to listen to the song - it's hauntingly beautiful - but it doesn't exist on youtube.  All I can do is whole-heartedly recommend Helen's album Where Distance Begins (named for this particular song) - it has wonderful, wonderful things on it.


Back to my ATC... With the 3D illusion of the corridor, it now looked a bit weird that the door frame itself - which was supposed to be the "deepest in" bit - stuck out instead (it's about 3mm deep).


I decided the whole thing needed a dimensional frame, so that the door wasn't standing proud of the background quite so obviously.















I used strips of thick card to build my outer edges, and used the very last little bits of leftover tag to line them.  

A little bit of extra inking on the outside edges gives it a more shabby chic worn look round the outside.








Tiny lock and key brads, and some of my favourite mulberry paper roses (you'll find flowers if you step outside) finish the whole thing off.

I do hope you'll find time to join in with us over at Fun With ATCs this fortnight.  I'm constantly blown away by the imagination and creativity you bring to the party, and can't wait to see your Windows and/or Doors.  See you soon!



Whoever you are, in the evening, step out of your room; step out of your house, in which you know everything.  Your house ends where distance begins.  Where your house ends, distance begins: step outside.

With your tired eyes, which can hardly free themselves from your warm threshold, slowly, slowly you lift up a black tree and place it against the sky, slender, alone.  And thus you have created the world, and she is great, and like a word which is still ripening in silence.  And as you grasp their meaning, tenderly your eyes let go.

From Where Distance Begins, song by Helen Chadwick
Translated from The Book of Images by Rainer Maria Rilke

Since most of my ingredients are from the fabulous eclectic Paperie store, here are the links if you're tempted to get hold of them!