Winter Recovery

Hello all!  I had hoped to share this with you last year (!), but things got a bit crowded towards the end of December, so now the January challenges are under way (catch my Artistic Stamper Past and Future ATCs here and my Country View Challenges Velluminaries here) I thought I'd share the second of my wintry journalling pages (you can see the first one here if you missed it - they're definitely part of a series).

As I said in that post, these are the first chance I've had for ages to just sit and play with no external theme or deadline involved... and I'm very much enjoying where they're taking me.  There's still more to come, and I think they're developing too.

We're back in the blues and browns and, as I mentioned, this one takes its inspiration from the Paul Theroux quote I left you with at the end of Winter Growth, the first page:

Winter is a time of recovery and preparation.

I couldn't agree more!  I'm very inclined towards hibernation at this time of year, resenting anything which requires me to leave my cosy den and engage with the wider world.












It's a time for conserving fuel, replenishing my energies, and processing the whirlwind activity of the last few months, as well as allowing new ideas to germinate, ready for when I emerge again in spring.











Of course, you have to keep a few tendrils reaching out into the world, but they have to be sturdy and strong, and well protected.








Again, just a few reminders for myself... if I'm hoping to turn this into a series of canvases, I'll need to know a little bit about what I was doing!

This one started with stippled Gesso, then Weathered Wood Distress Ink embossed mainly in clear, but with hints of white embossing powder in places.












Pastel pencil for the dividing line, and then Raw Umber trickled from the line towards the spine, then a cloth to knock it back. 

Love the texture that developed from the textured Gesso underneath.













Smalt Hue again for the other half of the page, applied with a wide brush and plenty of water, building layers of colour.












Added a much thicker line of Raw Umber to intensify the divide.

There's some Vintage Photo Distress Ink wiped on from the opposite edge, to create a reflected colour tone.











The difference between the two parts of the page - the retreat and the preparation.















Stamping in Coffee Archival (or Sepia?  No, Coffee I think), and some more lids inked with Archival Cobalt and/or Potting Soil.










Tim Holtz grungy stamps for more blottings - Potting Soil/Black for the stamping.














Layers and depth of colour building up.












Distressed layered papers and ephemera, again washed with Smalt Hue to tie them in, and lots of pastel pencil and Big Brush Pen shading around the layers.










Prepped the tag with washes of the same colours used, and stamping etc, and then the little Hero Arts set to stamp the Paul Theroux verbs.














More rusty wire around the tag, and through the top.














Dylusions spatter, dark and light.











So that's page number two in the series... number three will be with you soon.  It's also been ready since last year (!), and we'll just have to wait and see how many more arrive.  At the moment, they're still bubbling in my heart and in my fingertips, awaiting some non-DT time at the craft table.

Thanks so much for dropping in, and I'll see you again soon either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

I'd like to enter this in Blue is the Colour over at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog.




I prefer Winter and Fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter.  Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.
Andrew Wyeth

Brenda Brown is offering a Visual Journey Link Up Party to share the journey of creative experimentation. See all the details here at Bumblebees and Butterflies, but this seems the perfect page to be sharing.

An InLinkz Link-up