Catching up

Hello all!  I'm sorry I've been slow on the visiting front lately - there are many birthdays round our way in the month of April.

Also, as I mentioned on my Birthday Blues and Browns post, I've been busy with virtual voicework too.  But I will be round to do some catching up soon.

And, speaking of catching up, I'm behind on a challenge for which I threw down the gauntlet myself.

But I'm finally here with the results of my "second time around" art journalling.  Grab a coffee, and let me explain.











When I posted the art journal pages resulting from the first lockdown Creative Skypeing session I'd had with Nikki and Brenda last month - with peeks at the very different projects each of them had created following the same instructions - I suggested people could try following the same set of steps we'd invented between us to see what journeys it took them on.










The lovely Elizabeth of Altered Book Lover thought that she and Bleubeard didn't really have enough of the products we'd used to be able to do that.

I countered that the instructions were really pretty loose, allowing one to use whatever one had to hand to create whatever one was creating.











And I said in my reply to her that I was tempted to go through the process again with whatever was lying around the place to see what different end result I would come up with.  Second time lucky...!










Elizabeth picked up the gauntlet weeks ago, and produced a fabulous double-page spread as one of her 22-day April recycling projects.

As I've already said, time seems to have been filling up, so I've only just got around to following through on the temptation, and this is my all new journal page, avoiding expensive products, using what was lying around, and doing some recycling along the way.

I'll recap the steps as I take you through the layers, so if anyone else wants to take up the challenge too...  !!







Prep your surface - it can be anything you want, from an ATC to a tag, a canvas, a journal page...

I gesso'd over the whole surface - I could have used some cheap acrylic paint, but I have some bargain gesso so I used that.  And it's a pretty inexpensive ring-bound pad too - but large format 12 x 9.5 inches.

1. Use some tissue paper and/or tissue tape

I used scraps of tissue that came as wrapping in a parcel, torn up, glued and modged onto the page with a stiff paint brush.  I mostly wanted a bit of texture as my underlying layer.










2. Put down some texture through a stencil

For this, I used a really cheap stencil picked up in a stationery store in the Czech Republic a while back.  The "texture paste" is some cheap white paint which had dried out to the point of being solid enough to use this way.












It's a really deep stencil (not being intended for crafting) so I ended up with very 3D bubbles - and they're also pretty rough in places because the paint wasn't terribly cooperative... but I like embracing imperfection.











Since I had nobody keeping an eye out for rule-bending this time (I'm looking at you, Nikki!) I decided to get creative at this point by sprinkling some embossing powders onto my stencilled texture.

There's some Weathered Wood Distress Embossing Glaze which I tried to keep to the bottom right(ish) of the spheres, and some Wow Bright White which I tried to keep in the top left(ish). 












But there are also completely bare areas of texture paste, heated to bubbling point.














3. Some stamping with text and/or numbers to fill in the gaps

I used a much-loved Tim Holtz quote stamp - from one of the first sets of his I ever bought - to do some text stamping in and around my lumpy spheres.  It's stamped in Watering Can Archival, and I smeared on some gesso with my fingers afterwards to soften it even more.









4. Add more than one colour of paint in any way that you want to

I used my Fresco chalk acrylics for my paint application.  First I made a watery wash of Niagara Falls on the mat and splodged that into the centre of the page.  Then, spritzing with my water bottle, I tilted and dabbed the page until I liked the flow of the paint.  The leftover paint from the mat got spattered on to the page as another layer.

Next, I added some Blue Bayou to the mix and, in combination with the Niagara Falls, brushed on some shadows beneath the spheres, again spritzing to get some drips and soft edges.







Finally, I used a bit of Space Cadet to create deeper darks to my shading.  And again, leftover paint made its way onto the page via some more spattering.











5. Create a resist using any product

This is one of my favourite bits of "using what's around".  I created my resist using some Vaseline lip balm and a candle stump.

There's always a candle stump available here (I light a lot of candles), so I scribbled around the page with that.











And I smeared the Vaseline on the area above each "planet" so that it would stay lighter and brighter from the top left.













There's not much point showing you a picture of that stage, as it's all pretty much invisible until you do step 6 - so these are already post-6 photos!

You can see where the resist is doing its resisting, with the pigments beading up.










6. Use a colour medium to reveal your resist

Okay, for this one, I did use a rather expensive colour medium - one of my Daniel Smith watercolour paints - to reveal the resist.  You could, of course, use any watercolour paint or any ink for a similar effect, but I really wanted the magical mineral shimmer of my Kyanite Genuine so I went for it.












I love how the random scribbles are revealed as the wax and the Vaseline resist the pigment and water.

The swirls and squiggles are like crazy planetary orbits, or plant roots twining around the page.












7. Add some more stamping but not text and numbers

This caused me my longest delay in an otherwise flowing process.  I couldn't decide what kind of stamping I wanted.  Something textural/abstract?  I toyed with some birds in flight for quite a while.










But in the end I couldn't resist re-inking my current obsession - the creeping tendrils of this stamp from Rubber Dance's Weed Love set, stamped in Watering Can.













It's been working over time lately (for the tag book, Collect Beautiful Gelli Prints, in the depths of the Curio Clock shadow box, and an extra special variation for Rusted Hope among several others!), and you can probably see why.













8. Select a focal point (or points) and gather elements

After the delay in choosing my stamps for step 7, I thought I'd stay very simple with my focal point.  I could see where on the page I wanted it to go.  It would mean losing one of my bubbles behind it, but there are plenty to go around, after all.











And the choice was clear - that sentiment which provided the random detail stamping in the early layers needed to come back into focus.

The thought seems apt for the times.  Evidently my subconscious knew exactly what it was up to right at the start when I chose it.









9. Alter/colour up/prepare and position elements for your focal point/s

At first, I thought that might be it - spare simplicity.  But then I decided I'd like a little more framing for the words so I cut this delightful little vine garland from some card to which I'd given a rough coat of the Niagara Falls paint.

And then I wound some fine twine into concentric circles and then allowed them to spread out in a deliciously wild and random way.










10. highlight or refresh the original background before adhering the embellishments

I did do a bit of re-stamping of the background quote (secondary stampings to keep it pale) as the words had got a bit lost under the layers.











And I also dipped my finger in some Snowflake (white) paint and smeared it over the spheres to highlight some of the texture, particularly in the top left(ish), again to keep that illusion of light striking from that top corner.












I glued down as little of the twine as I could, so that it would keep its wildness and free-flowing look, but stay pretty much in the places it had landed.  Mostly, it's held in place by the gluing of the sentiment panel.












Finishing Touches

And of course I had to do some spattering of white paint as my finishing touch.

So there you have it... the same set of steps, but a completely new journey and an entirely different page at the end of it all.







I didn't really register until I was taking the photos how much shimmer was going on.  The Vaseline has a sheen to it, and so does the candle wax.

But that Bright White embossing powder is also really glossy, as are the translucent grains of the Distress Embossing Glaze once they are melted.








I really like my painty shadows giving additional depth to the already-dimensional bubbles.














And the scribbly patterning of the wax resist is a lovely additional bit of interest in the background. 















The looping twine gives us looser, wilder parabolas for the eye to follow, and that lovely die-cut garland...















... is echoed in the twining tendrils of the stamped vines.
















And you can still see and feel that tissue paper texture from all the way back in step 1.








This is a gentle page, calming and serene.  The colours are really harmonious but I'm sure the atmosphere is also induced by the circle motifs.  The circle is a meditative shape to begin with.  It really is a page to pause over.  It gives me tremendous pleasure - and that's got to be good news in the current chaos, right?

I hope you've enjoyed following these steps along a different path, and that you like the outcome as much as I do.  Thank you to Bleubeard and Elizabeth for nudging me into action for this second time around.  These steps are clearly capable of infinite variation - and none of it has to be expensive (except for the Kyanite Genuine!!).

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  As I said at the beginning, I'm hoping to be doing some catching up of another kind - visiting your blogs - over the course of this week.  I know I must have lots of creative treats and inspiration in store as I've missed so much.  So stay safe, stay well, and I'll see you very soon - either here or elsewhere in Craftyblogland.

Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.
George Bernard Shaw

One can't judge Wagner's opera Lohengrin after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend to hear it a second time.
Gioachino Rossini

With those planetary (?) spheres, I'd like to make this a pretty late entry for Valerie's theme of Geometric Shapes at Art Journal Journey
There's just time to join in again at Have Fun With Stencils over at Try It On Tuesday
The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is to make something which is Not A Card
At the Bleeding Art Challenge it's always Anything Mixed Media Goes

A Midsummer Day and Night's Dream

Hello all!  I'm very happy to be back with this week's project in the the Designer Spotlight at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  It's an honour to be creating alongside the amazing SSS Design Team for the month of August, and this week's theme is a beauty.

The challenge is Midsummer Blues.  It's another lengthy post, taking us through a whole midsummer day and night, so pack up your favourite beverage and maybe some snacks, ready for the moonlit forest path ahead!

I honestly set out on this one with no very clear plan in mind.  In the early stages of thinking I felt a bit stumped, but gradually two elements floating in my imagination started to merge and, without really knowing where I was going, this diptych is where I ended up.

The first of the imaginative prompts was A Midsummer Night's Dream.  With my Shakespeare connections you can't say the word "midsummer" to me without that play popping into my head.







 So that's where the fairy connection came from.
















And I also had a thought about the summer solstice floating around... that midsummer date when day and night shade mystically into one another...
















... so the idea of a double tag with day darkening into night was born.  But the whole creative process took days to progress from that very early inspiration to the finished piece.















I thought I'd work with a pair of the Etcetera tags, so that their sturdiness would allow my diptych to stand tall.  These are the size #8 tags, so the whole thing is just over six inches wide and six-and-a-half inches tall.














I knew things had to be blue to fulfil the challenge title, so having stuck some book script paper onto them, I dipped the tags into Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks, keeping the dark tones towards the bottom right and trying to leave the upper left as pale and light as possible.








Over that I positioned Tim Holtz's lovely Clockwork stencil and did some sponging of Midnight Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic in the night time corner and Snowflake in the daylight regions.

In the play most of the action takes place in the forest, so I had to have some tangled branches.











This is a Hero Arts stamp, embossed in Wow Primary Bark.  (SSS has lots of Wow embossing powders but not this earthy dark brown as far as I can see - I'd recommend it to them!)














Central to my thinking were the sun and the moon and these came courtesy of the glorious Stars & Moons mould by Prima.













The round moon is playing the role of the sun for me... we're all about the imagination and playing parts in the theatre here!













I didn't happen to have any Paperclay around, and I couldn't be bothered to get my Melt Pot out, so I thought I'd try melting some beeswax pellets directly into the moulds using my heat tool.













It worked, but from then on I had to keep reminding myself not to use the heat tool to dry anything anywhere near them, or they'd revert to being a puddle of wax!














A quick coat of gesso gave me a better idea of how they might look in the long run so that I could work on what else would be involved.














There were some straw fibres hanging around on the craft table and in an idle moment I tried out what they looked like behind the moulds... sold!













The wild tangles were perfect to echo the gnarled branches of the trees, as well as the twists and turns and chaos of the farcical knots of the play's plot.














From there things happened slowly over the next couple of days.  I'd have an idea, try something out on the tags, leave it for a bit, come back to see if I liked it... if so then onwards, if not then back to the drawing board.

Two of the tiniest Paper Dolls put in an appearance as some of Titania's fairies.












Perhaps Peaseblossom or Mustard-Seed... or Cobweb.  Whichever they are, they were allowed to stay (contrary to Titania's instruction: Fairies, skip hence!).

They have Transparent Wings to fly with, though I've made them slightly less transparent with some gesso.













The butterfly, however, still has his fully transparent wings, stapled over a punched lower layer for double dimension.












It's gorgeous how the acetate catches the light and gleams at certain angles.

The butterfly lights up the daytime...














... while the night is given a glimmer of extra light by the Idea-ology Mirrored Stars.















I love how they glisten and twinkle amidst the tree branches.














And there's even a morning star creeping over onto the daylight tag.















The light allows the plants of the forest to flourish, diecut from the Wildflower Thinlits and smooshed in various shades of green Distress Inks and Oxides.













Time to add a bit more detail to the Sun and the Moon, ready for their starring roles.

I used Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics by PaperArtsy in Snowflake and Chalk to give a bit more opacity, and I brushed on Frayed Burlap Distress Ink for dimensional shading.  Tiny touches of Midnight Fresco paint bring the eyes to life.








The moon is a strong presence in A Midsummer Night's Dream... as marker of time - they're waiting for the new moon to hold the royal wedding; as the light by which the fairies meet; and also as a character.

One of the Mechanicals or working men in the play actually plays the role of the moon in their play-within-a-play at the end.










This is Words and Pictures, so of course we need to have some words.  These are fragments from the play text, handwritten with my dipping pen and some grey ink.














Tiny snippets of Crochet Thinlits decorate the phrases, and the daylight one is edged with Stormy Sky, while "night and silence" (yes, please!) has Chipped Sapphire shadows drawing in.













They're attached to the tags with hinge clips (as well as a bit of glue).  Mine are non-branded old-gold versions of these Idea-ology Hinge Clips.














They've had a touch of Mushroom Alcohol Ink as well as catching the white spatter of glimmering stardust.














In A Midsummer Night's Dream all of the action takes place over about 24 hours, so the clocks, stencilled and ephemeral, are measuring the time ticking away.














The paper ones are from the Idea-ology Snippets and Ephemera packs, and you can still just see the shadows and highlights of the stencilled versions in the background.














Some scraps of Idea-ology Linen Ribbon top the tags off.















I like the rustic feel of it, especially when you loosen the weave a little - perfect for my woodland world.













Around the back, I've kept things very simple... who wants to spend time looking at the back of this diptych when there's a magical twilit forest to wander through on the other side?!

Just some woodgrain design paper, gently inked around the edges.  Really it's mostly there to cover up the brown tape which provides the hinges for the diptych.












Having started out on this project by wandering around lost in the dark, I'm thrilled to have made my way to this enchanted world.














From night's darkest shadows...
















... to the soft light of early dawn...









... and especially when you catch those glimmers and sparkles of light, this diptych makes my heart sing.

I hope you've enjoyed dreaming along with me, and that you'll be inspired to play along with the Midsummer Blues theme at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week.

As always, there's amazing inspiration from the full-time team, who are looking forward to choosing their favourites, and the usual $50 voucher is on offer for one lucky winner to go shopping at Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you all have a magical week!

I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.

Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms. Fairies, be gone, and be all ways away.

Are you sure
That we are awake? It seems to me
That yet we sleep, we dream...

All from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare

I'd like to play along at Moo-Mania and More where they are having a Butterflies challenge
At Try It On Tuesday the theme is Wish You Were Here - I'd love to visit this enchanted forest!
At Country View Challenges they are looking for Texture this month
It's Anything Goes (as long as it's a tag of course!) over at Tag Tuesday
The More Mixed Media Challenge is an Anything Goes with optional Bright - I've got light rather than bright
And it's also Anything Mixed Media Goes at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog