Wild and Organic

Hello all and welcome to a rusty post!  It's been a while since I got my rust on, but that old distressing itch took hold with this page.  (I mean the itch to weather and distress things, rather than a nasty rash, if you see what I mean!)

There are some more words from the Neal's Yard catalogue on this textural spread, so it's another chance to join in over at Art Journal Journey for Halle's Words To Live By theme.  







I recommend clicking on the photos for a close-up view of all the textures, but I'm not going to give you much in the way of a step-by-step, sorry.













That's partly because there aren't any process photos (I was too busy with the process itself), and partly because I don't really remember much about it.















I find that when you're in a state of flow you don't necessarily know much about what's going on.  You're just channelling it.















I know there's some tissue wrap buried somewhere under there on this 10 x 10 page...















... and blue Colorex ink deep down in the layers.
















There's crackle, both paint and glaze, but both DecoArt, I think...













... and then plenty of paint - mainly DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics, with Quinacridone Gold playing a major role.
















I super-heated it in places...

















... creating these glorious bubbles of texture.

And I've used some of the Rusty Patina made by Imagination Crafts...















... for the turquoise and aqua touches of extra texture along the cracks and fissures.















Here are those words from the catalogue.  I meant to use the dip pen and ink over the top of them, as I did with the Inspiring Herbs page, but I forgot.  And now I quite like them like this, not taking too much attention.













Any paint or medium left over on the craft mat got mopped up with a watery brush...















... and splattered across the page to create even more deliciousness.














I seem to remember adding a burnishing touch of Florentine Treasure Gold to highlight the textures even further.















And the whole thing has a really pleasing glimmering sheen which catches the light.














That's where I think I'll leave things for now, with a final close up of my favourite bubbles!









After all this wild, organic, rusty decay, the next post will take you somewhere far more tidy and controlled.

I hope you'll be able to drop in again for that at the weekend (especially if you're one of those people who enjoys the miniatures side of things) and, in the meantime, happy crafting all!

All things that have form eventually decay.
Masashi Kishimoto

I'd like to join in with Words To Live By over at Art Journal Journey
And I'll make this my third and final entry over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog where they are on their 50th Anything Mixed Media Goes theme

Winter Journal III

Hello all!  It's almost like the good old days here at Words and Pictures, with posts popping up daily.  (In fact, back in the early days, there were sometimes multiple posts in one day!)  It's been considerably quieter in the last year or so, but I'm determined to keep December creative, rather than let it get lost in a rush of preparations, baking and shopping and decorating.  So I'm back with page 3... (Winter Journal I and Winter Journal II if you missed them.)

This Winter Journal is not the only thing happening here.  There was my Matchbox Poetry at PaperArtsy a couple of days ago, and there's a Vintage Journey project due any day now, but both of those projects were made a while back.  So the journal is really the only active thing on the craft table, and I'm having a wonderful time playing in it.




A reminder - it's a kraft journal, 8x8 inches square... from Paperchase, if I remember rightly.

I accidentally put the staple through two pages when I was making Winter Journal I so, since then, I've been gluing two pages together as I go, to create a sturdier substrate, but they're perfectly fine as individual pages.













This page is full of the hustle and bustle of December.  These two friends are hurtling from shopping expeditions to exhibitions...














... to theatre trips.















They have invitations to respond to...














... and in between all of that, they are busy wrapping and sending all their Christmas parcels through the post.














There's some Tim Holtz tissue wrap way in the background, behind all the ephemera, but it's almost entirely vanished.
















You'll see there are common elements appearing here... the snowflakes...

















... the film strip ribbon, the metal embellishment...













... and of course the Paper Dolls themselves.

So although there are slight variations in ingredients from page to page, so far it's really nice not to have to make too many decisions about what I'm using.  Instead, I'm letting the stories take shape, led by the characters who are centre stage, and just enjoying the journey.











The words on each page so far are certainly deeply connected with the behind the scenes activity going on in my life at the moment, so there is clearly something bubbling up from underneath as I go without me really noticing.






Thanks so much for stopping by today.  As I say, it's A Vintage Journey up next, so there'll be a slight hiatus in the journal posts, though I'm happy to say the next couple of pages are already done... I'm definitely inspired by this self-imposed challenge and since, so far, each page spread has taken well under an hour, there's still time in the day for all the hustle and bustle too.

I hope you're finding time for some creativity in these busy December days, and I'll see you again soon.

You will never find time for anything.  If you want time, you must make it.
Charles Buxton

I'd like to play along again at Art Journal Journey for the double theme of My Favourite Season/Tis the Season
And it's another Winter Wonderland to share at Try It On Tuesday, though a more urban wonderland this time

Wobbly Circles

Hello all!  This weekend I will mostly be singing, so in my absence I'm leaving you with a few more details about the first of the journalling pages I shared in my Birthday Blues (and Browns and Greens!).  It's as much for me as anything - so that I have a record of what I did in case I want to create similar effects in future.


It's the only completed page so far in my Dina Wakley journal - though some of them are growing on me, and I might just decide they are finished after all, and leave them alone. 


Since it's full of finger-painted circles and meadow grasses, I thought I'd squeeze this one in under the wire for the April themes at That's Crafty Challenges where they are Going Round in Circles, and at Stamps and Stencils where they are In the Meadow this month - I couldn't miss that one!















There are so many layers here, and it was all done some weeks ago while I was still in New York, so I'm not sure that I can remember exactly what I used for all of it, but there are a couple of progress photos which will guide us through at least some of the elements.














I know I started with some Idea-ology tissue wrap in the background, the Postale version, stuck on in scraps.  Over that, I added some torn book page scraps, gesso, and Distress Paints in (probably) Broken China/Tumbled Glass and Pumice Stone.














And I also remember very clearly deciding to do some finger painting.  That's how the gesso circles appeared... the larger ones swept around and the smaller ones simple dabbed on in one movement and lifted away to leave some dimension.














Next I added some teabag scraps and some charcoal pencil, smudged with my fingers...















... to add a touch of shading to the large circles and around some of the paper scraps.













Then my lovely walnut ink came into play - partly applied with the dipping pen, sometimes allowed to dribble and drip, and sometimes splattered on from the pen nib.

And I also used some of my much loved Indigo and Indanthrone Blue watercolours by Daniel Smith.  They are perfect for creating melancholy shadows.












I scribbled on some journalling with white pen - look closely, it's mostly over the teabag scraps - and then decided everything needed softening a little...















... so I applied Picket Fence Distress Crayon over all the texture, sometimes smudging it, and sometimes just leaving it in its natural state.















I love the combination of colour-softening and texture-highlighting that this achieved.















I couldn't resist adding some meadow grasses and flowers.  These are from Rubber Dance's Weed Love plate, and stamped in Archival ink.















They're such delightfully delicate and intricate images.
















I wanted the Queen Anne's Lace to have a touch more presence...















... so I added first of all some dark pen work...















... and then some highlights with white pen to those flower heads.















Finally, I sought out some Clippings fragments which fitted the thoughts underlying the page.













The phrases are linked in some cases by words added with the dipping pen and walnut ink.














None of it is particularly neat and tidy, but then life isn't neat and tidy, is it?  I wanted a sense of spontaneity and freedom, so I tried really hard not to try really hard with the writing!












I love how the texture of the watercolour cotton paper shows through in places, even after all those layers.















And my finger-painted circles make me happy...















... as of course do the clambering vines and twining grasses.














I had a semi-gloss gel medium with me in my travelling stash, rather than a matte one, so in sunlight you also get this rather magical glimmer in places.











I was cross at the time that I had no matte gel to hand, but in the end I rather like the effect of the glossier medium.  As you know, I've always loved trying to capture light in my work as well as shadows.

Thank you for spending some time with me here at Words and Pictures this weekend.  I hope you've enjoyed getting a closer look at some of what is going on in this page, and I hope you're all enjoying some "me-time" doing whatever it is which brings you joy.







There are patterns which emerge in one's life, circling and returning anew, an endless variation of a theme.
Jacqueline Carey

Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite.
Anaïs Nin

I'd like to enter this in Going Round in Circles at the That's Crafty Challenge Blog
And at Stamps and Stencils where they are In the Meadow this month