Stencilgirl November 2018 Project

I have been making many art cards this year (and that project isn't finished yet!). Occasionally however I suddenly get an urge to make art on a surface that is larger than 3 x 3"! Changing size in art making (also applies to quilts) gives you a new perspective and it also means you can use art supplies, specially stencils in this case, that are not so suitable for small backgrounds. The ladies on this journal spread are a perfect example of that. They feel very much at home on this 9 x 9" Bee Paper Mixed Media journal that I'm using for this art journalling spread that is my November project for Stencilgirl  Products®.

I was inspired by a quotation by William Wordsworth, that reads:"Thanks to the human heart by which we live, Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears, To me the meanest flower that blows can give, Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears. 

You can find a full step-by-step tutorial as well as a list of all the stencils I used for this spread, on the Stencilgirl® Talk site.

New York, New York 2016

In a wonderful moment of synchronicity the prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures this week was to use the letter N and to include an animal. You should have seen me sitting behind my desk and almost shouting YES at the computer screen.

As it happens, it's exactly two years ago since the trip to New York and the most iconic image I have taken away from it is this view, taken from our tour bus, of the woman with her small dog standing on a street corner in Peter Cooper Village on the east side of Manhattan. I still find it hard to put my finger on why she made such an impression on me but she did (you will have seen her before on this blog if you are a regular reader), and consciously or not my little Flora bears a striking resemblance to her (at the time we still had our previous dog). It was one of those pivotal moments in life that remain in your memory forever.

You can also see her in this video of the trip.

 So I knew it had to be New York in my A5 journal this week and the background was done using the TCW729 City Buildings stencil from The Crafters Workshop. In the foreground I used the NY skyline mask from The Ink Pad shop, located in New York itself.  That was pretty much it, apart from the addition of some luminescent pink and the photo of the little dog and her owner printed from my own photograph by Social Print Studio, as well as a New York themed washi tape.

If this was a book (and it isn't!) perhaps I should go looking for her but I would rather she retained her air of mystique, and I will remain wondering about her, her life, and her little dog.

Seven

The prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures was to use the number 7 and as an optional extra to add a border. At first I didn't feel like adding a border as the journal I'm working in is only small (A5 size) but I wasn't all that happy with my spread once it was done (hey, it happens!) and thought a border might help, and it did. It looks a lot better surrounded by that black.

 I started with the background that was done with acrylic paint and the L564 Impressionist Brush Texture stencil by Stencilgirl Products.  To this I added some stamping with a Dylusions stamp as well as with an art foamie called Ring Hopscotch designed by Balzer Designs.

I glued on the number 7 (from a piece of wrapping paper) onto previously painted deli paper and then added it to the pages as shown. Part of a quotation were done on a Dymo writer and self-adhesive transparant tape. It reads: "7 colours make a rainbow, 7 chords make a music, 7 days make a week". Also added was: "7 continents make a world", but that has now vanished into the border.

To make the border I used the Dylusions Journal Block (by Ranger)and a permanent black marker. I'm still not over the moon with the pages but this was a week where snow shovelling and dog walking in snowy conditions took up most of my time  and other art stuff sort of fell by the roadside.

The snow has now iced up and it's very slippery under foot. We managed a walk in the forest without finding a deer's hoof (unlike the previous 3 days!), but that might be because we kept Flora on a very long (15feet) lead. Hopefully when the snow has vanished we will be able to conduct a full search and clear up any deer remains that haven't been taken by foxes or other dogs. However more snow is expected by midday so all bets are off!

Colour Alchemy

It is probably true to say that if I get tired of colour I would also be tired of life. I don't foresee that happening in my lifetime. And colour combined with a grid is even better. So for my first Stencilgirl Project this year I have used both. These two pages could just as well be two quilts and maybe one day they will become exactly that.

When I'm working as Guest Designer I very often start work on two separate pages. Because I need to do step by step photography and write up exactly what I'm doing, it's a kind of safeguard to have two pages on the go, just in case I hit a snag or have a small emergency on one of them. But nothing untoward happened so I decided to feature both pages.

As always you can find a step by step tutorial for this project (and all my other projects as monthly Guest Designer for Stencilgirl Products) on the Stencilgirl Talk website, which also lists the stencils I used. These particular pages filled me with joy when I had finished them and they may well serve as inspiration for future work too, which is an unexpected bonus. For now the pages (both sized 9 x 12") have found a home in my huge vintage ledger on a background of black gesso.

It's wonderful that Stencilgirl Products are having me back as a monthly Guest Designer in 2f018. I would like to say a big THANK YOU to them for giving me this opportunity to share my work and I look forward to using their gorgeous stencils for more projects in the future.

Free as a Bird

This week's prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures was: Birds. The first thing to do in my A5 sized journal was to make the background with sky and forest related colours using the large stencil from Stencilgirl's October Club set. Once I was happy with how it looked I added the branches and leaves using the medium stencil from the same set.

Then it was time to add the birds. By this time I had enjoyed seeing MaryBeth Shaw's latest video on the Stencilgirl Products Facebook site where she demonstrated how to use washi tape collage to fill up shapes. I remembered I had some Stencilgirl Bits (as in the bits that are left over when cutting stencils) in the shape of birds so I used her methods to produce the birds on this spread. And what fun it was to put my collection of washi tapes to good use. This is a very versatile technique and I can't wait to use it some more. My birds turned out even better than I expected. They were adhered to the background with gloss gel medium.

 The birds were outlined with a black Stabilo All pencil and the leaves with a sparkly copper gel pen.

 The text was added with a Dymo writer.

The Witching Hour

It's a bit early but the prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures today was: Halloween. I'm not that keen but I love any excuse to throw in a skull into my artwork so that was what I did.  The skull itself was spray painted onto a newspaper page using stencil L253 Dia de los Muertos Mask by Stencilgirl Products with black spray ink (I used Liquitex).

The background started with painting the pages with black gesso. I then added pattern using Radiant Gel paints and stencils L456 Buenos Aires, L458 Toledo, both designed by Nathalie Kalbach, and the large stencil from the June 2017 Stencilgirl Club. The skull was glued to the pages (using matte medium) as shown and coloured in with water soluble oil pastels.

I found the three witches on a collage sheet (from Alpha Stamps) and they too were glued on (using a glue stick) as shown. The text was stamped onto vintage paper using a collection of alphabet stamp sets and added to the page.

Finally I spattered on some pink fluorescent paint.

I Wish

The months seem to fly past and yet again it's time to share my monthly project as Guest Designer for Stencilgirl Products. This month it's a bit of a strange one. The project started with an upset, then deteriorated further and I thought I would have to start from scratch. But somehow it did eventually emerge (like the butterflies featured) and start to acquire a look I liked. I decided to go ahead and share it anyway as having to rescue a spread is something we don't often think about but that happens to us all.

You can find a full step-by-step tutorial (a bit tongue in cheek!) on the Stencilgirl Talk website together with the stencils I used. I also rubber stamped on the pages using a stamp from the Marks set by Nathalie Kalbach.

The disaster was entirely my own fault. There is a strict rule in my studio that tops have to be put back on things as soon as I am finished with them. And yet! I had gessoed this spread (in my A4 Dylusions art journal) and while I was waiting for it to dry I thought I would just add some glitter to another project. You probably can guess what happened next. My sleeve swiped the entire pot of glitter and it fell right on top of the wet gesso. And that's where most of it stayed. I had never realized before how sharp the edges of glitter are but it proved to be nay on impossible to go ahead with my usual techniques. To find out how I managed to tame the glitter go to Stencilgirl Talk!

The event also  inspired the words I used on the pages. They are addressed mainly to myself. I have learned over the years I have been art making and exhibiting, not to be affected too much by outside criticisms but still wage daily war with my hyper critical inner voice, which of course gave me a right telling off about the glitter disaster.

Abundance

The prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures this week was: Abundance. I used a quotation by Epicurus that reads: "Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance". I started the pages in a 5.5 x 8.25" journal by brayering on the paint, and then splashed on some fluorescent pink for good measure.

Stencilling was added using L568 Crazy Quilts Bold & Beautiful stencil designed by Andrew Borloz for Stencilgirl Products. 

 I also added rubber stamping with stamps (the circle as well as the face) from the EEA01 stampset designed by Everything Art for PaperArtsy. I added collage with the image from an advert who looked suitably joyful as per the quotation. The words themselves were done on a Dymo writer. I did some outlining with black and white markers as well as watersoluble oil pastels.

The old Greeks knew a thing or two about life and this is a quotation that speaks to me particularly at the moment. The things you enjoy in life change over time and if you don't pay attention enough you keep going with what you used to enjoy instead of what gives you joy in the present moment. I love making these spreads in my art journals and it's the one thing I am keeping up with at the moment. So I'm taking heed and instead of doing what I think I should be doing I'm engaging in activities that give me an abundance of fun.

A Shadow of Your Former Self

The latest prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures was to: use a silhouette. My silhouette ended up being a lot more interesting than the way it started. It was a magazine image which was completely black. I glued it on to the background with a glue stick and then rubbed it with a baby wipe to adhere it better. The baby wipe removed some of the black,  and all kinds of colours from brown to grey started to appear. I must admit to being really taken with the effect and I will keep it in mind for future work. It did make her look a bit like Dark Vader in the end as someone helpfully commented!.

 The background (made in the small Peacock journal) started with white and gold gesso. I scraped on the gold while the white was still wet. I then used a variety of colours and the large stencil from the August 2015 Stencilgirl Club.  I added collage with text and images from a vintage Technical Drawing book as well as with deli paper that had been pre-stencilled using the large stencil from the January 2017 Club.

I also stamped on the background using one of the stamps from the Kaffee Klatsch stamp set, designed by Nathalie Kalbach, as well as one of the stamps from the Patterns H, Set 113 set by Impress Me Now.

An alphabet set of stamps was used to add the text: "A shadow of your former self". Finally I added some postage stamps (all Hungarian) in toning colours and I also dripped some fluorescent pink acrylic ink down the pages.

A Place called Elsewhere

 This week's prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures is: travel. My first impulse on reading it was to go to New York or Venice but there are so many other places I have been lucky enough to visit so this spread is focussing on Paris, mainly because I had a lovely paper napkin featuring the Eiffel Tower and was looking for an opportunity to use it. Of course you don even have to visit anywhere in person, you can go there any time you fancy in your mind and the quotation I used refers to it. It reads: "Forgive me for not being all there. My mind has found a place called elsewhere".

I'm working in a small (5.5 x 8") lined notebook/journal with peacocks on the cover and in order to make the pages a bit sturdier I'm glueing them together in pairs as well as applying a liberal helping of gesso before I start. The background uses the S374 Stone and Mortar Version 1 stencil by Stencilgirl Products. I also added words from S261 Fridge Poetry stencil.  I then collaged with Tim Holtz's tissue wrap Postale, as well as vintage map images and the paper napkin mentioned above. .

I added a tulip themed person from a collage sheet by Alpha Stamps and also added some travel related sayings from a rub-on sheet, also by Tim Holtz. The 2 postage stamps with ships on them seemed to suit the travel theme.

Sadly you can't see the sparkle these pages have on the pictures but I recently indulged in some wonderful new paint by  Art Alchemy (Prima) called Acrylic Paint Sparks and oh, how it glitters and shines! I used the colour Fairy Wings on these pages which is a lime green colour.

Mood of the Moment

I finally managed to finish my spread for last week's prompt on Joggles Art Journal Adventures just before the new one will appear at midday today. The prompt told us to: transform the edge of your page. The reason it took so long was the amount of layers on these pages. I tend to let my pages dry au natural rather than using a heat gun, and the cold, damp weather last week here in Scotland didn't help.  The layers also mean that it is hard to see the collaging I did in the background. It consisted of paper from Flow magazine, vintage cards and receipts as well as a transparency of one of my own photographs. I also added washi tape although the only sign of that now is the texture. The imagery on them has mainly disappeared under other layers, and paint. Touches of fluorescent paints in pink and orange helped to brighten the mood of the pages.

I used the large stencil from the 2017 February Stencilgirl Club and also the large one from September 2014 in the background.  The latter one also provided the blueprint for the edge of the page on the right hand side. The spread was done in the very last pages of my A4 Dylusions art journal so that I won't have to deal with that edge in future spreads.

Rubber stamping was added for more texture. Both are from unknown sources which means that there is no name on them and the packaging has long since disappeared.

I added further collage on the top layer using the bird image (from Country Living magazine) and the words (no idea where I cut them out from). I'm an inveterate cutter out of whatever catches my eye at any one time.

The shapes and images were outlined with black and white markers. 

Be like a Postage Stamp

 Last week's prompt on Colour Me Positive 2017 was: perseverance. I found a quotation I loved and that gave me a great excuse to go wild with the postage stamps. It reads: "Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there" (Josh Billings). I started with collage and used images from a magazine, pieces of a 7Gypsies tissue wrap as well as tissue wrap by Tim Holtz. I also added deli paper that I had previously stencilled using the large stencil from the November Stencilgirl Club , the L435 Ancient Marks as well as L301 Circles Circles stencil all by Stencilgirl Products. Vintage music paper was also added to the mix.

I also used the following stencils in the background: L467 Amsterdam and L470 Granada, both designed by Nathalie Kalbach for Stencilgirl Products.

 A stamp from the Kaffee Klatsch stamp set designed by Nathalie Kalbach brought a circular element to the pages..

The quotation was printed out from my computer onto vintage paper. I also added some lovely gold paint (from Pebeo) to the spread as well as those gorgeous postage stamps from France.

I worked in the A4 Dylusions art journal for this spread.