My Eyes

The problem with waiting to upload my spreads in the art journal is that after a few days I lose track of how I made them! These pages were made for The Documented Life Project 2016 where the theme last Saturday was still the May one: A Look through my Eyes - gaining new perspective. The art challenge was to play with a stamp. I took that to heart and played with many stamps.

Before that though I made the background using acrylic paints and the L265 Flowers, Pomegranates and Leaves stencil from Stencilgirl. To that I added glued on imagery from a paper napkin with flowers and some vintage sheet music text.

Then I started stamping as you can see with masked figures, little circular images, eyes as well as the word JOY. I  added the quotation "What is this life....." as well.  I also used some foam stamps which I have had for ages and which I think came from a home decorating store.

I knew I had the eyes image (from a fashion magazine) in my stash and they proved to be just what I needed for this spread, just like the mask I added on the left hand page. I spend some time in the winter evenings cutting all kinds of things that attract me from a variety of magazines. I admit that I buy some magazines just for the sole purpose of using them for collage?!

I stencilled with my large circular sequin waste using white and then added the stamped quotation which was done onto vintage paper, torn out and glued on. The spread was made last weekend but the words were oh so appropriate for this entire sunny week.

Write Your Own Story

 

The Documented Life Project 2015 is continuing with the November theme of: Stencils, Stamps and Masks. We are using Masks as our art challenge and "Mask"arade as the journalling prompt. I took my inspiration partly from a UnMasked themed sketchbook I did for the Sketchbook Project some years ago as well as a more recent one called Passioneyes.

Very conveniently just the right stencils arrived the day before I started this spread, as part of Stencilgirl Club. When you are a member of the Club there is another advantage every month. The designer of that month's stencils has a full tutorial in the form of a PDF or Video (or both!) specially for the members. November's stencils were designed by Seth Apter and I used his video as the base for this spread in my Dylusions journal. That means starting with a black gessoed background which was a new departure for me. Then I went to work adding textures following his instructions.

For my masks I used two images cut from magazines, one a face and the other a figure. Both were put onto the page and I then feathered out from them with white paint to make the outlines. They were then coloured in with Silk Glazes which meant the background could still be seen vaguely but the colour was a contrast to the rest of the pages and the white.

I knew I had some cards featuring a mask and one of those was glued on to the left of the spread. Inks in various colours were dripped down the pages to add some cohesion and I stamped on the words: "Don't hide behind a mask". For the text on the facing page I used one of Seth's stencils this month from the Club, reading: "Write Your Own Story".

I outlined with Stabilo All black pencil, a black marker as well as a white one and added the postage stamps. Sometimes I spend more times selecting the stamps than on the entire spread. I usually have an idea of what I want from the stamps but it isn't always easy to find suitable ones, and usually I have to compromise, but these came close!

 

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