Warning: Hold onto your hat...it's a long one!
Today I had a good ol' play in the children's board book that I started altering for the eclectic Paperie Get Altered challenge. This book is already so thick and I have three more double pages to finish. I'll need a bungee cord to keep it closed :) The altered book is entitled Flight Risk so today I continued on with the winged things theme.
I started with the white gessoed page and all I knew was that I wanted to include the bird illustration and some of the Authentique Renew 8 x 8 paper pack. I loved the colour of this greenish coloured paper so it was torn to make the grass layer. Before adhering it with gel medium, the sky section was scribbled over with Neocolor II watercolour crayons, using water and a brush to spread it around.
To add even more colour tones to the sky, Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress inks were applied over TCW's Mini Fence Frame and Mini Collage Numbers stencils. Vintage Photo DI was applied through the small Dylusions Diamond of a Border stencil. Next came the application of my new Wendy Vecchi embossing paste (which is as lovely to work with as everyone has been saying) with an old gift card through the Dylusions Chequered Dots stencil. It was left to dry (which happens quickly compared to modelling paste I've used before) and then was given a little colour. The circles have Pan Pastel and Faber-Castell Big Brush pen on them, charcoal on the left side for a shadow, and doodling on top and to outline. The checks have Black Soot DI on them, strengthened with the Black Big Brush pen, and given white dots with the white Big Brush pen.
Now it was all about adding texture to the background. A little drywall tape was cut roughly and applied in three places. My favourite script stamp from Inkadinkado was partially stamped here and there using Rich Cocoa Memento ink, as was the Tim Holtz smudgey dot stamp.. The dotty stamp from Studio 490 Seriously Art set was rolled over a few places with Archival Coffee ink. I'm really not looking for perfect or even recognizable images. Messy and multiple stampings with one inking are great. I keep a container with some of my faves right on my desk, nice and handy so I don't overthink. Watery black and white gesso were used to create the lines and scrapes using an old gift card. The Big brush pens were once again enlisted to darken the outside edges of the pages, the top of the grass, and to outline the checked pattern below.
While things were drying, I started working on the images. Birdie, from Paper Whimsy, needed a top hat, a Glossy Accented eye, some torn clouds from the backside of the grass paper, and something to stand on which is actually the top pattern of the same paper where it tears out of the pad. The decision was made to have him pulling the wagon which was in my bin of ephemera from various sources.
Next came the loading of the wagon. I had a sheet of mop-up paper which I had used when spraying some Dylusions sprays in my larger journal. Love the colour combo of orange pink and yellow so various hearts were cut from the coloured bits on the paper. A slit cut in the wagon, allowed some to be popped through so they looked like they were actually inside it. Black Soot was inked around the edges of the hearts so they would remain distinct when they were overlapped. A small gratitude banner was hand lettered and cut to attach to the back of the wagon with baker's twine. Who wouldn't be grateful for a wagon load of blessings?
The Donna Downey Empowered Words sentiment was stamped on white cardstock with Versafine and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. A hand drawn checked border was added to the outside and Pan Pastel was used to colour the inside. Now I was left with two thoughts which collided. Where did Birdie's wagon of hearts come from and what wonderful thing was happening? Why, it was raining love and blessings, of course! A few more hearts were punched from the mop-up paper, adhered under the clouds and given dashed lines to show them falling. Awesome day! The final steps to complete the pages were a date stamp, more doodling and outlining, and watery gesso circles made with lids.
This journal spread makes me happy partly because of the way it evolved without a plan, partly because it stayed ugly for a long time before I actually liked it, and partly because I love the message and vignette. It makes me smile...hope it does the same for you! Thanks for visiting, for reading such a long post, and for your wonderful comments. That all makes me appreciate my blessings :)
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie
To view some of the products I used making this piece, click on the thumbnails below to magically land in the eclectic Paperie shop at the right stop.
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