Art Journal Prompts: Week 10 - Magic

Good Morning All

This weeks prompt was Magic.

Magic can conjure up a number of different possible interpretations, from Harry Potter through to mythical creatures like fairies.  I didn't want to go down this route for my journal page.  I decided that I want to go back in time and look at a more historical representation of Magic, so I had a look at Alchemy.

To give you a bit more of an insight into Alchemy here is a quote from livescience.com:

James Randi notes in his "Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural," "Beginning about the year 100 and reaching its flower in medieval times, alchemy was an art based partly upon experimentation and partly upon magic. Early investigators of natural processes centered their search on a mythical substance they knew as philosopher's stone, which was supposed to possess many valuable attributes such as the power to heal, to prolong life, and to change base metals into precious metal — such as gold."

These are the elements that I wanted to bring to my page.

Materials

Mod Podge

Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain

Metallic Brush Markers

Metallic Writing Pen - Gold

Walnut Ink Crystals

Cut out your images, and edge them using the walnut stain ink pad.  Using a dauber, add a little vintage photo ink around the edges of the image, bringing it towards the centre.  Scrunch up each picture and unfold (this gives the appearance of being handled many times).

Glue all the images down to the page using Mod Podge, being sure to overlap them.

Using the dauber, add more walnut stain ink around the edge of the whole page.

Sprinkle a few of the walnut ink crystals onto your page, and spritz with water allowing a few moments for the crystals to dissolve and run.  If it starts to look like it may end up a little dark then you can use some per towel to sponge up some of the ink.

Using the table below and the brush pens, add some symbols along all four edges of the page.  It will add more interest if you use two different colours of pens to do this.

Add your quote in using the writing pen and you are finished.

I am including here the images that I used for my page to save you looking through Google for them.

Any questions or comments on this page, leave them below

Good Bye Until Next Time

Wanderlust - February Round Up

Good Morning All

Here we are again, time for another month's roundup of Wanderlust.  There have been some really interesting classes this month, and different ways of looking at things.

If you haven't already signed up I would definitely encourage you to do so, there is plenty of time to catch up with the classes that you have missed so far.

I think it is time to move on and show you all what I have created this month.

This page was from week 5 and it was all about composition building and if focal points are necessary.  There are many different types of artist and types of art, not all of these need a focal point to be great works of art (as you will see with one of my later pieces).  We also learned about balancing our work by ensuring what was done to one side of the work must be done on the other side to create an equilibrium.

This was week 6's page, and was all about creating a love letter for someone that we cared about deeply.  We were introduced to a number of techniques including background composition and image transfer.  I enjoyed making this page as it really made me think about the layers in a project and how they can show through from one to the next or not.

These three pages were part of week 7 and they show the gradual progression from study through to a final art piece.

We had to study how nature looked, and see how it could be replicated in a simpler form using brush strokes.  The first page is a study in pen of what I could observe of the actual leaves and the patterns that they held.  The second is a study in acrylic ink trying to simplify the shapes yet still keep the look of nature.  The third and final page is my layered attempt at incorporating those simplified brush strokes and patterns into an abstract bouquet.

As you can see they are all very different pages, but I have enjoyed creating them all.  They are getting me to really think about my art and all the different styles that I can achieve.

That's all for this round up; any comments or questions leave them in the comments below.

Good Bye Until Next Time

Art Journal Prompts: Week 09 - Material

Good Morning All

I know this post is a little later than usual but theres been a lot going on this week.

This weeks prompt was material; I don't have a lot of material at home and I was struck by a different interpretation and inspiration for this prompt.  It was the Madonna song 'Material Girl' which came to me and in fact it stuck in my head for hours afterwards.  I know that it is not what most people would have picked as an interpretation but sometimes you have to try and think outside the box and not be so literal with the prompts.

Materials
Decoart White Gesso
The Works - Self Adhesive Gems
The Works - Gold Washi Tape
The Works - Gold Acrylic Paint
Old Receipts
Mod Podge
Range Archival Ink - Brown

Collage a selection of receipts onto your journal page, making sure to use different types and stick them at different angles to create interest.

Add a layer of slightly watered down gesso.  This will help to knock back the contrast of the receipts for when we come to stamp our quote later.

Dry brush on a layer of gold acrylic over the gesso, this will add a shine to the page and make it tie in better with the theme.

Add a number of the self adhesive gems to your page, you can add as many as you want though it looks better visually if you work in odd numbers.

Add a stip of gold washi again to really amp up the money/material goods theme

Using Google, collect a selection of images of money and credit cards.  Fussy cut these out and layer them on your page, sticking them down with Mod Podge.

Stamp your sentiment using the Archival ink

I know this is a short and simple page, but I think that it really helps to get the message across.

As usual, any comments or questions below.

Good Bye Until Next Time

Art Journal Prompts: Week 08 - Spread Your Wings

Good Afternoon All

This weeks prompt was Spread Your Wings; this idea has several different connotations from exploring yourself to actually physical exploring of the world.  I wasn't entirely sure where I want to take my interpretation so I did some Googling to try and find an appropriate quote which would fit this idea.

Most of the quotes that I found were about exploring yourself and seeing how far you could take you, so this is what I went with.

The quote that I used was:

Until You Spread Your Wings You'll Never Know How Far You Can Fly

In the Facebook group that I do these prompts with, there are a number of different kinds of artists and crafters so I wanted to do a different technique that they may not have come across or tried before.  This technique was Caught in Crystal, which produces amazing different backgrounds every time it is produced.

I have used Caught in Crystal before to create cards so I knew the perfect die cut to use to really highlight the effects.  You can see below the effect that it does create.

The materials used this week are:

PVA Glue

Acetate

White Tissue Paper

Brushos - Scarlet, Brilliant Red, Orange, Yellow, Lemon

Mica Powders

Glitter - Gold, Silver
Stickit
Stazon Ink Pad - Black

I've chosen to go with a warm palette, though this would work just as well with a cooler palette, you just need to adjust the colours or mica powders and glitter to match.

Take a sheet of clear acetate and cut it to the size of your page.

Take your sheet of white tissue paper and cut it to about 1 cm bigger than your acetate and crumple it up into a ball; unfold and crumple your ball at least four times.

Cover your acetate with a thickish layer of glue (say about 3-4 mm).  Make sure that you spread it evenly over the whole surface.

Sprinkle the surface of the wet glue with your Brushos making sure to get a good distribution of the colours.

Lightly spritz the piece with some water to activate the Brusho crystals.  If you need to add more colour do so at this point to ensure the whole surface is covered with some colour.  Sprinkle your glitter and mica powders over the surface to add interest.

Sorry I didn't get a picture of the next step, but what you have to do is take your sheet of tissue paper and gently push it down into the glue so that all areas of the tissue are stuck down.

You'll now need to leave this to dry, due to the thickness of the glue this can take anywhere from a few hours to overnight.

Die cut two copies of your shape, one in black and the other in gold (if using a cooler palette silver would be better).  

Once your background has dried trim off the excess tissue paper to neaten the edges, then turn over and see what exciting background you have created.

Before you stick your die cut down hold it over the background to see which end of the background has the most interest showing through the shape.  

NB: As the die cut that I am using is quite an intricate one I am using Stickit to glue my shape down.

You want to stick your gold die cut down first as we are going to be using this as a shadow effect against the black.  Once the gold shape is down stick the black one down slightly offsetting it from the gold one.

Stamp your quote in black Stazon being careful not to smudge as you do.  Once fully stamped give it a quick blast with a heat gun to set.

Finish up by sticking your completed piece into your journal using high tack double sided.

Any questions or comments leave them below and I will come back to you.

Good Bye Until Next Time

Art Journal Prompts: Week 07 - Fill Your Heart With.....

Good Afternoon All.

The prompt for this week was the phrase 'Fill Your Heart With.....'


I went for the quote:

"Fill Your Heart With What's Important And Be Done With All The Rest"

Like my Steampunk box that I did for the CROP challenge, I didn't want to go with something that was really bright and colourful for my heart sentiment so I went back to what I know which is dark and grungy.

One of my favourite Mixed Media artists Andy Skinner has done some amazing things with grungy hearts so took my lead from him to create this masterpiece:

It's got a really nice distressed background that looks like its been through the mill.  This and the crackled heart really I think go hand in hand with the quote that I used.

This weeks materials are:

Prima Heavy White Gesso
DecoArt Acrylic Paint - Silver Metallic, Quinacridone Gold, Paynes Gray, Pthalo Turquoise, Gold Interference
DecoArt Antiquing Cream - Carbon Black
DecoArt Crackle Glaze
Treasure Gold Gilt Wax - Renaissance
Table Salt
Silicone Glue

Firstly prime your page with some gesso to give some stability as we are going to be working with a lot of wet media today and allow to dry.

Paint a layer of the silver acrylic over the page ensuring that you have good coverage, then heat dry with a heat gun.

Make a loose wash using one drop of the Pthalo Turquoise and one drop of the Paynes Gray.  This stage of the process we need to work pretty quickly so that we get a reasonably even coverage on our page.  Using the wash cover the page entirely working in stripes from the top of the page to the bottom.  Sprinkle the salt over  the wash, more heavily in some areas than in others.

The salt technique is an old water colour trick to remove some of the colour in the small areas that the salt is present.  In our case we are using it to create the effect of pitting in the metal.

Normally you would leave this to dry naturally, however it can be heated with a heat gun if you can't wait.  Either way once the piece is dry rub all of the salt off (it can be kept for the stage further on in the process).

Make another wash using just the Paynes Gray; brush this on in even stripes again working from the top to the bottom of the page and allow to dry.  Don't worry about brush strokes as in this layer and the next we want them to show as they make the overall look of brushed metal.

Brush on another layer of the Paynes Gray wash and use an old dish sponge to streak it down the page, then allow to dry.  This will really enhance the look of the brushed metal.

Make a wash using the Quinacridone Gold and paint this over the page.  Working quickly sprinkle the salt left over from the first use over the the wet page and leave to dry.  Once dry again brush off the salt from the page (this time it can be discarded).

Using a fairly dry brush streak some of the Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide over the page to add some highlights and brightness.  You don't want to be too heavy handed with this as the colours wont create as nice a visual blend.

Stamp the quote using your Black Archival ink, then give a quick blast with a heat gun to ensure it is set.

We are now going to move onto the heart which is going to serve as the centre piece for our page.

Paint the heart with two coats of Deep Madder to ensure a nice even coverage; while the paint is still wet sponge on a little of the gold acrylic to add some interest.  If you go too heavy with the gold then you can sponge over a little more of the Deep Madder to tone it down.  Once this has all dried lightly streak on a little of the Gold interference paint, then allow the piece to dry completely.

Gently brush on a thickish layer of the crackle glaze over your heart.  Try not to work the glaze too much as you add it on as this can affect the crackles.  You then need to leave this to dry and crack, and depending on the relative temperature and humidity of the room it can take up to several hours.  DO NOT be tempted to heat dry this layer as you will stop the crackles from appearing.

Once the piece is completely dry and crackled, paint a layer of the Black Antiquing cream over the whole lot making sure that you get it down into the cracks.

Using a slightly moist paper towel wipe back the antiquing cream until it just shows in the cracks, then lightly streak with some of the Treasure Gold wax.

Take the wire and wrap it around the heart, making sure that you go through the bumps at least once.  You can as  you wrap the heart add some beads to create interest; if you do decide to add them then don't go for bright colours, use something which complements the overall tone.

Use some silicone glue to stick the heart down to your page (this encapsulates the wire ends and should stop them from poking through your page.

You will need to leave your page to dry for several hours so that the silicone glue can set off.

Any questions or comments on this weeks project leave them below.

Good Bye Until Next Time