Friday, February 22, 2013

I Have a NEW Obsession!

I can't believe that I never tried this before!  I mean, I used to do it as a kid and loved it, but never pursued it beyond those early years.  So, what is my new obsession?  It's  ART JOURNALING!  

I joined Mona's Art Challenges over at Your Paper Pantry.   Most of us are beginners with this and the challenges not too difficult.  My mind, though, couldn't adjust to thinking freely, so to speak, when working on my art pages.   In scrapbooking, I needed everything to be perfect---colors, embellies, etc--all had to match and fit 'just so' on the page.  Not so in mixed media/art journaling.  There's so much freedom.   If a mistake is made, then I use it as part of the page. 

I thought I'd share the first four challenges that we've done so far:

Challenge 1:  Buy a journal and alter the cover.  This is what I came up with:

I gessoed the chipboard cover then applied layers of torn, printed tissue paper-adhering them with the Gesso.  The word JOURNAL was done by putting chipboard letters beneath the tissue paper and pushing the paper down, around and in-between all the letters--not easy considering the tissue paper was wet and wanted to tear.  I then painted over the raised letters with silver paint.  I used Staz-On ink to stamp ART and CREATE!  After that, I just had fun adding splashes of color here and there, creating circles with the end of a papertowel tube and finally saying--it's done!

Index Card Challenge 1: to create a background on an index card using paint and saran wrap.  I haven't done that yet.

Challenge 2:   Write a Permission Slip that would allow me to let  myself go and get creative in my journal.   So, here's my Permission Slip:
I painted the back of the front cover a salmon pink then just added the dot stamp and outlined the dots with black.  I typed up my permission slip and cut it into strips, then applied them to the page.  I used Scrabble letters for the word ART.  It's a very simple page compared to the cover. 

Every challenge has an index card challenge that we'll be doing something with at the end. 

The Index Card Challenge 2 was to create a background using wax paper.   I haven't done that one yet either! 

Now, onto Challenge 3:   Because we are now in February and it's the month of LOVE, our challenge was to create a page using some red and hearts.  We could use any other colors as well.   We also had to use Gelatos (oil pastels) or an equivalent on the page and journal about what love means to me.  Here's my take:
I decided to do a two page 'layout' for this one.  This is the left side.  One both pages I used heart-embossed paper towels for the background along with the key tissue paper.  It was tricky applying the paper towel with Gesso, but I did it.  I then added some red mesh material that once held oranges!  I outlined the hearts with a black gelato crayon.  I also added heart doilies, some words from a sheet of Fancy Pants paper and outlined them with a black gelato crayon.  I also did splashes of gold and silver as well using various stamps.  The butterflies and flowers are canvas that I painted, added dimension paint around the edges.  I wrote what love means to me on ordinary paper and glued it on.  The stamp with double keys was stamped with black Staz-On ink.

As I was doing this page, I was not liking the color red---there's too much of it, but it is growing on me--the more I look at it.  I did add a photo of me and my husband from our anniversary last year. 

Index Card Challenge 3:   Create an index card using the oil pastel scratching technique.  (Remember as kids and using crayons to cover an entire piece of paper, then applying a layer of black over that?  Then it was scratched revealing the colors beneath.)   Well, that's what this challenge is.  Guess what?  Haven't done that yet either.

So, onto the latest challenge---

Challenge 4:  This challenge was fun and brought back memories as well.  The challenge was to create a collage about our style using magazine cutouts, computer printouts, etc.  We also had to add texture.  We could use any colors we wanted.  At first I wondered how I was going to do it, but then I just started cutting and gluing and viola!   The only journaling we had to do was describing our style.   So, here it is:
 The large flowers were cut from an old sheet of embossed K&Co. paper which I've had in my stash for several years.  I used a mix of teal and greens for the background and applied pearl white with a sponge to create 'clouds' of sorts.  I downloaded images of a birdbath, flowers, old shoes, statue, and a fairy garden to create my garden collage.  I added a 3D bird and butterfly for texture.   I just simply wrote that my style is always changing, day to day, mood to mood, season to season.  Simply put.

Mona puts up challenges the 1st and 15th of each month.  If you're interested, stop by and join in on the fun.   I know I'm glad I did.
Thanks for looking!

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