Art Journal Update

I have been having So Much Fun with Donna Downey's Inspiration Wednesday

Art Journal classes (one every other Wednesday for 2015)

of course, I'm two lessons behind

meh, oh well... it's about the fun learning process and I'm having a great time

I'm just going to list what I remember doing different from the class

and these are in reverse order of classes (most recent shown first)

the most current one... well I changed A LOT about it since I didn't have the same paints or the paint marker and I don't care for the face stencils so I swapped that for this very cool bird, used an old Methodist Hymnal for my printed parts and used this awesome diamond stencil instead of the script, oh and I added that black framework that I think really makes it stand out.

this one I used the exact same paints as Donna but she went one layer further with black & I decided to keep it more nature-ish, I went with smaller wood letters so I could change up the sentiment by adding "me", and on the flip of the inclusion (back side of ing) I wrote "a better version of" so when it's flipped it reads

"be a better version of me", I also added butterflies {I obviously have a problem there}

 I didn't have all the supplies Donna had... made my own "wall tape" using cardstock & a hole punch, I didn't like all the black she had so I just used the Fine Liner to make tie-shaped scribbles, wrote my own thing on the left side and I added BLING!

This one I chose to use this paper that I've been hoarding for many years now because I love it so very much, the butterfly I stamped & hand-cut (it's double sided as well, kinda a sandwich so you can see this exact same thing on the flip side) 

 now This One, oh this one I adored and the same niece did as well, so our first shot at it again 16x20 canvas but in my Art Journal I changed up the tags to metal rimmed round and skipped the spray painting, used a different stencil on the inclusion and I don't have copper metallic paint so I went with gold and I left off the inspiration word but I'll tell you, the one hanging in my living room says

"Breathe it in, Let it out"

 this one is SOOOO not my favorite or any where even near "like" but hey, I did it

I used a stencil I had on hand, added the butterflies & made them this yellowish/greenish color and added the huge floral stamp

 this one I didn't change much on, I used orange, a different sentiment, the dotted stencil and for the nest I used old ripped up blue jeans - This one my 13-yo niece & I both loved so much that we made 16x20 canvases

Well now, on to the lesson from two weeks ago!

forever thankful for YOU

boy I haven't gotten to play with Unity's Friends with Flair for some time

just been busy busy busy

but today I didn't go to work, so I made time to play

and relax. I really needed this mental health day!

First I created the Blue & Green Background using Gelatos.

Next I used Donna Downey's bloom group stencil with a baby wipe to remove

the Gelatos in the flower areas.

I applied two Purple Gelatos using a stipple brush and mixed Brown with Dark Green for the stem which I also stippled on.

Using Unity Stamp Company's Thankful for You, I stamped just the sentiment

with StazOn in Timber Brown.

Last I used Unity Stamp Company's Direction of Happiness with Golden

Titanium White for the three little butterflies.

fly bird fly

Saturday & Sunday I was working on some crafty projects when I got the urge to change directions and make something with this awesome Donna Downey Bird Stencil.

But I resisted the urge to pull off what I was working on, I hate partially done projects!

Then there I was innocently zipping around on facebook when I noticed 

HEY

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge March challenge... Birds of a Feather!

This is a 8x10 canvas

first I pained the background with a whispy mix of Dark Titanium White & Neutral Grey

then I applied a layer of Teal mixed with Glazing Liquid & let it sit for a couple of minutes then whiped it off with a baby wipe

I hand painted the tree using Raw Umber but it was kinda blah

so I grabed the Raw Umber Light & mixed with one of my favorite mediums Course Texture Gel

Next I painted on the leaves with Light Green & Sap Green Hue

Using Donna Downey's Grunge Halftone Dots, I randomly painted them using the Dark Titanium White

and added a little High Flow Carbon Black & a few light splatters

I stenciled the bird using Quinacridone Red

Using a Fineliner & the Teal paint mixed with Airbrush Medium, I finished it off with the sentiment

ADORNit - wood plaque

Oh My Gosh! When I opened up this package I was GIDDY with excitement!

It immediately came to me what I wanted to do this this ADORNit
Wood Plaque Life is Beautiful

I started out by using Liqiutex Gesso over the entire wood base piece

Setting aside the wood letters for later use

Next I applied Twinkling H20's over the entire surface, working from the sky down to the grass

I hit it with the heat embossing tool to make sure all colors were completely dried before moving on

No photo for this step: using Unity's Stamp Company's Wild Poppy Silhouette (Donna Downey was the artist), I colored it quickly using Faber-Castell PITT artist pen big brush in Black and stamped for some faint floral images.

Using Donna Downey's Stencil with Faber-Castell PITT artist pen big brush in Black,

I carefully colored in just those flowers (the poppies) on top of the stamped poppies.

This step took quite a while and I used a tapping movement instead of brushing.

I found I had two chipboard Swallows from UmWow Studios which I painted

using Twinkling H20's in Black, along with a floral piece I painted using Twinkling H20's in rainforest. Once dry, I applied to the wood base using Yes!Paste

No photo for this step: I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks on the letting as the word "beautiful" was slightly darker than all the other letters, I just kept using various shades of brown until I got the look I wanted.

Using Yes!Paste, I positioned all letting where I thought they would look best.

Here's another view: