21 Secrets-Carded, Soul Mirrored, Jet Setted, and Paper Cut

These are the pages from the last three workshops at the 21 Secrets playground that I attended, plus another paper cut butterfly girl that I designed and cut, expanding on the butterfly pattern used in the Chinese Paper Cutting class with Emma Peabody. Unless otherwise noted, I use Golden Fuid Acrylics and matte gel medium on my pages. Also, I am not sharing everything I've learned, but merely how I myself chose to use what I've learned in my attempts to put the info into practice. I hope you enjoy my attempts! :)

Jet Set Journaling: Soul Journal Style with Sarah Whitmire-A journal page in my Moleskine journal, using art materials, put together in a kit that fits in my purse, to take with me when I'm traveling or sitting in waiting rooms, etc, so I can do art anywhere. I don't like to do art in front of people though, so mine will probably be used mostly down by the pond. :)

The butterfly girl is another one of my paper cuttings, cut from pale pink parchment paper. The quote is torn out of a book by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The word down the side is kind of a stylized "FAITH", using a zig calligraphy marker. I used watercolor pencils for the background and ink pads over the top.

The Art Journal As Soul Mirror with Effy Wild-This spread is also in my Moleskine journal and I did it using the the meditation and writing about finding out what my purpose/passion is in the workshop. I love writing stream of consciousness thoughts down and then covering them up with paint. Who knew that I would love that?  I gessoed the pages, then wrote all over them, spread red, yellow, and magenta paint all over them with an old credit card, used gel medium to glue down tissue papers and a magazine picture and words (a Renoir portrait and an ad from Marie Claire Magazine), and stamped the other words on with Stazon ink and alphabet stamps. I purposely left some of my writing showing through. I got the word Confident a little crooked, so I just went with it and deliberately made the other words crooked, and I like it, because, after all, I am a little crooked and quirky myself. :)

Chinese Paper Cutting with Emma Peabody-This is the first butterfly girl I tried, where I expanded on the butterfly pattern shared in the class. I cut her out of pale yellow parchment paper, and she turned out too large for the page I had intended to use her on, so I put her on these pages in my Moleskine journal. The background wasn't gessoed. I had used up some blue excess paint to cover the pages, then later used an old credit card to work magenta and yellow paint over the blue. I like it! I may, or may not, add some words later...or some other embellishment, but I kind of like it simple and plain. We'll see...

Get Carded with Dawn Sokol- (Using old credit/key cards in art)-Okay this piece has a whole other completed piece underneath, and I was finally free enough and brave enough to completely gesso over it and start all over, because it wasn't working for me and I just did not like it. I've never been able to cover anything over before, and I'm so proud of me! :) Underneath the pears and green background is a red, yellow, gold, and white piece, containing a paper cutting, both positive and negative shapes, but somehow it just didn't work, so I bit the bullet and obliterated it. :/

This piece is on a heavy watercolor paper. I think it's like 300# cold press. Anyway, I gessoed over the first piece and let dry, then using an old credit card, turquois and yellow paint was dripped and smeared over the gesso, leaving some of the gesso textured paper cutting showing through. I used pinking shears to cut one side of the credit card, which made it jagged for making lines. Then I snipped off the tips to make them squared instead of pointed. I used this side to make lines in the drying paint for texture and some pattern. The pears are an original linoleum block print that I did on unruyu rice paper (I LOVE unruyu paper!) a few years ago. I tore the paper around the edges to give it a softer look and glued it down with matte gel medium. I'm happy with it too and am thinking I might frame it.

Okay, you talked me into it! LOL This is the piece that is underneath the pears above. The two paper dolls were cut out of the round shape, and all the gold spots are cutouts. I used a credit card to spread the paint background, to glaze over the paper cutting, and to make the red stripes. The lettering, swirls and doily background are gold metallic paint. The more I did to it, the worse it looked. I liked it better the second it was covered in gesso. LOL I'm liking the pears MUCH better!

I am still having more fun than I can tell you in these workshops, and getting freer and braver all the time with my art. Can you tell that I'm enjoying myself with all the other creative souls in the playgroud? :)