Updated Background Page

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with family and friends. It was a lovely long weekend here. I updated a page that I wasn't particularly happy with and thought I'd share it with you, because I now like it much better. :)

I don't know if you remember the page on the right, but I tried to make a harlequin print background, because I love harlequin print, but it didn't come out quite like I wanted. It was too dark and the whole thing was off. I can not measure with a ruler to save my life and have it come out right.

Anyway, I pulled the top sheet off a two-ply paper towel that I had used to blot up Bubblegum pink and Turquoise Dylusions spray ink with, tore it into pieces, then glued the pieces on top of the harlequin print with matte gel medium and let dry. It added texture, modified the colors some, and made it more interesting, at least to me. I like it much better now, and will definitely use it as a journal page.

I've also been working some more on the large canvas with the "contrary angel" on it, and I have made my first articulated clay paper doll person, except for the decoration, and I'm still undecided about whether to leave her bald or give her hair, and I'm slowly organizing my workspace, among other smaller projects, which I'll try to share as I get them done.

I'm not doing a a lot of much these days. My mind wants to do a lot, but my body doesn't want to do anything, which is very frustrating to me. I just feel really weighed down, for some reason. Maybe I can get back on track soon.

Have a great rest of the week! :)

More Background Pages, A Poem Draft, & A Sketch

I've been playing with the Dylusions spray inks and found stamps and stencils some more. I need a few more colors, but I'm having fun with what I have. I haven't been creating a lot lately, or doing anything else much for that matter, and making background pages is a quick way to get some art in on the days I don't have time to really get zoned out into my creative place. Plus, I have a stack of pages already started to add to when I do have time to "zone out."

I love letting images emerge out of the ink/paint as it dries. Sometimes it takes a while for them to reveal themselves to me and sometimes they jump right out at me. I've drawn a light pencil sketch around some of the images that have emerged. That doesn't mean that I will keep them when I start actually working on the page, but it's a reminder of what could be.

This one was done with a paisley, or large comma shape, that I cut out of a sponge. I sprayed the inks directly on the sponge and stamped onto the paper.

I love these colors and used a variety of stamps and stencils, handmade.

This page started off with with an old cd, which I sprayed over (some ink ran under it and merged), removed, and then spritzed some other colors onto.

The paisley sponge stamp with 2-3 colors sprayed onto the sponge and stamped randomly around the page.

I wrote a couple of poem drafts onto this page, then stamped the backs of some stencils that had been sprayed over onto the page to clean them off. I like it. :) If you want to read the poems, as finished as they're probably going to be, you can go to my other blog http://scribblesfromrabbithop.blogspot.com/ , where most of my writing is.

Just a quick little sketch I thought I'd throw in. I was attempting something new in her head tilt. I didn't quite accomplish what I meant to, but I like it. Besides, today is another day, and I can try again! :)

The Self Portrait Experience-21 Secrets 2011

The mixed media covers for a journal titled "Metophorical Me" that I did in Connie Hozvicka's 21 Secrets classes last year. It is to be filled with self portraits in various categories. I haven't gotten that far yet...but I will. :) Now that I'm seeing it on here, I'm not sure that I like the gesso I rubbed over it to tone it down. It looks a little chalky to me, at least moreso than I wanted. I'm thinking I may take some of the whiteness back off it. I do love the covers though, and look forward to adding the pages between them.

See the kitty in the lower corner? That's my favorite stamp, and I've lost it among all the clutter in my workspace. :/ Hoping I find it when I start organizing...