Hi everyone! I am so delighted to be back playing along with the Joggles Art Journal Adventure Facebook group for 2019. I had to bail partway through 2018 because of illness and I really missed the weekly challenges as well as the amazing people in the AJA Facebook group. It's such a warm encouraging community and there is inspiration galore. Barb has teased us with the idea that the prompts will be leaning toward the snarky or sarcastic side this year which adds an additional element of fun and appeals to my sense of humour.
The first prompt is the Year of the Pig since that is what 2019 is according to the Chinese zodiac. Barb and I have traditionally used the current zodiac animal as part of our cover for the year's journal so that's what I've done again this time. I have the most gorgeous watercolour pigs (Posh Pigs) which I had purchased a while ago as a download from an Etsy shop called Lola Graphic Images. I had a hard time deciding which one I would use because they are all so beautiful but I decided on the one with a beret (I call her Arty) because she looks artsy...LOL. She was printed on white cardstock, fussy cut, matted with black cardstock, and trimmed again leaving a narrow border. I added a heart, and some highlights as well as sketchy lines to make her my own. She makes me smile.
I wanted the background to be an extension of her skin colours so I smushed Worn Lipstick and then Gathered Twigs Distress Oxides spritzed with water onto my craft sheet and picked up the ink one colour at a time in several layers. I dried between layers and also between colours to keep the splotches distinct. To add a little shimmer, Lindy's Cotton Candy Starburst spray was spritzed over the Oxide inks. Once dry, a circle stamp from Darkroom Door Paint Splats, topped with another circle from AALL & Create Dot Matrix stamp set, was added here and there using Jet Black Archival Ink. The same ink was applied through Memory Box Rings and Puddles stencil to add the open ring to each cluster. Coffee Archival Ink was added through AALL & Create Lotza Dotz stencil. Joggles Nonsense Latin Text stamp was applied to the background with Magenta Hue Archival Ink. To add more pops of black, watered down black gesso was loaded onto a gift card edge and tapped to create thin lines. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Mini Circles stencil to add dimension and enough white to lift the page.
Arty was popped up on foam tape and allowed to rest on two lengths of washi tape which had been adhered to white cardstock. I do that when I want to keep the pattern and the colours true and remove the transparency of the washi. Enamel dots were used to accent the flat ends of the washi.
Both titles were added to the page via stickers, and white paint dots on the Ransom Alpha Letters helped them stand out. Before the 2019 numbers were applied to the page, a layer of drywall mesh was adhered behind them. The edges of the page were given a doodled border with black pen, inked around the outside with Magenta Hue Archival, and lined with Black Big Brush pen. A little pink Gelato was used to intensify the colour in a few places before the page was matted with black cardstock to frame the whole thing.
I just love this page as a cover and know that I will enjoy picking it up each week to play along with the latest Joggles AJA prompt. These are listed on the FB group each Monday morning and you are welcome to join us. Arty and I hope you do!
Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie
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