Joggles Art Journal Adventure - Week 14 - the letter T

Hi everyone! I hope that all who celebrate Easter had a good one yesterday. It's Week 14 at the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and it's my turn to choose the prompt. This week, the theme is the letter T which is easy-peasy...just what my wee brain needed after a busy week :) I am so anxious to get back into my flower gardens...would you believe we had snow yesterday?!! One of the plants which I love is the ginormous thistle that I planted a couple of years ago. It's so dramatic, tall, and spiky and that flower is an amazing colour palette. So in honour of spring which has definitely not sprung here yet, my T is for Thistle.

To begin the 6 x 6 watercolour paper background for this page, Lindy's Sassy Sapphire Starburst Spray and Van Dyke Sepia Moon Shadow Mist were spritzed onto the paper with a little water to help it move and blend a bit more. Once that was dry, Coffee and Forget Me Not Archival Inks were applied to Impression-Obsession Screen Background and stamped onto the spritzed paper. Deep Purple Archival Ink was used to stamp Finnabair lines stamp and pull some of the purple from the flower head into the background. It was way too strong and was later knocked back with white gesso dry-brushing to help it recede into the background a little more. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through one of the Joggles Punchinella Quintet stencil designs. It was scuffed with Forget Me Not Archival Ink and then white gesso once the dots dried. Two torn pieces of vintage music paper edged with Coffee Archival Ink were layered behind where the image would be placed to help it stand out against the busy background.

The focal image is a Technique Tuesday stamp called Thistle Thanks which was stamped onto white cardstock with Jet Black Archival Ink. The image was coloured with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils as well as some gel pens and white paint pen in the flower head. The image was then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border, adhered to black cardstock, and fussy cut leaving a narrow black border. Foam tape was used to adhered it to the background and add dimension.

To ground the image, three different washi tapes were layered onto black cardstock and fussy cut to form a base. This was then adhered below the thistle. Jet Black Archival Ink was used to apply black splatter dots using a Paper Artsy Splotches Mini stamp as well as adding one of the Laurel Burch designs from the Icon stamp set (spiral). A black border was doodled around the outside of the page before Forget Me Not Archival Ink and Black Big Brush pen were used to edge the page.

The sentiment was printed onto white cardstock and cut apart into segments which were then matted with black cardstock. Foam tape was used to pop the segments up and add a natural shadow. Three medium size black enamel dots were added to the top right corner to finish the page and add a little shine.

Thanks for stopping by today to check out my T art journal page. I always appreciate you taking the time to do that. If you are interested in playing along with our weekly Joggles Art Journal Adventure or even if you are just looking for inspiration and a wonderful community, be sure to join the Joggles AJA Facebook group where we share our responses to the prompts, ideas, techniques, and discoveries we make. It's a great place to hang out :)

Life is good; so is art.

Bonnie