Art Journal Adventure Week # 29 Response - Negative Space

Hi everyone! Barb's prompt for Week #29 in her Joggles Art Journal Adventure series was to create a background, add shapes, and paint out the negative space around them. It's the opposite of what we often do and it intrigued me, having not done that before. I decided to feature dragonflies since I absolutely love them...and, of course, I had to change it up a little, too, 'cause that's the way I roll :)

I sprayed the page background with Lindy's Sassy Sapphire, Delphinium Turquoise, and French Lilac Violet. I then drew a dragonfly shape based on several images from the internet onto white cardstock and fussy cut it. I used that to trace around to get the three dragonflies. I then used a scribbled circle stamp and Jet Black Archival Ink to stamp the overlapping circles. And that's when I made a tactical error which I didn't notice until I took pictures in the sun. I used Dylusions Black Marble paint to cover the negative spaces but in hindsight, I should have used black gesso or Liquitex Basics. The Dylusions went shiny in some spots giving an uneven finish and I would have preferred a flat finish. Note to self...

Once the black paint was dry, I used a Medium and a Small Black Pitt pen to doodle in the dragonfly bodies and wings. The eyes were circles punched from black cardstock and doodled with a white paint pen. They were then adhered to the heads. A circles stamp was inked with Garden Patina Archival Ink and was used to add interest to the circles.

White paint pen was used to create a doodled border and Black Big Brush pen was used to edge the page to remove the distracting white edge. Two Idea-ology Big Chat stickers were added to the page and given a doodled border to tie in with the page. The background still looked to plain to me (LOL) so I added Texture Paste through TCW's Tile Texture Stencil to break up the black and add texture.

I'm so glad you stopped by today. If you haven't already been following along with the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and Barb's weekly Monday prompts, it's not too late. You can join in at any point and we'd love to have you join our amazing AJA Facebook group as well. It's a wonderful group filled with creative, friendly, and supportive people who share the same enthusiasm for this fun adventure.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Laughter - Inspired by Bloobel Stamps Images

Hi everyone! It's been far too long since I stole time to create with Bloobel Stamps images. Even though this was a super busy week, I decided that I wasn't about to let another week go by without creating an art journal page with these two fabulous images. The one on the right is called Charlie and the one on the left is called Giggles. When I found the quote by Charlie Chaplin, who has been a favourite of mine since high school, I knew I had to combine them in a project.

Both Charlie and Giggles were coloured with Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. Both were fussy cut leaving a narrow white border and then matted with black cardstock. They were also both popped up on foam tape to create dimension and a natural shadow.

The 6 x 8 inch mixed media paper background was spritzed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Hag's Wart Orange and Hottie Patottie Hot Pink Starburst Sprays. After it was slightly dry, TCW's Elevator Gate Stencil was set on top and spritzed through with Hi Maintenance Magenta Starburst Spray. It wasn't quite big enough to cover the entire background so I flipped over the still inky stencil onto the part that was not stencilled. The letters LOL were stamped using Jet Black Archival Ink and a Penny Black Alphabet stamp set. Scribbly circles were stamped with Cactus Flower Archival Ink and an Ellen Hutson stamp called Bokeh Dots. Film strip washi tape backed with white cardstock was adhered in two pieces to form the ground line so Giggles and Charlie had a place to stand.

The sentiment was computer generated and printed on white cardstock. It was trimmed out, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. Five enamel stars were adhered to the left side and another two on Charlie's side. Black Big Brush Pen was used to edge the outside of the background before a black mat was added to frame the page.

Thanks for stopping by today. Charlie, Giggles, and I really appreciate that. Be sure to pop by Lisa Graham's Bloobel Stamps shop to see more of her fabulous quirky images. They are sure to make you smile if not outright laugh out loud. She has the most wonderful imagination and off the wall sense of humour!

Life is good; so is art...and laughter!
Bonnie

Sandra Caldwell Birthday Blog Hop

GOOD MORNING!
We are celebrating the very talented Sandra Caldwell's Birthday (which happens to be TODAY!)
with a birthday blog hop. Won't you please help us celebrate?!

We have each made a creation with images from her Etsy store.
If you arrived here from Cindy van Oorschot , YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!

For my B-day card for Sandra, I used  the adorable image called Butterfly Costume 804 which I coloured with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils and then fussy cut leaving a narrow white border. She was matted with black and popped up on foam tape for dimension.
A simple background of patterned paper overlaid with green and turquoise ribbons created a woodland feel. Three punched and layered butterflies with pearl bodies embellished the top right corner of the card and a die cut and matted sentiment was added to the top left corner. A large black threaded button and a black mat completed the card.

Here's a quick peek at the inside which was finished to complement the front design:

Sandra, the message is heartfelt! I thank you for your friendship, your inspiring designs, and the joy that both bring me. I hope you have the best birthday ever in the history of all birthdays :)

Thanks for stopping by everyone.
In case you get lost, here is your line-up.
So hop on over to Barb Poole and see her wonderful creation.
Start at the beginning
Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook Timeline 
Holley Tondre Barnhart

Denise Pustelniak 
Cindy van Oorschot

Bonnie Irvine

Barb Poole

MaryAnn Samuelson
Dana Gebhard Johnson
Sharon Rogers 
Laine Kammeraad-Smith
Delores Miller
Cathy Preissing
Donna Mundinger 
Elizabeth Perez-Collazo

End here and wish Sandra Caldwell a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Sandra Caldwell Stamp Fans Facebook Timeline 

(Blog Candy Alert)
Have fun hopping! Be sure to leave a comment below because I will randomly choose a comment and the person leaving the comment will win 3 digi stamps of choice from Sandra's fabulous Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs. Good luck everyone!

Life is good; so is art...and birthdays!

Bonnie

UP-DATE

I numbered my comments (except for Sandra's) and then went to Random.org to choose the winner of the three images. Congrats to the very first comment writer, Donna Mundinger, who has won the three Sandra images.
Thanks to all who visited.

New Release from Sandra Caldwell ~ Enchanting Emma (766)

Hello and Happy New Week! I like Mondays because that's when Sandra Caldwell releases a wonderful collection of new releases in her Etsy shop, Babycakesdnd. It's always so fun to see what she has created and to think of the stories they have to tell. This week, I was delighted to play with Enchanting Emma (766) a delightfully sweet fairy with the cutest expression on her face,

I coloured Enchanting Emma with a mix of Prismacolor and Polychromos pencils. I added Cotton Candy Stickles to her little wings and coloured the sky with Pearlescent Blue Pan Pastel. I love the shimmer even if my camera doesn't! The image was cut in a rectangle and the corners were rounded with a punch. Black cardstock was used to mat it because I love the contrast and frame that provides.

The background, a 6 x 8 inch rectangle of mixed media paper was spritzed with Sassy Sapphire and Tibetan Poppy Teal Lindy's Starburst sprays. By tilting the background, runs and drips were encouraged. Garden Patina Archival Ink was applied to Joggles Vintage Correspondence and  Background Noise - Spark stamps so they could create texture and pattern in a tone on tone fashion. Jet Black Archival was used to apply the TH splatter dots stamp in several places as well. The image was adhered to the background using foam tape to create dimension and shadow.

The sentiment was printed on white cardstock, matted with black, and popped up on foam tape. To further the theme of flying, a large silver wing charm was added to the top right corner with a brad and some glue. Three black enamel stars were added to both the upper left and bottom right corners. I wanted to bring in those touches of black to move the eye through the page and I also thought the stars went with flying and fairies. Black Big Brush Pen was used to edge the background before it was matted with black cardstock to frame the piece.

Thanks for joining Enchanting Emma and me today. We love that you came by. Be sure and pop by Sandra Caldwell Stamps Fans Facebook group today to see the other awesome new releases she has for us this week. They are delightful and the DT will post their awesome creations with them throughout the day.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles Art Journal Adventure Week #28 ~ Cubism

Hi everyone. I have been putting off this art journal page following Barb's AJA prompt for Week 28. Barb admires the Cubism paintings of Pablo Picasso so her prompt was to create something in that style either by replicating one of his or from your imagination. This prompt was so far outside of my comfort zone that I needed to pack a lunch to get there. I was excited to try it but I couldn't even begin to get an idea of what to do so I left it for two weeks. Today, I put on my big girl panties and decided to just do it!

I pulled an extra piece of mixed media paper out of my art journal and drew the face on it, partly because I knew I had designer paper that would work for the background so I wanted to fussy cut her and partly because if I screwed it up, I could start over more easily :) In drawing the  Marlena's head (she told me her name), I didn't go as abstract as Picasso...abstract is not really my style. I did meld the two faces and created strong blocks of colour and shape as well as strong lines in the cubist style. I outlined everything with a Medium black Pitt pen, wanting my lines to be a little thicker. Once they were completely dry, I used a mix of Neocolor II crayons and Inktense pencils, activating the colour with a water brush. I wanted that kind of look rather than bold more opaque paint. I was able to shade with darker colours and used a white paint pen in a few places to highlight.

Marlena was fussy cut and the white edges were inked with black Big Brush pen. She was then matted with black cardstock and trimmed out leaving a narrow border to allow her to stand out from the background. The  designer paper comes from a stack of op art paper designs I found ages ago in the children's craft section of a store. I added a .5 inch border of black cardstock to frame the page and then set the image in place. Before adhering her, I punched three 1.5 inch black circles from cardstock and glued them in place allowing Marlena to overlap two of them. As I have mentioned before, I always like to add some text or at least a word of sorts to my art journal pages. I didn't want to distract from the simplistic style so I used glittery white stickers to say L73...a little reminder to me about the page's theme. When I was a kid, if someone called you L7 it meant you were square and the three refers to the exponent number for cubed (x3) so L73, to me, means square cubed. Yes, I know I'm a little odd :)

Thanks for popping by today. Marlena and I appreciate that. If you haven't already been following along with the Joggles Art Journal Adventure and Barb's weekly Monday prompts, it's not too late. You can join in at any point and we'd love to have you join our fabulous AJA Facebook group as well. It's an awesome group filled with creative and supportive people who share the same enthusiasm for this adventure.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

Joggles DT Post ~ Sneak Peek

Hi everyone! It's my turn to post a DT project on the Joggles blog so I thought I would give you a sneak peek in a shameless attempt to get you to pop over there and check out the full project. I created an accordion book filled with layers of goodness and starring a sweet little Joggles bird stamp called Tweet Tweet. Besides wearing very quirky hats created from bits of other stamped images, all the birdies have messages for us which just might make you smile. Just sayin' ....

I had an absolute blast creating this project and would love to share more...oh that's right, I did...over on the Joggles blog. See you there!

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie

The East Wind New Release - Barmaid

Hi there!Tuesdays and Fridays are the new release days at The East Wind shop and I got a chance to play with today's NR called Barmaid. I think all servers work hard for their money and have to put up with difficult customers and situations bars have maybe more of both. I love the expression on this barmaid's face. She looks frazzled and a little wistful like she is doing this job to pay the bills but has different dreams she wants to pursue. Maybe she wants to become a full time artist or run her own business. That was the story behind this creation.

I coloured Barmaid with my usual mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. The image was then fussy cut next to her leaving a narrow white border and around the bar area where it made sense to me. It was then matted with black cardstock and trimmed out again before being popped up on foam tape.

The background began with a piece of designer paper with this cityscape printed on it. It was cropped to a 6 x 8 inch size, edged with black Big Brush Pen, and matted with black cardstock. White Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Tiny Circles stencil with a palette knife to add a little texture.

The sentiment was computer generated, printed on white cardstock, and matted with black cardstock. Three tiny black gems were used for the dots between Dream and then. The first section was popped up on foam tape to emphasize it and the other three were adhered flat against the background. A black die cut arrow was adhered so it pointed to the first part of the message and a clock button was glued next to it as a reference to her awareness that time is passing to get her dream into play and also because she is watching the clock until her shift is over. Once the barmaid was adhered in place, I decided that I wanted a visual triangle of red accents with her top being one of the points of the triangle. Three red brads were added inside the open arrow and two small rectangles of red cardstock were added to fill in the base of the bridge supports. That keeps the eye moving around the page and connects the image to the background. I like that repetition.

Thanks for joining Barmaid and me today. We appreciate that! To see what others on our talented The East Wind DT have created with this fabulous image, be sure to pop by The East Wind Facebook group where they will be posted throughout the day. She will be available in TEW shop later today. I'd love to see what you create with her and what other stories she has to tell.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie