Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Quirky Dutch Summer challenge #1

The lovely Marit Barentsen is holding art challenges on her blog every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks.
It's called the quirky dutch summer..........love it! You can find it here:
http://www.maritspaperworld.com/blog/

I discovered this wonderful artist when I found Featuring magazine. She is the founder and chief editor.
It's a fantastic magazine! It has wonderful articles and great mixed media artwork.
You can find it @ http://featuringmagazine.com/

So, the first challenge on Marit's blog is, "fear of the blank page", and what we can do about it. Out of the choices she offered, I chose the paper scrap route. I basically followed her tutorial with a few additions. 

First, she suggest to take paper scraps and glue them together like a puzzle piece:

Next, cover them with white gesso. I did that, and also added some washi tape.


The next step is to add some color with either ink or water color crayons. I used a green spray ink, but ended up not liking it, so I wiped some of it off. I still wasn't satisfied, so I peeled a lot of the washi tape off and it gave the page a nice distressed look.

I stenciled the word, "silence" and stamped the words, "is beauty". I added a flower image from an antique book and some blue polka dot washi tape.

The reason I say, "silence is beauty" is because I feel like I can enjoy nature more when I'm quiet. Two instances come to mind...relaxing in front of an open window while a soft, cool breeze rustles the curtains and sitting on a beach at dusk, mesmerized by the motion of the waves.




The last thing I did was dip my paintbrush into some dark brown watered down paint and create paint splatters by just flicking the brush onto the page. It was so much fun, I decided to do some on the opposite page. Now, I can use that as a jump off point for my next journal page. I'll post that when it's completed.

Hope you enjoyed the process. Thank you Marit for this fun challenge!

6 comments:

  1. Hello from Marit's challenge...
    I Love what you created...it has such depth and beauty!!!
    oxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you so much Patty for your kind words:) I had fun making it!

      Delete
  2. Oooh... how come I didn't comment here? Sorry, sorry Peg - life is running away with me and I definitely need some 'silence time' too... I hope it will have the atmosphere of your page then 'cause it is really beautiful!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oooh... how come I didn't comment here? Sorry, sorry Peg - life is running away with me and I definitely need some 'silence time' too... I hope it will have the atmosphere of your page then 'cause it is really beautiful!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. still enjoying my visit Yay!
    these pages are brilliant...great depth...everything goes better with gesso...doesn't it
    AND
    your red washi tape!!!
    I've not seen any like that

    Cool Cool Collage!
    oxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Laughing at myself
    I really enjoyed these pages TWICE!!!
    hah :)

    ReplyDelete