Home Page: written down

I like how quick this came together for me when I got the email this morning, although it did turn out scrapbookish. Just some scrapbook paper, cardstock, Leave Memories and Ma Vinci stamps.

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Here are my pages for the “home” prompt. The pages turned out way darker (as in color) than I intended them to. I’m not too happy with them. Oh well, it’s done. The great thing about art journaling is that it is just one grand experimentation. Some things I try work, some things don’t. I learn through the “mistakes” and the fortunate accidents. You can’t learn if you don’t DO….so consider these pages learning experiences.

I started out with magazine images (from Somerset Studio and Oprah magazine). I then layered paint over them, an acrylic glaze or two. Laid down drywall tape & painted over it, then removed it (did that a few times). Added collage elements on top. The pages are bumpy because I was too lazy to properly adhere the magazine images…good lesson here to do it right next time.

The journaling reads, “Since I moved so much as a child, I don’t have a strong ‘physical’ sense of home – home, to me, is more a state of mind than a location or foundation & walls & furnishings. So what state of mind is home to me? Comfort. Safety. Acceptance. Unconditional love. A place where one can flourish. That said, I do love my curren t physical home – decorating it has been a fun adventure, and as you know, I am at constant odds with myself over keeping it clean. I love it for its physical statement and for the haven that it is to my family. It’s a wonderful home base for the adventures that await my 3 boys – a safe place to return to, a foundation to rely upon.”

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My husband currently traveling for work and has been doing so often, so my journaling reflects that.
I used white gesso, acrylic paint, a text stamp by Leave Memories, Making Memories rub on letters and Sharpie markers.

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I loved the houses and the artist Shimelle suggested we check out – I decided to give it a go and used a map of NSW for my house – fabric for the roof and ribbons – I wanted to use as a backdrop a picture of the Sydney skyline – I printed the photo on regular paper – glued it to the weather page of the newspaper and clear embossed a few times until the newspaper could be seen coming through in the sky – I then bent the picture to get a crackling effect – painted around the outside and put a gumleaf down the left side – it’s held down by a piece of ribbon at the bottom and a piece of tissue paper at the top – the words are a reminder to myself to just be ME!

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One of the many great things about this class is that there is no pressure to “turn” in assignments on a particular day. Unfortunately, I have been so busy that I hadn’t had the opportunity to get these two put together until today. (Thank goodness for holiday weekends.)

Anyway, the first one is for the RISK challenge. It seemed like so long ago. This one came out nothing like I thought it would. I guess when I imagined this one, a lot of things about it were different – no ribbon, paint – but that is not what I ended up with. I created the grid on this using ribbon. The word risk was stamped on smallish rectangles with bleach. I love the color that I ended up with. The picture in the upper right is of me (well, my midsection anyway). I’ve added a heart, and what is supposed to be a fence around it. For the journaling I mixed my own handwriting with stamping of some of the words.

The second one that I worked on today was for home. I think this is my favorite wntry so far. I snapped some photos of some of the things that really say MY home to me. and lined 4 of them up on top. I added a bit of stamping for a couple of them. I also added a bit of collage in the lower left corner. I really had fun putting this together. It just felt good. (Sorry can’t really explain it.) Anyway, here is what I did.

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This says “True Happiness was in my plan ‘B’ Life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans” I used layers over layers of stuff to give the overall idea of comfort and calm, but also complexity. My life turned out completely different than I had originally planned and I’m glad of that because where I am is what makes me truly happy. Thanks for looking!

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I must admit that my interpretation went slightly off-piste here, but bear with me…I’m struggling with warm smileys over the word at the moment.

These are the two entries I have so far created. I have two others in mind, so we shall see what the weekend may bring. Both are digitals (although augmented with black paint and pens).

No 1 : Picket Fences – this one is intended to symbolise the controversial aspect of our desire for picket fences, and what this actually means in real life (deep, huh?).

No 2 : Sanctuary – for this one, I built the home digitally, with blocks. I added a big bad wolf to blow it down too (and I guess symbolically I’m the little piggy). All digital, until I got to the crossword pattern on the printed out layout – handfilled in appropriate words from the world I am hoping to find some sanctuary from.

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This is my take on week 2’s Risk prompt. =D First of all, I need to start by saying that the photo opportunity inspiration came from a FABULOUS layout by Patricia Anderson. You RAWK Patricia!!!

The background was created with watercolor paints. The grey represents the feeling that I get when I face a risk. The circles and swirls represent the swirling of my mind as I struggle to make a decision regarding a risky situation or opportunity. . .etc. The warm reds and oranges represent the warmth that I have found in my life due to being a risk taker.

The two swirls that stand out were painted with watercolors then covered with Ranger Glossy accents. The R, I and K were done with Stencils and Modeling Paste. (Note to self, if you are impatient and try to hurry along the drying process of the paste with a heat gun, remove the stencil, THEN heat. If you heat first, the stencil pulls off the top layer of paste as you remove it. Yep, learned that the hard way!!) The corner flourish thing-y is more modeling paste smeared on a transparency, then stamped with a foam stamp. I colored it with Chalk inks.

The journaling reads: Risky? DEFINITELY! Never Regret. That has been the goal of my life. I’m a risk taker and I wouldn’t have it any other way! My life has definitely been shaped by the risks that I have taken. Leaving college to chase the dream of a dancer. . .moving to Michigan for a job. . .moving to Texas BY MYSELF to get away from a bad relationship and to continue chasing a dream. . .with Kris. Marrying my Dance Partner. . .whew. . .not that’s a risk! But I wouldn’t change anything. If it hadn’t been for all those risks, I wouldn’t be able to look back in my rear-view mirror and see the FUTURE! No Regrets. None!

The hidden tag has a quote that reads: Do not go where the path may lead to, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanks so much for looking. Oh, and in case you can’t see it well, the Future in my Rear View mirror is my little Punkin’ Head fast asleep in his carseat. =D

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This is my page for week 4. I kind of wanted a rustic or shabby chic feeling for the page. I also wanted to keep it kind of simple. So here it is

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I got the idea from this weeks spark, so I decided to share. This is a mixed media collage on canvas, that I made for our family. It will be given to my husband at his birthday party, but it wasn’t REALLY painted for him. The paints are acrylics, there is PP, fabric decopaged on, sewn fabric decopaged on, a lot of paint, ribbon, etc.

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