Thursday 5 March 2015

Visual Journey #10

Welcome to March and the continuation of my Visual Journey using an old altered book to work in. Since starting this visual journal I have experienced the greatest of freedom in expressing myself through my art and I am learning to free myself up from the constraints of designing for design teams and workshops. Don't get me wrong I love those activities as well and I am very motivated by challenges and time constraints but taking a little time to just go where the muse takes me is so refreshing.


These pages started with three distress stains - tea dye, bundle sage and brushed corduroy and I blended them over the page using an almost dry babywipe. Just before I started, the collage I made for Crafty Individuals last month came to mind where I had used a skyline and then that made me remember my Finnabair workshop where she taught us a layout using the same sort of idea, so I drew a pencil across two gessoed pages and blended the stains but in the end this ended up nothing like the Finnabair design I had in my head.


I decided to pick up my bits bag (leftover paper bits from other projects) and a wooden cutlery box where I keep leftover ephemera and embellishments and started to pull out items that would go together. I didn't have a theme in my head, I just wanted to see where I ended up.
As I was collecting bits together I decided to do some stamping in tea dye and vintage photo, then the distress damask came later using gathered twigs. I gave this a light spray of Americana acrylic sealer as I didn't want the stamping to smudge when I add the glued strips in the next step pf the process.


Here I have glued on strips of paper, torn pieces of tissue wrap and then used the tea dye distress stain dabber to make three large splats and a brush and walnut crystal ink to make fine splatters. Be warned the distress inks don't dry very well over the gesso when splattered.


I added the numbers 6 and 9 because they are the ages of my youngest grandchildren.


The 19th is my birthday, the number 13 is my lucky number and all the letters are in alphabetical order (well almost).


I finished with a few bits to give the pages meaning and tell the story, looking to keep an overall balance in the design.


The girl and quote was included in an order from somewhere many moons ago and I found it in one of my image boxes. Great quote too don't you think?



I seem to be at my happiest when creating collage pieces and in a vintage style.

A huge thank you to everyone who has been joining in and sharing wonderful pieces of journalling art. I look forward to seeing what you make in March, please link below if you would like to join the party and share your pages and ideas. This is just for fun and the opportunity to see how others approach their journalling. If you copy the link from here -
 into your blog post you will share everyone's work with your readers too.

Have fun and listen to your heArt.

hugs Brenda xxx



22 comments:

massofhair said...

Beautiful pages, you can see the Finnabair influences but it is your own style that shines through:-) xxx

Scrumplescrunch said...

Hello Brenda,
I love the dash of Blue that you have added; it brightens up the pages so well. I am enjoying letting myself go as well, but I have to admit it is hard not to add and add, this is what I have to learn, I have to stop sooner and believe that negative spaces are okay. I will continue to practise.
Smiles:)
Sue

Helen said...

Great pages this month, Brenda, and I love the influences. It reminds me of France's work too.. Beautiful!!

Valerie-Jael said...

Beautiful journal pages! Valerie

Jane said...

More fabulous pages Brenda, I love seeing where your creative muse takes you and yes that is such a great quote. Thanks for sharing, enjoy the sunshine x

sally said...

Very nice pages Brenda - a touch of France Papillon if I'm not mistaken, though I've not seen much from her recently!

Sally

froebelsternchen said...

A wonderful spread!

Words and Pictures said...

Love the red, white and blue with a vintage twist - gorgeous composition to the pages, and the photo and words are brilliant. Really love this spread, Brenda.

Was interested to spot in a comment somewhere that you're not getting on with Cracked Pistachio - I haven't cracked it yet either!!
Alison xx

Meggymay said...

Beautiful pages, looking at them I think I have that image on a stamp.
Yvonne xx

Patty O'Malley said...

Fantastic pages

Tincan Crafter said...

You are so amazing Brenda. Just love this art page!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! Your paper scraps remind me of the tiles around an old fireplace and the whole spread is one of the very best I've seen - love everything about it! Yay! to freedom!!! Chrisx

crafty creations said...

Brilliant pages Brenda - love the background and the overall design - amazing work

trisha too said...

Lovely pages, and you are so right, it's a great sentiment and photo, too!

:)

Deb said...

Gorgeous, so many beautiful layers and textures. Love your splats!

experiments in paper said...

Love your layering and colors here....and the free space you have given yourself! Thank you for the detailed step-outs...I love seeing how this developed. xx Lynn

sarascloset said...

Brenda, It's so much fun to read your posts and then there is the added treat of seeing your inspiring artwork. I love the colors you have chosen and the Finnabair influence. The quote is just perfect...good advice! With each page/spread I see of yours, I am one step closer to starting my own art journal--very inspirational!

Vintagehandmade said...

Amazing pages, Brenda! I love how you put all the details together! The background is fabulous! I am inlove with these!
Hugs :)
Branka xxx

Marjie Kemper said...

Love your pages, Brenda, and I know just what you mean about creating for the fun of it. I didn't realize you're up to week 10 already - am happy to link up with you this month and share the inlinkz in my post.

Juls said...

Gorgeous!! Xx

Esther said...

Fab pages Brenda and I'm so excited - been watching your journal posts but was worried I wouldn't work out how to join in...very glad I gave it a go and got the linky thing to work !! Esther xx

Shelly Hickox said...

I just came across this on Pinterest and had to come for a closer look! So gorgeous! BTW, the image and quote on the card are from Oxford Impressions stamps. Hard to believe that the little boy is a rubber stamp - you've reminded me I should use those more. :)