More art journaling

Hi everyone :)

I’m heading home from Krystal’s today but while I’ve been here I’ve discovered some things:

1. Krystal and I are really comfortable hanging out with each other… we talk… we laugh… and we can be ‘companiably’ silent
2. She has a GREAT relationship with Chris… they are so comfortable with each other, they discuss everything and really listen to what the other has to say
3. Her home was made for doing art!  I’ve been feeling really creative since I’ve been here… I love her house and quite honestly I could live here EASILY!  The garage/shed would make an ideal art studio and there’s even a ready-made ‘Toby house’ in the garden:

I could really see this little house with Toby’s name over the door!

Actually I love the inside of the house too… it would be totally perfect for me and Toby… but I digress LOL

This morning I was going through some stuff on my computer and saw a link to Donna Downey’s Inspiration Wednesday and it reminded me that there was a page she’d done that I really wanted to try.

Here’s Donna’s page from her blog:

And here’s the link to the video tutorial if you want to have a go yourself: INSPIRATION WEDNESDAY 5.16.12

I went through the stuff I had at hand and found that I had enough goodies with me to give it a go:

I started off with the gesso cardstock and added the arched window and chipboard gecko (bought at SENZ) with some PVA and then painted gesso over the whole thing.

Next I used some of my new Golden paints… totally love them!!!  I spritz the page with lots of water to give a more mottled effect. 

I actually had a little bit of book text with me for the windows but no UTEE so I used gloss gel medium instead and it worked pretty well!

You wouldn’t believe it but I’d brought my Golden Glass Bead Gel with me… couldn’t believe it because I haven’t used it in AGES!  I figured that I’d add some to the gecko for extra texture:

And then I played!!  I used more paint to build up the layers… and I even had my heat gun with me so I didn’t even have to wait for drying time.  I got out my Pan Pastels… super, super cool product!

I kept watching and pausing Donna’s video to pick up little hints and tips!  I played… and played… and built up my layers… and totally FORGOT about taking photos!

I even opened up my brand new bottle of Ferro Special Effect Paste that Antoinetta ‘talked me into’ buying at SENZ when I saw her… LOL  But I’m so glad she did cause it’s cool!

Mine is the ‘Golden Green’ colour and I used it along with the brick stencil (also bought at SENZ) to add detail around the window frame.

I did some shading with Pan Pastels… and sprayed with fixative to build up the layers and I also added some charcoal pencil shading until I was done.  Oh yeah… I did a bit of stamping too!

And here’s my finished page:

I totally love how it turned out… and I can’t believe how many layers and textures I’ve been able to create!

Here’s a few close up shots:

And here’s my page in my journal:

So while I’ve only been at Krystal’s since Monday night I’ve completed two pages in my art journal that I’ve super happy with:

There’s part of me that wants to go home and see Mikayla and Toby today… and there’s another piece of me that just wants to stay here and create art!

I hope you’re all having a happy week xx