I am veering away, a bit, from my journal. I seem to be having a bit of a block in terms of finishing it; I have one more spread to go. Maybe I don't want to say goodbye to it :)
Anyway; when I am creating, I always have a "serendipity" piece next to me. It could be in the form of watercolor paper, deli paper, newspaper, cardstock, tags, etc. This way I don't waste my paints or sprays and look at these "serendipitous" pieces as a new beginning background.
The photo, here, is the case. I was working in my journal and was spreading acrylic with an old gift card and scraped some of the unused paint onto a piece of watercolor paper that was beside me. I looked at it, yesterday, and decided I really liked the colors.
I recently picked up Donna Downey's awesome poppy stencil and somehow it called, to me, to use it with this background start. The image of the woman was a gel transfer of one of my own images. I love painting hair with a black Stabilo pencil and gesso. I call this piece "Amongst the Poppies".
There are two photos here and the top one was flipped into my Photoshop program. I recently upgraded to PE 9 and was playing around a bit trying to get to know it. It's going to take me awhile :) Oh well - just fun!
Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend.
Love much.....................Marilyn xxoo
I just realized that I have only one page left in this "hearts" journal I've been creating in. Yikes! Where did that time go? I wanted to keep the hearts theme going even though the techniques are all over the place. Well; I guess I'll have to start another journal soon. Hmmmmmmmm; will I theme it or will be it mixed bag? Probably a mixed bag - I have many things I want to try including plaster which I might use for the cover of this journal.
How's your weekend going? I hope you and yours are enjoying it. My husband and I have been getting out for some day trips, the past couple of days, and it's been fun.
Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate and I wish you a good start to your week.
Be safe, well and happy! Love, Marilyn xxoo
Here's more of my Journalmania. I am lovin' working with silhouettes. I'm now starting to search for glam and bridal magazines!
I have this idea that I will start taking more and more pictures of Sophia and use them as silhouettes - I think this will really be fun getting the different shots, of her, as she continues to grow! They will be a fun and meaningful inclusion to my journals.
Are you all having a good week so far? I do hope so.
My best to all of you! Love, Marilyn xxoo
I think this is an appropriate title for all of my journal art. Lately; I'm all over the place combining learned techniques - fitting them into my own style and enjoyment. It's a blast! I'm kicking into the silhouette mode, now, and you will see more of this in my future journal pages.
Hoping you are enjoying your weekend and your weather is cooperating. I am hopeful that today will bring us some sunshine. Lately, it's been a very rainy and dark period. I always feel kind of uncomfortable when I complain about not having sun, or it's been raining too long; North Dakota is now the latest with the terrible flooding issues! My prayers and positive thoughts are with all there.
Sunshine thoughts for all and we have another week coming up. I wish you all a safe and happy one!
Much love - Marilyn xxoo
I've been slowly transferring some pictures and files over to my new computer. It's kind of cool, to do, can weed out what I no longer want to keep and flip over the ones that I know will be useful.
These journal pages reflect a couple of photos I took at a cemetery in our area about three years ago. I love cemetery angels and some of the statues are just amazing! I took a group out to the cemetery and we did headstone rubbings - fun and we all enjoyed the field trip. So; seeing these images in my old computer file, brought back the memory of that fun day.
I'm wishing you all a safe and happy weekend ahead.
Love much..........................Marilyn xxoo
Happy mid-week to everyone; hope your week is going well for you.
I don't know if you remember an old TV commercial for Prego spaghetti sauce. I'm probably dating myself :) Anyway; the commercial referred to everything that is in the sauce no matter what anyone said or asked. The answer was always "it's in there".
Well - this journal spread is my "Prego" :)
I'm starting to combine a little bit of everything in my journal art. For the first background layers, I had fun with more alcohol inks. Other layers included: acrylics, stencils with Shiva sticks (which I'm starting to pull out more), transfers, collage, stamping, rub-ons......etc. You name it, it's in there!
We've had some lovely weather, here, and today is beginning a few days of some clouds and showers. It's strange to say we can use some showers after the spring we've had or "non" spring I should say. :)
There are still people around the country being effected by terrible storms, flooding, the wild fires, that started in Arizona, are just horrendous and my prayers and positive thoughts go out to those dealing with the path that Mother Nature has been on lately.
Enjoy the rest of your week, be safe, and I'll be back over the weekend!
Best to all of you! Much love.......................Marilyn xxoo
I really enjoyed working on this spread in my journal. I haven't worked with alcohol inks in a very long time and decided to let go, loosen up and just do it! I even liked the blotches the inks created and love the drips with the blending solution. I incorporated some pan pastels here, which the jury is still out on. In time, playing more with them, will help me decide. They do need a fixative and that's where I run into difficulty as I seem to react to the spray fixatives. I did run a light coat of soft gel over the pastel treated areas, there was some "bleeding" but it ended up being okay. Pan pastels really aren't chalks as much as they appear to be but are actually paint pigments and the colors are so beautiful. I will keep at it, giving them a try until I'm comfortable with them.Anyone have experience with the pan pastels? I'd love to read how you use them and how you seal them.
Hope you're all enjoying your weekend and are experiencing nice weather. Our weekend, here, has been beautiful with lots of sun and comfortable temps. Life is good!
Have a great week ahead, and I'll be back mid week or so. Thoughts of you will be with me!
Much love, Marilyn xxoo
