DLP Week 14: It's Water Under the Bridge...

This week's DLP challenge was to explore watercolours and the challenge quote was 'It's water under the bridge.' I decided to stay away from anything too literal but still wanted to keep to the theme of the challenge.  

As I do each week, I used washi tape and some collage components to create my calendar/journalling area. This way, even if I don't get to the art on the rest of the page right away, I can still record my daily entries at the end of each day.

I used additional washi tape to create a border around the remaining part of the page spread.

Searching the Internet, I found this wonderful butterfly that I was able to resize and print in a variety of sizes. I used Tombow markers and my waterbrush to colour them. I then layered the larger ones with a piece of old sheet music and a map page from an old atlas so that when I cut them out I'd have three layers.

 I had a lovely piece of tissue paper with script on it, so I stabilized it with some fusible interfacing, misted it with a spray bottle and then painted it with a variety of Winsor & Newton watercolour paints to create a beautiful, watery wash.


Once the background had dried, I took my layered butterflies and the background sheet over to the sewing machine-this is why I had to stabilize the tissue paper.
I machine stitched the butterflies to the background sheet by sewing over the body of the butterfly, leaving the wings free.

This was then glued into my journal, leaving the border to show around the edges of the 'water'.










I think this is a beautiful quote.

"Perhaps the butterfly is proof that you can go through a lot of darkness and yet become something beautiful."

To me it ties in to the idea of the past being water under the bridge...it doesn't have to undermine the beauty that we can still have within us.

Texture Technique Using Everyday Materials

I found a wonderful book called Stitch, Cloth, Paper & Paint, by Angie Hughes while I was browsing the art section at the library.

Angie explains her technique for using watered down PVA glue to create incredible texture using cotton and layering it with cheesecloth, tissue paper and other such things.  She then paints the piece using acrylic paint.

This photo shows the second stage, where I'm applying the tissue paper strips using a sponge brush and the watered down glue.

 In the book, Angie tells you to let it dry overnight, but when it's hot and sunny outside, I figure I can speed that process up dramatically.

I'll share more about this piece later, as it progresses.  Thanks for visiting.

So...Now what?

I've been trying a few of the techniques, or variations of them, from Creative Jumpstart series.  In this case, I started with a page that had a bit of paint on it from a day when I didn't want to waste the paint left on my brush.  The page was actually like this for almost a year.

In addition to learning some new ideas, I've also pulled out a few materials that I have but haven't used for a long time.  I started with a couple of Pearl Pens, in blue and copper.  Their fine tips are great for drawing with the paint right out of the 'pen' (probably why they're called Pearl Pens).  I drew a bunch of circles and some spirals ('cause that's just what I do...).  I love the wonderful raised texture they give you when they dry.  

I thought I'd add some stamping, but because of the raised edges, it can't easily be done.  Enter that great tissue paper technique!  Stamp on the cheap tissue and then adhere it to the page using gel medium.  Very cool!

I also had some scraps of tissue paper on which I had hand written some text using a Micron pen, lying in my tissue paper bin so I added them too.


But, as you can see it needs more...

So I got out some white acrylic paint and a fine paint brush and I added some white around those raised blue circles.  Then, just because it was lying on my desk I picked up an empty tape spool and stamped it in the paint and added a few more circle with it.  I like the double concentric circles I get with this particular spool.  

But, I think it still needs more...

I got out the black paint and added some 'shadows'.  And then I stared at the page for a while and finally asked myself, 

"So... Now what?  And then it came to me...

Sometimes you just have to go with the obvious.  It's not a work of art, but it certainly was a great way to try out some new ideas.

What I Was Up to Today...

Sadly some sort of a computer glitch has caused all of the images in this post to disappear, and I am unable to correct the problem.  Sorry!

Back in February, I posted a tutorial about making your own washi tape.  Well, I was running low so it was time to make some more, but having had some time to think about it, I have made a few changes to the process.

I started by cutting my tissue paper into smaller, more manageable pieces.  I made them about 6 inches long and the width of 4 strips of my double sided tape, plus a tiny bit more for wiggle room.  I then put the four strips of tape, side by side, on the tissue paper.

Last time, I stamped the tissue before taping it (with not protection on my ironing/work surface) and you can see I have a permanent record of that day's efforts! LOL

Today I put the tape on the tissue paper first, which I found made the process faster and easier (and less messy).

I also lined my work area with newspaper, just in case, but with the tape on the back, the ink doesn't come through.

Here they are before and after I cut them apart.  Aren't all those wonderful colours just the best!

The other 'studio' time today was spent doing some tidying and organizing.  A few years ago I found this wonderful old post office unit at a big outdoor antique market.  I thought it was perfect for housing fat quarters, and smaller pieces of my hand-dyed fabric.  There are 90 little cubbies in the unit, so I've found there's room for some little bins of various art supplies too.  The glass doors keep the dust out but still let me see what I have inside.

 Today I got busy reorganizing and labelling those bins.  Here's a close up of some of those wonderful little bins of 'stuff'.

And my nicely filled bin of washi tape!

Collaged Greeting Cards

This is just a short post today to share some new greeting cards I made using acrylic paint, some bits of old leftover pages of text from a previously altered book, tissue paper and a black sharpie marker.  I start by using a 9" x 12" sheet of watercolour paper which results in 6 cards since the window on my trifold card blanks are 3" square.

If I Were Half My Age...

Wouldn't it be fun to design and wear a wonderful steampunk creation?

The current challenge for my fibre art group, GOE, is 'steampunk'.  I don't often pull out my sketchpad to design my fibre art pieces (I tend to work more intuitively and let the pieces lead me where they may), but for this piece I started by designing the steampunk dress on paper.  Once I had the drawing of the dress I started gathering my materials and the real fun began.

Thanks to my husband's generosity, I was able to cut into a really old leather jacket that he had finally stopped wearing because of all of the holes he'd worn into it.  Although I was reluctant to cut into it (I loved the old worn look of it) I did realize that he was starting to look like a street person when he wore it. LOL  The brown bodice of the dress as well as the black band across the background both came from that wonderful jacket.  The black part is the cuff, complete with the snap closure.  The zipper that finishes the upper edges was also from that jacket.  I used little scrapbooking eyelets to be able to lace the bodice of the dress.

Because of the weight of all of the leather, gears and other materials, I actually had to reinforce the back of this piece with a 1"x 2" piece of wood across the width so that it would hang without drooping into itself.

The background fabrics in the piece are my own original designs too.  The top piece was photo transferred using a copyright free image and TAP and the bottom piece was created using tissue paper, foil and organza.  This piece was left over from a box I made last year.

Art Everyday - Today that means more greeting cards.

The greeting cards I made on Saturday inspired me to pull out the paints and make some more.  I started with some papers I had made months ago by collaging the tissue paper from old sewing patterns along with acrylic paint and alcohol ink.  Today I did some stamping with rubber stamps and various old lids, the edge of an old credit card, etc.