Gah! It’s so frustrating when you write a blog post and then there’s a glitch and it’s gone and even the saved drafts don’t seem to exist any more… so for the second time of writing:
During the week I was invited by an online friend I got to know through the Creative Chemistry 101 classes a few years ago to join a new art journaling challenge group she was organising. The Pick A Stick Challenge Group on Facebook is open to anyone who would like to join in and is an active art journaler. The premise is simple: each month, ten sticks are drawn at random from a pot of prompts covering media, styles and techniques. The only other stipulation is that you layer your page in the order the sticks are drawn. That is where the process becomes a little more tricky!
So here’s a little more on how the process worked:
I started with an acrylic painted background already in my A5 journal.
Stick 1: Create a title in your own font. I used Posca paint pens.
Stick 2: Use gears – stencil from Tando Creative, paint from DecoArt.
Stick 3: Add verse from a song – New Beginning by Stephen Gately
Stick 4: Add texture with palette knife and medium – Dreamweaver metallic gold embossing paste (Dreamweaver) and DecoArt Texture Sand Paste
Stick 4 cont’d: More texture added using DecoArt Matte Medium
Stick 5: Accidentally missed this out – see below.
Stick 6: Add sparkles – Ranger Stickles in Gunsmoke/Pink Taffeta, brushed out to form sparkly gradient
Stick 7: Add paint with a knife or card – DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Transparent Iron Oxide/Quinacridone Gold. I loved how it caught on the texture.
Stick 8: Journal so no one can read it – Pergamano white lead (0.5mm) in between the words of the song
Stick 9: Add a picture – laser printed image transfer using DecoArt Matte Medium.
Stick 5: Scrapbook elements aged with distress ink and added in the correct layer order – KaiserCraft Scrap Yard die cuts.
Stick 10: Write on masking tape and stick to the page – Tim Holtz Tissue Tape
I’ve been wanting to use more layers in my art journaling for quite a while now, but kept getting ‘stuck’. This challenge was a great way to get stuck in, and I found the rigidity of the rules helpful and annoying at the same time! It certainly stops you having a finished page in mind before you start. I was a little disappointed that the image transfer has obscured so much of the texture and effects beneath. I think next time I will lighten the image before printing (which should make it more translucent) and probably only use a panel across the page rather than cover the whole page. Great fun, and a great way of kick starting creativity after the festive break.
[Disclaimer: as part of the DecoArt Helping Artist programme, I have received samples of the DecoArt Media line to work with]
Great process post Neil. You captured just what this process is about. I look forward to seeing more of your pages as we work through the year. Thanks for playing.
What a great idea, Neil. I think a lot of us are intimidated by a blank page and no idea how to proceed, but with this random sort of rules idea, at least it’s a guide, and it emphasises the fact that with mixed media, there is no wrong idea, and no mistakes – just more layers! This is something I must try this year, I think.
Shoshi
Thanks for joining us Neil! It looks like you had fun stepping outside of the box with us and you created a really great page. I love your clock, I was actually thinking that I needed to do the image transfer idea more often! Thank-you for inspiring me! Hope to see you again in February!