Golden Poppies

“Through the dancing poppies stole A breeze most softly  lulling to my soul.” 
-- John Keats

This was done with Derwent's Inktense Blocks.  They are a watersoluble ink block.  The color is so much more intense than watercolor.   Once they are dry, they become permanent.  I've wanted to try them and so finally broke down and purchased a set.  I love, love using them.

Joy and Peace

Collage of pictures taken of a beautiful sunset at Myrtle Beach this winter.  Played with them digitally to alter them.  I love to take original photos and just play with them.

Winter

Digital collage of some of my altered bird photos.

Doily and She Art

I'm always on the hunt for a new stencil.  I had this thick crocheted doily that was badly stained.  I decided to prep it for use as a stencil.  I had to put several layers of gel medium on it and then a layer of gesso.  As we all know if you spray paint or ink on the cotton it will only absorb and I needed it to become more plastic like.  Above her head is how it looks when I sprayed it with ink.  After spraying the background, I decided I'd make a She Art Angel.  I hadn't done one in awhile.  I wanted the colors to be light and airy.

Wings of Love

My friend Deb sent me a package with her She Art girl.  I loved her She Art girl and it inspired this art journal page.  She loves Paris so I thought that would be just the right theme to show off her art.

This was fun to do.  I used her girl, a tag I'd made with left over inks, an Eiffel Tower stencil, some stamps,  some rick rack I got last year at a retreat and some 3D butterflies.   I wanted to try melting wax over parts of the page using a technique I saw on a video. I used a small craft iron with no holes (that's very important - no holes) and wax pellets.  It was much easier to do than when I used the melting pot.

Nature

I love this page.  I used several different techniques on it.  I printed the bug on book paper.  My ink was running out so the color is different from the original image.  I really liked it and worked my page around the colors.  The flower is drawn on a piece of parchment/deli paper that comes in between cheese slices.  It is thicker than my other deli papers.  I saw where another artist uses these in her work.  At first I thought, "how crazy".  But while getting cheese for breakfast this morning, I took a look at the paper and said "Why NOT!"  I love the way it turned out.   After I did the background on the deli paper, I saw in the colors a shape that could be made into a flower.  Hence the flower!  I used charcoal pencil to make the flower shape.  Was very pleased with the way it turned out.  I used more inks, paint and a phrase that I thought applied to what I was creating in this page.

Miracle of a Flower

 "If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."  Gautama Siddharta

I just love the colors in this page.  It has great texture and appeals to my senses.  It makes me smile!