Never regret..

Hello Crafty peeps…

Welcome to my page today and I would like to thank my “new followers” too. Today, I share with you something totally out my comfort zone, something new to me…I am nervous!

My first ever “Art Journal page” !! You heard it right! I am surprised too how I took the plunge, but I had to do it to tell myself that “anything is possible”. There is always a first time and with due respect to all the talented mixed media artists and art journal artists…I know we have many of them in blogland and some of them are close friends too! I sincerely seek an honest opinion from all of you as this will help me improve from my baby steps to walk steadily!

My mom recently gave me a whole lot of story books that I had read as a toddler and I thought this would be a perfect way to alter those children’s book and keep then as memories.

These were published in the 1970’s and this particular book had some water illustrations and I decided to keep this little bird on the branch as the focus and work around it. The theme that I have chosen is close to my heart, summer, nature, outdoor and I have kept to warm bright colors. At least something from my comfort zone, lol!

This is what it looks like now!

I gave a coat of gesso all over the page, except around the bird and also stuck some tissue with gel medium on the base for texture. Then I went about making my own sprays with acrylics and worked on the background.

I decided on a brick wall here and there using TCW bricks stencil and modeling paste. I have used pastel chalks to color them. I love the distressed look of that too!

I have used the dry pastels to create depth in the greenery and have stamped foliage with a homemade stamp and leaf green archival ink. The flowers are Paper Artsy Jofy stamps. Some are directly stamped and colored and some are stamped on water color paper, colored with pastel pencils, fuzzy cut and then adhered on the page. A few highlights with white gel pen, they just popped from the green fields!

Here is a closer look at the bird on the branch. I re worked on him with my pastel and then gave some highlighting with white gel pen! He had grown old you see…I had to give life to him, lol!

The ivy creepers,(loots of them ) are paper Artsy stamps and I had them hanging all over, even till the brick wall so that a few owls could perch on them!

I shaded the journal edges with pastel chalks and had some white splats all over the page to tone down the colors. I had a tough time choosing on the sentiment for the page…I din’t know if I wanted to share this but then I was not giving up! I really had a great time, after my initial bout of nervousness on trying something new!

After a point, I really started enjoying the layers of colors and seeing the page come alive with the birds and the foliage just made me smile and that is why this quote from Stampendeous. The funky doodled alphabets are from Hero Arts.

Well I am NOT regretting at all…however I am looking for honest opinions from all my artsy crafty friends on this first of its kind page from me!

Hope to be doing more as I fill up the books given to me by my mother!

I would like to link my journal page to the following challenges..

Loves ToScrap – AG

Shopping OurStash Ch Blog – Out on a limb ( use branches)

CraftingMusketeers – shades of summer

Frilly n Funkie – Summer

Mixed MediaMonthly Challenge – Yr of choices (Around the house, new to you, stencil and paste, birds of a feather)

Until my next Creative Journey,

Happy Crafting and Re cycling.

Cheers.