Eeep….seems my poor blog has been left neglected. Sorry readers, my year started with a bang and has continued to be busy. Time to refresh and restart this blogging habit I think!
The first half of this year has been filled with creativity in a variety of forms. In February, I started a degree in photography and took initial subjects in photography and drawing which set me up for a busy start to uni life but also gave me a pair of subjects that I was already comfortable with. Turned out to be a brilliant choice and I have loved every minute of my first semester.
It has been a little while since I sat down to play with no plan in place so I thought I’d share the results with you. Needing to concentrate on the final weeks of assessments meant only the ‘necessities’ of creative play were attended to, but teaching classes and creating design team project are luckily among the necessities! It was time to pull out my collection of The Crafters Workshop Stencils and have some playtime.
I’ve created this art journal page in my favourite Dylusions Dyalog journal which has lovely grids printed on the pages. Not sure what it is about grid paper but it has always been a go-to choice for notepaper. I started with a page that had been painted in calming blues and greens and stencilled over the top with Distress Oxide inks using the large circle stencil.
Next I gathered a bunch of painted & Gel Press printed scraps and stencilled all over them in a random fashion using acrylic paint. I layered stencilling and painting of small areas without a lot of thought to create busy looking pieces. For a bit of cohesion, I kept my paints to warm colours plus a blue. Then I drew circles of various sizes over all the pieces. While drawing the circles, I tried to get a mix of pattern and empty space on each.
Once the circles were fussy cut I layered them onto my journal page until I had a pleasing arrangement. I decided not to use the strongly blue coloured pieces. Some circles were layered over each other and I made sure I had a couple overlapping the page edges.
Next I stencilled over several of the circles using circular stencils and black paint. This helps give a strong pop of pattern and contrast to the page.
Some circles got just a small portion stencilled in black.
I used black and white paint pens to give the circles some extra line work and edged each of them with a sponging of black paint prior to adhering them in place with Helmar Tacky Craft Glue.
I’m lucky with the variety of stencils I own, I can usually find the perfect one for a corner – like the one I’ve stencilled using texture paste.
A Tim Holtz quote finishes the page.
Supplies:
- Stencils – The Crafters Workshop – 6×6: Spikey Wheels, Quattro Motifs, Screen Print, Harlequin, Kaleidoscope, Well Rounded, Circle Squares, Blazonry, Stencil Patterns | 12×12: Script Dots
- Helmar Tacky Craft Glue
- Journal – Dylusions Dyalog Squared
- Ranger Ink Distress Oxide – Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon
- Acrylic paint, texture paste, black & white paint pens
- Tim Holtz quote
Thanks for following along!
Purple Salt #2 