ARTFUL JOURNEYS - WEEK #20 PROMPT

This week at Artful Journeys, we are asking you to incorporate a paper napkin or serviette into your journal.






I had a lot of fun with this one. Recently I received the motherlode of napkins in happy mail packages plus I had purchased quite a few lovely ones while on a shopping trip.  The decision of which to use was difficult because I had too many choices.  But I ultimately decided on this one with bold hydrangeas, first because of the design, and secondly because it was an oblong napkin or serviette that opens to a  huge size and would fit on my 9x12 mixed media paper I was working on.

There is just something magical and so lovely about hydrangeas to me and they are one of my favorite flowers...so big and showy and the colors change based on the alkalinity of the soil.  If you can grow hydrangeas, I will be jealous.  I have a black thumb.  I leave all the growing to Mr. Jim.

MATERIALS USED:

Canson 9x12 Mixed Media journal
Apple Barrel Acrylic craft paint - Lilac Mist & Petunia Purple, Antique White
DecoArt Crafter's Acrylic - Lavender
Dina Wakely/Ranger Gel Matte Medium
Signo Uniball #207 Bold, black
Caran D'Ache Neocolor II - Turquoise, black
Copic Marker - #RV55 Hollyhock
Hydrangea serviette from Tuesday Morning
Metal, triangular palette knife
That fancy tool -- spit and my fingers
Watercolor paper scraps

Before you begin to apply any part of your napkin, whether whole or fussy cuts, you have to carefully separate the layer(s) of your napkin to make sure you are working with only the printed image.  My napkin was crimped all around the edges, making it a little trickier.  But to get it separated, I gently rolled the edge of the napkin back and forth until I got a tiny little bit of separation, then carefully pulled it apart, avoiding any tears.  I have used napkins in the past that had 3 layers, making the printed layer super, super thin and transparent when applied to the page.  You don't have to apply paint or anything, but since I was applying to a pre-painted page, the method I used was easy, as you will see below.

I had a  page in my journal that I had already laid down some lovely lavender acrylic, but it was boring so I thought I would just cover it up.  Using a wide, flat acrylic brush, I very quickly applied Dina Wakely's Gel Matte Medium to the page and began to lay down my napkin carefully lining it up with the page and smoothing as I went.  If you need to lift, you can do so, but do it carefully so you don't tear your image!  Then, after it was all applied to the page, I trimmed all the excess off the edges (and there was tons) and applied another coat of Gel Medium all over the napkin.



While reaching to put my tub of medium down, I inadvertently tore the top of the napkin with my thumbnail. Not sure how I did it, but I went, WOW!  Look at that.  I like that paint peeping through. So I began to scrape off more of the napkin here and there and decided I wanted to scrape it big time, so out can my flexible, metal, triangular palette knife and I hurriedly scraped in and around the image to reveal a LOT of that lovely lavender paint underneath.  And it scraped up quite nicely and evenly. The edge and tip of my palette knife did work a LOT better than my thumbnail. LOL  A couple of places I had to smooth back down (both with a little spit on the end of my finger and then again with the medium and the paintbrush. Coolio.  I had to stop and admire this bit of ingenuity.  Well, maybe someone else already did this fun thing, but it was a first for me.

What else could I do to it?  I had an idea of the words I wanted to incorporate, but it needed something else.  I added a couple of strips of really cute pink and greed dotted grosgrain ribbons down at the bottom, all the while I am chatting on the phone with Melody and I shot her a quick pic, and we decided that adding a deeper shade or shades of the lavender around the central image would make it pop off the page, and it did.  I just painted it on with my finger and blended it out.  More chatting.  Another pic.  More brainstorming.  Edging.   It needed edging of some sort, but nothing too busy since I didn't want to detract from the beautiful flowers.  NEOCOLORS to the rescue!

I went around the edges of the paper with turquoise Neocolor II and smudged with my fingers.  Then, it needed a little more depth, so out came the black one, but this time with a lighter edge and hand, just adding enough to give a delineation to the page.  Whoop! Whoop!  I was liking it much better.
Then a little more black here and there around the image, smudging as I went.  Yup.  Not so flat anymore.


Time for words.  I dug out some watercolor paper strips and scraps, found some suitable sizes and lettered my words with a bold, black Signo Uniball pen and Hollyhock Copic Marker.  I set the page aside until this morning when I had another look.  The words needed to POP off the page, so my Neocolor II in black came to the rescue again.  And I also added a little more embellishment with antique white craft paint.

I pronounced it finished.  I hope you like what I did.  Sure, I could have spent a couple of hours fussy cutting that big image out, but it was so much fun to scrape it off the page. It was like revealing a treasure underneath.  Try it.  You might have as much fun as I did.  I hope you like what I created. It was great fun, and it makes me smile.

Thanks for stopping by and looking.  Can't wait to see YOUR journal page.

As always, I'm keeping it artful!

Betty

FAMILY IS FOREVER

I love family.  I love my real family. I love my way-extended real family that I rarely get to see. I love my online family. I love my art family.  We form bonds with our real families as children and those bonds last a lifetime.  Bonds are formed through the years with friends and acquaintences, and some of these last a lifetime as well.  And believe it or not, you can form these kind of lasting relationships with people you meet and get to know online. I can only hope that those relationships last a lifetime as well.  We adopt some folks into the family as the years go along through close friendships and relationships.   These interpersonal relationships help to form who we are are adults and provide so much emotional support, and always when we need it.  And of course, you can't have those close relationships without a few waves once in a while, but over the course of time, little wounds are healed and that unconditional love always prevails.

How wonderful it is to know aunts, uncles, cousins, distant cousins and way-distant cousins.  There's that connection that binds us all together through common ancestors and relationships.  My familial roots run long and deep in the United States, and of those roots I am very proud.  And of course, being a 5th generation Texan, I know there is no better place than this place I call home.

So the last couple of days I have been thinking a lot about family.  My maternal side of the family is having their 96th annual reunion this summer and it is something I always look forward to.  I think I have only missed 1-2 in my 60 + (cough) years on this planet.  I was fortunate enough to know my maternal great grandmother for 18 years of my life.  She and my gr. grandfather came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon, and I learned a lot about life from her and all of her children.  Sadly, I never knew my gr. grandfather. He passed long before I was born, but all 6 of their children lived long and very productive and successful lives.  Seeing all my great aunts and uncles and cousins from all over the country was always a thrill and those times hold a very special place in my heart. This side of the family heralded fantastic longevity so we all benefited from the wisdom they tried so hard to teach us. We weren't always listening, but those stories, legends and antics remain with me today, and for that I am grateful.

So to honor family of all genres, I created this journal page.  The background is a fantastic napkin I received in happy mail from my friend Andie Mayr in Bischberg, Germany.  It was huge and reminded me of a patchwork quilt, so I knew I had to use it.  And this whole spread just kind of evolved around that napkin.  The napkin was cut to size and adhered to the page with Dina Wakely's Soft Gel Medium.


Years ago, my sister made a wonderful gift to me of this same poem that she hand lettered in beautiful calligraphy and adorned it with fun embellishments. It hangs in my bedroom all the time and is treasured by me on so many levels.  So I thought immediately of this poem and got busy creating my page.

The lettering was placed on 1/2" strips of watercolor paper and colored with Copic Marker in Maize. Lettering was done with a black Signo Uniball pen.

I hand painted the tree with Diane Reaveley's Blendable Acrylics in Black Marble, Cut Grass, Lime and Melted Chocolate, with just a touch of Lemon Zest.  I used some craft acrylic in medium grey and nutmeg brown for the highlights.

I used all these colors in the top of the trees to signify all the family, new, aging and in-between.  The fallen leaves obviously represent those that have crossed over but still guide us from the heavens.


I hope you like what I created.  Document your family memories in a creative or expressive way. It will warm your heart.


Ciao familia!

I'm keeping it artful!
~~ Betty