#DLP: Featured Artist {Layers You will Love}

so very excited and totally honored to be a part of the Documented Life Project as a featured artist this week. thank you, thank you Art to the 5th!

the month of february is all about layers you will love; and this particular week our challenge is to use at least five layers and our prompt is give me a high five. so let's get started.....

i am working in the dylusions's art journal and always gesso the pages to start. once i had the gesso down and dry- i started with gluing in some vintage book papers. these papers are thin and you can see i did not care if the paper was running the correct way, or covering the entire journal page. sometimes for me a layer is being able to peel back through the paper.

i then chose what colors i wanted to work with. starting with the orange and using an old credit card to scrap a thin layer of orange paint across most of the page; but, again, not all of the page.

the next layers for me was the use of dylusion's ink spray- both the pink, which i used a stencil, and white, which i simply sprayed. i also went back and peeled up loose paper that was not stuck well and had bubbled a bit from the moisture of the inks. 

these next few layers were adding more paint back through my stencil- like above.

now comes my favorite part- adding a little more pop of color into my pages with the turquoise, and a few strips of washi tape. the other layers i added was the words "yes you can" and the number 5 for our layers and high five....and a few splatters.

sometime layers can be overwhelming, but, work slowly if you need to, even if that means to step away for a bit and then come back; and choose your colors you want to work with. (i have a color wheel hanging in my studio space for me to always refer back to). 

i also added a zip of Adirondack butterscotch alcohol ink on the washi tape. i like how the paper of the tape absorbs the ink. then, adding a little stamping and some small paint circles for interest and detail.

i added some larger paint circles with the end of a toilet paper roll. :) those are the larger pink circles in the upper left corner, in the pic below.

i like this pic below- as you can just see the "you can, yes, you can"..... peeking through all the layers.

below you can see i added some notes in regards to this week's pages especially since this is the Documented Life Project (right?!)....i will confess,....the layers should have been easy, but, i did feel like i had to work for these pages. some come easy and sometimes the pages do not- but, always remember....yes, you can. even i have to remind myself sometimes that the point is to play; to experiment and take the time.

my end sentence says to "dream big".... listen to those inner whispers while you are playing. let the whispers blow away any self doubt that may try to dissuade you and just play; and if you have to- it is okay to not follow all of these rules.

i was feeling like my layers of layers had maybe gotten the best of me and i needed to calm all of this down a bit....so i added some white ink circles. i really liked how the white pulled the overall feeling of the page together.

here is a fuller view of the page below....the white ink blends well with the dylusion's inks and provides a softening to some of my bright colors.

welcome to my "layered" studio table. i hope you have managed to stick with me in this post....sorry it is super long! i had a great time making this though and if you made it to this point....give yourself a high five for sticking with me!!  here is a close up look at my final page...

thank you! and thank you Art to the 5th!

#DLP {challenge 4 & 5}

the challenge for january 24 was writing. this challenge seemed relatively easy once i got my background made. i knew ahead of time exactly what i was going to write about- writing can be very therapeutic. our daughter is a senior this year and has been fortunate to experience some life lessons (good ones?....) this year as she has been maneuvering through her sports seasons.

the challenge for january 31 was underpaper. this one was totally my speed as i normally keep all of my underpaper. so when i started this project, i had quite a few to choose from. I did the background again first, and then, dug through my stash of papers looking for just the right one; coming up with the combination below.

happy Wednesday!

moleskin monday- collaged

i am playing along with the Documented Life Project and was working in my moleskin planner. Art to the 5thhttp://www.arttothe5th.com/ has been providing weekly prompts and challenges.

moleskin monday is a view of my other pages. i have been using the "tip-out" pages for the challenges and that has left other pages that are empty. the "tip-out" pages are the pages that have been added and are being held in place with washi tape. on the actual moleskin pages that are lined- i have been writing about how i feel or about what had happened this past week- documenting my life.

i am showing another page in my moleskin that i really like. the first pic is the full page.

i had gotten some great ephemera and used that in this page.

i loved this overpainted paper i used as well- that is the colorful piece with a little soft stamping on it.

documented life {week 13 & 14}

i was playing a little catch up with the documented life weekly challenges. week 13's challenge was to invite someone else to draw in your moleskin, and i had asked our youngest son to do some drawing. he was really cute and had asked, "well, what do you want me to draw?" i told him- "whatever you want."

he had recently read the book, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut and used inspiration from the book. here is his drawing before i added any color:

after he was done drawing, i added some color by using really watered down acrylic paint. i thought we did a nice job of partnering together on this project. so very fortunate to have a son who enjoys art and drawing almost as much as i do.

once i was done with that challenge, i moved on to the current week 14 challenge to write our name and embellish it. i really enjoyed seeing what Art to the 5th had all done with their names, and wanted to do my name and play along.

 i worked on the background first layering the colors and using some stencils to assist the color patterns. once i was happy with the background, i was considering how to do my name. i thought about using all paper and cutting out letters and then, quickly moved to sewing. i did use some ephemera stickers and a small piece of polka-dot fabric for the K and the dots to add a little pop to the page.

i used yellow thread to carefully sew my name onto the page. i have to remove the page from my book to allow for ease of movement through my sewing machine.