Mixed Media Place..."Tenderness" and Some Exciting News !!

The "Emotional" Challenges continue at Mixed Media Place. This month it is "Tenderness".

 Many descriptive words come to mind when defining what "tenderness" is. It is a way we respond to someone or something that is delicate or fragile, that is soft, hurt or easily damaged. Our world is a fragile place....land, oceans, vegetation, air, animals and people are continuously being destroyed, some at an alarming rate. My page is reflective of the damage we are doing to our world.

I have used an image transfer technique and high lighted these with stamping, embossing, texture paste and paint. 

We would love for you to play along with our emotional challenges. The details are HERE.

Finnabair's Cold Country paper "Secret Diary" made for the perfect background for these pages.

I have used the Image Transfer technique with photos I've taken in Melbourne alley ways and applied different mediums over the top.

My work is going to be published in a book !

Two of my Art Journal pages have been selected by the editors of CreativeMixedMedia and North Light Books to be featured in their newest publication; the Art Journal Kickstarter book, due for release in December. Yah ! I am so very happy and excited to have my work chosen. Details HERE. Have a great weekend.....with an equal balance of excitement and tenderness coming your way. 

PAPERdvizhnik New Challenge.........#42 Sketch

Hello. Sharing a page today made for the current challenge at PAPERdvizhnik.

I don't usually work from sketches. I tend to let the idea or the story in my head dictate the layout of my page.I've come to realise that this approach does not always work....too many ideas, thoughts and intentions going on in my head often results in too much happening on my page. It's still hard for me to know when to stop, and yet I look at some of my pages and think I haven't done enough, I should have added more....so here in lies the skill of making the perfect page: the ability to add enough details to make a page interesting, dynamic, rich, original and full of clear intent as to what the story or idea is, but, at the same time being beautifully balanced, co-ordinated and full of perfectly executed techniques AND also possessing that little bit of "unique to the creator artiness or signature style" that sets it apart.

I am starting to ramble, and what all that relates to really is this sketch. I love it because it's simple. It leaves so much to interpretation and imagination.

But, what I have ended up with has not a lot to do with the beautiful, clean, crisp simplicity of lots of white space, 2 images and a splash of colour. I so admire the work of Louise Nelson and 

Dorota Dolega who epitomise this style of elegant, rich, artistic, simplicity.

To begin with, my background paper, the beautiful Nature Walk from 7 Dots Studio is so busy; what was I thinking ? I can tell you what I was thinking..."I love this paper and I have to use it and I'll just tone it down a bit with gesso".

 I'm not unhappy with my page, I think it's interesting, it tells the story, it has some nice colour "pops".

I'm just saying that my final page is so far removed from my original "idea" of the page I wanted to create....why did that happen, how did I get lost, what distracted me, why is it nothing like what I intended it to be ?

Is this not the essence of creativity tho...the "process", not the end result.

Image source Jimmy Brown.

If you are still here, reading, after all that analysing, then thank you. I'd be interested to know does this happen to you ? Is your final page what you intended? I know we all create in different ways, but what's more important to you; the process or the end result ?

Lots of stamping, embossing and texture paste....the usual stuff.

Would love to see your interpretation of this sketch. Details at paperDVIZHNIK

Thank you for visiting today. May whats left of your week be productive; as opposed to just being busy.

Mixed Media Place............A Card

I have confessed in the past to not being a 'card maker' or enjoying making cards, but have to admit to thoroughly enjoying the process of this one, created for Mixed Media Place. Of course Spring is in the air in the Northern hemisphere, so this is a card to celebrate Spring, but at the same time a 'cheer me up' card as we, in Australia are about to start Winter and, also, I have just completed a 'gloomy' journal page so needed to work with colour and flowers and create something "pretty".

The background is Distress Ink that has been water misted and a Finnabair Doily stamp that has been embossed. In fact the front of the card has a total of 5 different Finnabair stamps on it.

Some small blossoms, also coloured with Distress Ink and other textural elements.

Inside is more Distress Ink, a little bird cut from a paper serviette and that beautiful doily stamp again.

See HERE for complete list of materials used.

All inks and stamps are available from Mixed Media Place

Thanks for visiting today. Wishing you a sunny week.

paperDVIZHNIK Challenge #41...........Symmetry

Challenge #41 at paperDVIZHNIK is SYMMETRY

A relatively straight forward exercise...each side of a central line needs to be the same. I have tried to add interest to the composition by including lots of texture and pattern.

SYMMETRY (Greek symmetria - "proportionality" from syn - "together" and metreo - "measure"). Regular arrangement of parts or forms relative to the center the main axis. Poise, accuracy, coherence parts united into a whole. Looking around ourselves, we observe many examples of symmetry. Flowers, leaves, fruits, human Figure, figures of animals and Insects, etc. 

Die- cut flowers and leaves.

Fun Prima Lace Sticker

Detail of two different masks used. One with white embossing powder, the other with texture paste. Coloured with Distress Stains.

Thanks for visiting today. If you have left a comment for me then I thank you, and am sending good vibes your way. Our lives need a little symmetry, a certain amount of 'balance', but not too much...we don't want to become too predictable; that would be boring and no fun ! Have a fun week that include some surprises.