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Saturday, August 3, 2013

Painty fingers....finally. Blogalong 3/31



Well, after a couple of long weeks of not being able to really create anything.... 
I'm happy to share this.....

I was afraid it wasn't going to happen either.  I had a some precious free time open up yesterday evening and finally snuck down into my basement where my "studio" is.  (No, I didn't get all of the things done yesterday that I had planned to do....moving those things on to today now lol)  I hadn't sat at my desk in weeks.  And, then I just sat there.  Ugh.  I felt dry and uninspired to do anything at all.  And it was frustrating me like you wouldn't believe.  I wanted to create something.  And, worst of all, I NEEDED to create something.  Anything.  I really didn't care what I did.  I just was desperate to feel that paint under my finger tips.

So, I grabbed one of my journals.  It's almost full and there are just a few pages left in it to create on.  I found a spot and went from there with no intentions at all.  I just didn't care.  I just needed to feel that breath of calm that I feel when I work in my journal.....These pages already had lots of paint on them and quite a bit of texture from the red, heavy body acrylic paint.....leftovers from other journal pages....next step was to cover it with a bit of gesso....a good place for me to start when I don't know where to go or what to do.....painting on that white gesso is soothing to me and helps my mind clear...

So I did that and then wiped some of it away with a baby wipe and let it dry....

The next thing that I decided to do was to start gluing things down.  I love to glue things and it's kind of freeing and for me, it somehow starts breaking down those walls and sprinkles water on that dryness....I grabbed my box of paper scraps and added some music paper and book text.

And then I added some scraps of deli paper that had been used to lay spray-covered stencils on and just sop up extra sprays and paint while working on other projects.

And then things started to happen.  A lot of neon paint actually. lol  I decided to paint a girl and before I knew it, there she was and I had forgotten to take a few photos along the way.....

I rubbed in a lot of different neon paints and regular craft paints onto the background, then added some stamped book text, color sprays with some stencils and finally used my brayer to add some white, acrylic paint.  And, a good rubbing around the edges with a black ink pad.

I was using some deli paper as my pallet and couldn't waste all of that good paint, so I squished it into my journal....

 This will be a fun one to work on....talk about color. lol Maybe I should challenge myself to not cover this with gesso before starting....

And, here it is, all done....







So, if you learned anything from my sharing this, I hope that it is to not give up when you're feeling dry and have no inspiration.  I think that each of us has something that helps get that spark going and starts to open the door to let our Muse out so she can play.  Mine is putting down some gesso/paint and gluing down bits and pieces.  I think it's also important to just sit down and do something.  Anything.  And with no preconceived intentions at all.  No stress.  No worries.  No feeling like you have to create a masterpiece.  Just sit and do something.  When I do that, then usually wonderful things happen!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful and creative day today!
di

10 comments:

  1. She's lovely! I enjoyed reading about your process and coming along on your journey. :)

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  2. learned anything? too busy just ohhing and ahhhing...and saying to myself: self, what the hell are you doing hanging with all of these creatives types...lurking, maybe that's what I'm doing... baby wipes, Huh?

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  3. Oh thanks, you've given me severe journal page envy, LOL ;)
    What a gorgeous spread that turned out to be! Lovely to see it all come together!

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  4. "And then things started to happen."

    Isn't that a freakin' magical moment!?!

    I'm so glad that you sat down, pushed through, experienced the magic and created such a charming page!

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  5. What a lovely spread - and a delight to follow your process. I think it's 100% more joyful (and thereby more creative) when you don't have a clear intention but just invite the Muse to show up and play however she wants. ;-)
    And what a fun painty-fingers photo.

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  6. I love this! So colorful! I think some of that is the neon paints you talked about. What is the brand? I have to try to find them. This turned out gorgeous and she is sooo cute!

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  7. Beautiful journal page! I just love all of that color; and it's fun to see your process! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Gorgeous! I love the 'step by step' photos!

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  9. Oh mah gawd I love your spread! I also like your idea of using the deli paper as a palette and squishing the leftover paint into your journal, that created a really cool effect. :D

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  10. I absolutely adore this spread and the step by step view of the process. I have followed your blog and hope you'll pop over to see my work if you ever find a moment!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and to leave me a comment! I really do appreciate it and hope that you come back and visit me again soon! Take care and God Bless! di