Dylusions Art Today

Another fun day with color here.  Using my favorite go-to color source: Dylusions Ink Sprays. Of course. And yes, I do own other product. Hahahahaha!
I used bubblegum pink and London blue. Two colors, that's all. Then I spritzed water through a couple stencils to get that lovely overlay of leafy vines and flowers. Easy peasy! I promise!

Grow A Little Each Day

 Art journaling has been pushed to the very back of the plate 

as we work on books.

And, 

I miss it.

So this week I decided to check out one of the

weekly art journal groups I am in

and do a prompt.

Jane posted the weekly prompt about gardens and what they mean to us. This pastel-ish piece of art is one I have long admired on pinterest. You can check out the original post by the artist that created it here.  I wanted to recreate the feel of this art without copying the original artist. Cause that isn't cool.

 I started with this watercolored background in 

my art journal. I made it with a simple kids'

watercolor pan set from the school row

at Wal-Mart.

 I used Tim Holtz's Distress Stains and a 

couple stencils to start my framework.

The stains were a little more soupy than I

recalled and didn't play great with the

stencil, but that's alright.

It adds to the rustic feel. 

Right?

Hahahaha!

 When I started outlining for definition,

I was greatly disappointed to find that my

microns and other fine liners would not

work over the distress stains.

So much so that I ruined three pens before I decided

to throw in the towel and resort to gel pens.

 What you see here is the result of about

5-6 different types of gel pens and markers.

Not real happy that it was so hard to draw on top

of these stains.

I finished everything off by 'sacrificing if necessary' a graphic 3 micron.  Thankfully I was able to fill in those borders without killing another pen.
Grow. A great prompt from Jane. And I learned and will 'grow' from doing the project. Hahahahaha! It was still fun anyway!

A Little Color Play

My art life has been so focused on books

and more books

and not on making myself happy in my

art walk.

So yesterday, I took a day off.

A day to play with color . . .

just because I could.

These strips are remnants of pages created.

Pages waiting to become projects.

 Pages like this.

None of them completed.

No idea where I will go with any of them.

Not for sure.

This one will probably end up in an art journal

as a background for play with other products.

Although the colors are Dyan Reaveley's,

the project screams Carolyn Dube.

Hahaha! Time for some color play!

SaveSave

Making a Mess Is So Much Fun!

It has been a fun and productive afternoon! Jason and Bobbie are working on a project for Frankie's room and asked me to make some canvas backgrounds. I made a total of six this afternoon. All bright colors - pinks, purples, teals, lime greens, yellows, and a touch of orange. Fun, fun, fun!

And now my hand looks lovely. And this is after scrubbing and washing and even clorox wiping. Good times! Hahahaha! 

Butterflies in Flight

About two weeks ago, I posted this background and showed the steps I took using a stencil to lift the background color, forming the shapes of the butterflies. You can see that post here. From there, I started drawing in the butterflies with black microns. I added color with a fairly new product from Zig - Wink of Stella Fine Glitter Dust pens. I love them! They provide color, glitter, sparkle, and shimmer, and are transparent so you can still see the tangle lines through them. So much fun! I hope you enjoy my butterflies in flight!

Bubbles in Blue

Here is one last background for awhile.

11" x 14" Strathmore Bristol Smooth Surface,

Dylusions Ink Spray - London Blue and White Linen.

Joggles stencil Endless.

I created the background first, with the two Dylusions colors.

Then I spritzed water through the Joggles stencil.

Not sure why the wet places lifted to a darker blue, that's one of the nice things about these inks. 

You never know what you are going to get!

Stenciled Flowers

This background was built on 11" x 14" Strathmore Bristol Smooth Surface.  I made a whole bunch of these at once, using paper from one pad of bristol.  The bright colors came from two Dylusions Ink Sprays -  Lemon Zest and Funky Fuchsia. I am always amazed at the colors I get when I start mixing these sprays with a little spritz of water and let them just blend into each other.

This is another example of what I showed you two posts ago. I used a new Joggles stencil called Flowerburst. I just placed it down on top of my colored background, spritzed water over the stencil, and let it sit for about 15-20 seconds. Then I removed the stencil and let it sit another 15-20 seconds.

Then I blotted the excess water away with a paper towel,  and let the color continue lifting for a short while. I love the results once the color has been lifted,  leaving behind the image of the stencil.

Then I finished drying the whole page with a heat gun. Now it's ready for some tangling. I can't wait to get started on this one! (I know, I say that every time! But it's true!)

Traveling Journal Pages

I am sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have a friend working on a new book and I have been working on artwork to include - at least hopefully some of it will get accepted. 
Today I decided to take a break and work on a new project. I will tell you more about it tomorrow, but for today I took a sheet of Strathmore watercolor paper and spritzed it with water. For these wonderful colors, I used three shades of Dylusions Ink Sprays - calypso teal, lemon zest, and funky fuchsia - and spritzed them on top of the water. Then I let it sit for about 30 seconds as the colors started spreading. I spritzed a bit more water in areas that needed assistance, waited a few seconds, then rolled some paper towels over the top to pick up some of the liquid.  Next, I used four different stencils for some background texture. Place a stencil where you want some texture, spritz some water over it, wait about 15 seconds, then lift the stencil straight up. About 20-30 seconds later, dab the surface straight up and down with a paper towel. Beautiful texture just pops right through! When you get to where you want to be, hit it all with a heat gun to dry. 
Tomorrow I will go on to step number two and tell you what I'm working on. As soon as I figure it out :).

Diva Challenge #127, DuoTangle Time

The Diva's challenge this week was to take two tangles - cirquital and opus - to create a tile. No additional tangles, just those two. Above you can see the tile I made today. Now, let me show you step-by-step how I made it.

I wanted to lay some color down in the background and decided on this particular template/stencil because the circles mimic the shape of cirquital. 

When I was taking a gelli plate class recently, I covered the desktop with brown craft paper. I have just left it in place so I don't have to worry about making a mess. I used an apprentice tile for this challenge. I placed the tile on the desktop, angled the stencil over it making sure all the corners were covered, and used painter's tape to hold the stencil in place. I've noticed that the tile underneath doesn't move as long as the stencil is firmly in place.

I decided on two ink colors. I used the pink ink first and  . . . 

. . . just tapped a layer of color over the top of the stencil. I was going for a touch of color, not complete coverage. Then I took a paper towel and dabbed the color off the stencil.

I used a Brilliance ink pad for the second color. I just really like the shiny, sparkly look I can get with the Brilliance pads.

Then I tapped blue onto the tile through the stencil. I went for a heavier coverage with this ink. If you notice at the top left corner of the tile, you still catch glimpses of the pink underneath.

Remove the stencil and clean it. Then lift up the painter's tape and see what you've got. I really like the circular effect made by the stencil and was curious to see what it would look like once I started drawing the cirquitals.

I placed some circles on the tile, and decided to make them all double ringed. You'll notice that the center one on the left is a bit wobbly.

I noticed that as I started adding some texture to the rings, some of that wobbliness started to disappear.

Completed the cirquital tangles . . .

. . . and started the opus. What a cool name for a pattern! Opus! Reminds me of Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County comic strip. Wasn't the penguin named Opus?

Sorry. I digress.

Anyhoo! I drew a bunch of opuses :smile: and auraed everything in sight.

Then last of all, I shaded with a pencil and a tort. Cirquital and opus. What a great combination! And speaking of great combinations -

Berkeley Breathed and Opus

 That would be Opus!

 

 In case you can't read this one, it says, "I have an outty bellybutton, which means I have to be ever vigilant that it doesn't unscrew and let my butt fall off."

Did I mention that I got sidetracked and just spent fifteen minutes with google reading Opus/Bloom County comics?

 A somewhat blurry (but the best I could find) 

Opus and Bill the Cat!

 A tribute to Schroeder and Snoopy.

Peace, out!

* * * * * * 

Back to serious business, check out the Diva Challenge here to see all the awesome artwork people are posting. And, it isn't too late for you to give cirquital and opus your own rendition!