A Mother Leda Mixed Media Run Through #leda #ledaofkirkland #zebrapen #joggles

I love mixed media and all the awesome things

one can do with the process!

Recently I have become an Artist Ambassador

for Leda Art Supply!

Part of what I will be doing is reviewing and using

their product. 

Pushing it to the limits and seeing

just what it can take.

Above, you see one of the awesome sketchbooks

Leda carries. 

They call this one Mother Leda. 

The size is 8.25" x 5.5" - their most popular size.

This book has a flexible soft cover with 81 pound acid-free pages.

Eighty sheets with a total of one hundred sixty work surfaces of smooth high quality paper inside. 

This solid thread bound book is a travel worthy friend.

 For my first project right out of the gates,

I decided to go mixed media. 

The Mother Leda is described to 

"take applications of pencil, ink, pen, pastel, 

charcoal and light water-color wash."

Hahaha! 

I have never been one to live by limitations.

So. 

Let's hop on this mixed media thing and 

see what happens.

Above you will see I started with a brayer

and three tubes of Pebeo High Viscosity 

Studio Acrylics. 

These particular ones came from DaySpring. 

 If you haven't rolled color before -

it is super simple to do.

Just a dab of color 

(that's highly technical talk for 'not much') 

squirted onto the paper . . .

 . . . then take a brayer and roll back and forth

and up and down.

Easy peasy!

 Originally I was going to do a one page workup,

but hey! I love this kind of thing!

So this quickly turned into a two page spread -

just by adding more dabs of color and rolling.

Awesome sauce!

(I like how the pink and yellow turn into orange -

just a nice confirmation of color theory at play!)

 I had this bright idea to try some gelli plating

since I had the brayer out.

I dabbed the teal, grabbed some white and proceeded to brayer those together. 

I figured the white would tone down the teal a bit.

(Not that I don't like teal all bright and beautiful.

I do! I used to have teal streaks in my hair to prove it!)

I stamped the color straight onto the page.

 Then came that moment when I remembered -

not all artsy things we try turn out the way we imagined.

Perfect example - 

because the page didn't have a hard

 surface underneath, 

the inked image was all wonky.

Normally I don't mind that,

but it wasn't what I was going for here.

 I pulled out a couple tubes of Dina Wakley's acrylics

and started brayering those onto the pages.

A little fuchsia, lemon and lime that I bought at Joggles.

 Better . . . and closer to what I envisioned.

But still a little dark,

so I used Dina's white, or buff, and rolled some 

on to tone down the overall effect. 

 Totally happy now with the background,

I moved on to Santoro Deco Mache papers and

a page from my Japanese dictionary. 

(At least I think it's Japanese.

Honestly, it's been so long since I bought this 

on eBay that I don't remember.)

 I prefer hand-torn edges over scissor cut.

I started by playing with placement,

then the individual pieces were glued down and 

covered completely to seal the edges -

using Dina Wakley's Clear Gesso.

 Now there was a little too much white!

Easy enough to fix with some teal 

fluid acrylic from Golden.

(Yes, I do have one of everything. Sorry. 

It's a bad habit of mine.)

I watered the color down even more, 

then applied it with . . . my finger.

Some diarylide yellow made some 

awesome rings around stamped images of a 

couple old medicine bottles I save 

for stuff like this. 

 I wanted to work on some of those open areas 

with some sparkle and shine. 

Fine Tec Pearl Colors watercolors

are just the ticket for that!

 I also used a new-to-me glittery marker from

Kirarich to make even more circles.

Cause one can never have too many.

It's kind of like art supplies.

Hahahahaha!

 I am also an Artist Ambassador for

Zebra Pen. 

Recently they added

Mildliner Double Ended Highlighters 

to their product line.

I used the few I have on hand and started 

filling in some details on the background papers. 

They worked great over the dried gesso!

The mildliners also worked well to outline some 

of the postage stamp images.

At this point, I pulled out some of 

Jane Davenport's new mixed media supplies.

That little girl's face is a rub-on transfer.

Super simple to apply.

You seriously just use a popsicle stick that comes with the transfers.

(Not nearly as much fun - or yummy -

 as getting your own the old fashioned way!)

 Back to toning down the background a bit.

I bought this Color Box white ink pad a couple

weeks ago, and it doesn't seem to be 

very well inked, but it worked good 

enough for me.

I just turned the whole thing upside down 

(try this on a scrap first)

and tapped it down with my fingertips.

Here and there and everywhere.

I love the cool speckled look it gave!

 (I took a moment to check on my pages in the

Mother Leda sketchbook to see how they were

holding up so far.

Super awesome!!! That's how!!!)

I needed to ground that little head to the

page, so Jane Davenport's 

Mermaid Markers came to my rescue!

Seriously! How fun is that!

Also a little stencil and that white ink pad 

set some stars into her tresses. 

 I really got into the process and forgot

to take photos. 

I bet you are thankful for that!

Hahaha!

Let's see. 

I also used Jane's Paint Over Pens, 

more Itty Bitty Stencils from Joggles, 

various ink pads and even more ink pads, 

some Zebra Technical Drawing Pens, 

a UniBall Signo white gel pen, 

and a Zebra Eco Zebrite highlighter!

 And called this mixed media 

journey of excellence - - - done!

 (One last little detail shot!)

And here is the finished product!

I started this whole post by saying I am an

Artist Ambassador for Leda Art Supply

and that I was reviewing their

Mother Leda Sketchbook. 

I also outlined what the company said 

the book was designed for.

But -

the test I put this book through is not nearly

what the book was designed for.

So . . . 

how did the Mother Leda hold up to my test?

My mixed media extravaganza of a test?

It did superbly!!!

Fantastically and exceptionally!

Once everything dried there was 

no real warping and there was no dimpling 

of paper at all.

I counted at least 20 layers of product and 

color that I added to these two pages. 

The papers are thicker now because of all the 

product I added, and the book still closes well.

The Mother Leda still closes flat, with no buckling.

There was no bleed through to the back of either page.

I can easily add art to the reverse sides of each

of these mixed media wonders. 

I can not believe how wonderfully the

Mother Leda accepted all these products!

Soooo happy!

So happy - in fact - that I have started 

another set of pages.

I guess you will have to wait and see

what that might be. 

In the meantime, why not go to 

Leda's store

and check out all the lovely things you need!

Myself?

I have my eye set on that paintbrush kit next.

Stencil Art

Looking for new ways to use your supply of stencils?

Here is one way. 

And it's easy to work from step one to conclusion.

 Barb over at joggles.com sells these awesome

stencils. There are a couple of face shapes,

several sets of facial features, accessories, hair -

and they all come in three sizes.

To get started I picked a face shape and a set of features

and simply traced them.

I knew I wanted to add the crown,

and that it would be sitting on hair,

so I traced the top part of the hair in pencil,

so I could tell where to sit the crown.

 Anytime you trace a stencil you are going to have

some choppy lines like you see in the first photo.

They have to do this so the stencil doesn't fall apart.

Kind of hard to trace what lays in pieces in the bottom of the bag. 

Once I had that crown figured out, 

I went over the hairlines with a copic multiliner

and closed in those gaps in the pencil work.

 Now comes the fun part -

figuring out what tangles to place in the sections.

Just pick a section of the penned stencil

and start adding patterns.

There is no rhyme or reason,

just use tangles you enjoy.

 As I went along,

I realized the hair looked out of proportion

so I added some more on the lefthand side.

 Love some good angle shots of artwork!

Here I tangled some of the hair I added in.

And if you are having fun - before you know it you have tangled up  a stenciled piece of artwork!
I am thinking to add color and maybe some gems in that crown.  And then I will be done. But that might be a whole other post. 
Stenciled art. It's where it's at for today. Come one, and give it a try yourself!

Build a Basic Art Journal Page

New to art journaling? Afraid to get started? Unsure of where to go with your page? Not sure what product to use? 

Today let's start with a basic two page art journal spread. If you don't have the specific products I use, just remember - these aren't rules, they are more like guidelines. (To quote an old pirate or two.) So grab whatever product you do have and jump right in.

Facebook has a new group for all of us die-hard Dylusions Ink Spray people! Check out the group - The Dylusions Facebook Challenge. This month's challenge was to use turquoise, pink, leaves, and as many Dylusions products as you could. Here are two pages in my art journal.

I am working in my 7 3/4" x 9 3/4" Strathmore watercolor journal. The dylusions colors I used are - bubblegum pink, calypso teal, fresh lime, and vibrant turquoise. Remember the colors blend and bleed better when you spritz on some water. Once I got the colors the way I wanted them to be, I used a stencil from Joggles called Endless to make the curling bits of water. Next I randomly added white acrylic water bubbles using the Dylusions Dotted Flowers stencil. 

With a StazOn ink pad, I stamped a school of fish using the Ocean Backgrounds Dylusions stamp set, and at the bottom I stamped some waving bits of seaweedy stuff from the Dylusions set Doodle Parts. 

These little sea critters are the Dylusions Under the Sea stamp set. I stamped them onto some cardstock and colored them with Pitt Artist Pens. 

I cut out all the little guys and started arranging my elements on the pages. Several different washi tapes called my name - and they had leaves! Even better!

Then I started attaching it all with score tape and some tape runner adhesive. 

Here are some fun details.

Left side page.

Right side page. 

 So much fun! Again, the Facebook group is called The Dylusions Facebook Challenge. Check it out - you know who you are. Please don't be shy about starting an art journal - if you don't already have one. Just jump in with both feet and get started. You'll be glad you did!