What makes a gator a gypsy?

teacher, traveler, photographer, political junky, smash and bash artist, grandmimi, mom, canine companion

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Mixed Media Mayhem - The Beginning is Always Today / The Documented Life - Week 2


I was happy to see that the technique challenge for week 2 in The Documented Life  was "gesso" because I had begun something that I needed to cover up.

After watching several videos featuring Dylusions spray ink I tried them over gesso and over stenciled wax.



Ummmm...so gesso to the rescue covering up and adding texture.



Now I could add more dye spray and watch the images suggest themselves. Like finding faces in the clouds, I thought I saw two faces.  I used a Derwent charcoal pencils to bring them out.




Still struggling I decided to go with my philosophical reaction to the news of the terrorist murders in Paris.  I had just received a travel ad featuring the Eiffel Tower so I worked on the colors to make it blend in with my page.


 For lettering I embossed cut out letters from a pack I bought at TJ Maxx for $2.00. The letters had a nice metallic look but my work space was a mess.


Still not happy with my result, I decided to add back in some white space, painting my circles with gesso. Gesso over Dylusions always gives bleed through so it took several coats to get a surface to write on.


One of my friends on Facebook had posted about being satisfied with "good enough" not "perfect"...but my final result did not give me joy.  What did I learn?  Reserve white space/negative space. Think about the interaction of media.  Find a good journaling pen.  When I wrote the quotation from Mary Shelley that was the prompt for this week, my Pitt pen smeared.




7 comments:

  1. hi linda .. just wanted to stop by...... received your email ie documented life project.. lots of good stuff .. :)

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  2. I'm intrigued by your spread and your process and love that you kept at it until you had some results you liked. I, too, am looking for a journaling pen that works over wet media - keep us posted!

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  3. Linda, love the way you walk through your process, it is a great spread!

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  4. These are fantastic, Linda! Great use of gesso and I like how you discovered those faces in the ink. So cool!

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  5. I so enjoyed catching a glimpse into your creative process with this one. I love how you found the figures and worked through what you did and didn't like :) It turned out great!

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  6. Wonderful colors and to watch your process, thank you so very much for sharing with us! ")

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  7. Even if you aren't happy, the process was good! I learn something every time I pick up my brush. It's great that you documented the entire process... the next time you can try something different and see where that takes you! I have never heard of Dylusions spray ink.... that's something I will have to look up...

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