Mixed Media Mayhem-Documented Life Project - Two LuLu's

February Theme

Layers You Will Love!

February 21

Art Challenge:  Repeating Elements

Journal Prompt:  It's Worth Repeating

And now for the cognitive part..."worth repeating"  I began thinking about my name, LuLu which is a repeat.  I made three Gelli printed layers of repeating elements (alphabet) finishing with the luscious Pebeo purple/blue.  I made a effort to reserve some white space.  Now for the journal prompt.  I began calling myself lulu when I made a major life change and it stuck. My jewelry is made under the name of "It's a LuLu" and my students call me Ms. LuLu.  I hadn't put much thought into this change...my dear friend Jeanie Goddard had always called me Lindy Lou, a teacher in my department, Gail Vaccaro, always called me Lu, and a dear boyfriend used "LuLu" as an affectionate term. Years later when I was researching Ancestry.com I came across two old census reports in which my grandmother, Lucretia Gates Badgley, had been nicknamed LuLu. Gave me a chill.    So for "Worth Repeating" it was natural to think of two lulu's and the letters needed to spell that making for more repetitive elements. I went through family pictures to find photos of me and her at similar ages.

The bottom left is Lucretia in her twenties, the top two are me at close to the same age.I used the photos which I hand colored to establish our identity, added the painted, embossed letters to spell out our names, and wound a thread among the pieces to hold it together.  I painted the letters using the gelli plate.

I always write the challenge in the margin so that it shows through for that reminder-"Repeating Elements, It's worth repeating."

MIXED MEDIA MAYHEM - GLITTER BIRDS

When my shipment of Dylusions Spray Ink arrived, I couldn't stop spritzing it here and there. This journal page began with random sprays of turquoise and blues.

I had some lazer cut wood birdcages from Michaels that I was eager to turn into stamps so I made the stamped images on gelli printed deli paper and cut and pasted them to the page.

As usual, I had no real plan so I browsed through my stash and found scrapbook paper that I could use as a stencil.  I applied light weight molding paste through the swirls and placed the birds on opposing locations.  I stained the paste with Marvy markers to get precise placement.

I added the foliage through an old stencil with paint and markers and finished with the words stamped on Gelli printed deli paper. Oops...not yet.  I had to add the glitter to the birds to make them stand out.

Oops...not yet.  I had to add the glitter to the birds to make them stand out.

More Gelli prints digitally overpainted, draft.  I never know what it needs next until I see it displayed.

Gelli prints overprinted and painted digitally in four versions.  I like scanning my prints to manipulate in the computer.