Mixed Media Mayhem - Hello Dolly, Happy New Year

For my birthday I had an outing to the Pasadena Flea Market which I had longed to do for years.  I love to look at old letters, books, photographs, and postcards.  In one stash I found a photo of four young women taken in the summer of 1905.  I brought it home with all my other goodies, but I kept taking it out to look at it...pondering their thoughts, pasts, and futures, and thinking what a watershed year?  1905 - Einstein publishes his thesis expounding E=MC2, Bloody Sunday in Russia heralds the beginning of the Russian Revolution, Las Vegas is founded, the Japanese are given the nod to go into the Asia mainland...so much history.  Did these young women have any idea of what was to come? They appear so innocent in their summer frocks.  Their names written on the back gave me a sense of personal access.  I made this page for them and especially Dolly.

I had begun this journal page by wiping paint with a credit card.

I used Vaseline as a resist and added a second layer.

Now my page had the appearance of an old peeling barn door appropriate for a historic interpretation. I added layer with tissue paper I had stamped with StazOn using images of text.

To add more to this text theme I stenciled with black using "Ledger" from the Crafters' Workshop. For collage papers I used my Gelli plate to print some doily patterns on deli paper.  Now I had a thoroughly layered page with an antique feel.

To give Dolly prominence I scanned her image and altered it in photoshop to give a pen and pencil rendition.  I glued her down to form the place for my journal entry

                                                           

and taped the photo to the opposite side.  I could not glue the photo down because I wanted to be able to look at the handwriting on the back.  I used a piece of washi tape to just tack it in place.

As we enter this New Year I ponder how will history look back on 2015

Mixed Media Mayhem - Forgive #WOIW

Meandering through the process of art journaling, I just enjoy the journey and do not think about the destination.  This process works to a point, then I need direction.  For this journal spread I was guided by the #WOIW, Word of Inspiration Wednesday group's challenge, Forgive.

The finished spread is bright and shiny, but began as a very bland stenciling with Dylusions and a TCW stencil.

                                   

Hmmmm.  To elaborate the floral theme I looked through my wallpaper books for some images and used a pattern to make a set of stamps.

A big fan of bling, in art but not in dress, I had to go further, adding gold embossing powder and black highlighter. 

Needing some focal elements I added the bird...remembered I had some black embossing powder so I could make him patent leather shiny and balanced him with some black embossed flowers on the opposing page.  To amp the colors I experimented with drippage (a new French word for letting ink run down the page, pronounced drip - pauge).

Looking through my Google+ posts, I discovered the new #WOIW, Forgive, which I interpreted to be about self-forgiveness and positive outlook.  My little black bird seemed to be looking for a positive message and found several that suited my intended message.

The finished page reminded me to keep in front of me that art journaling is for discovery not for product.  I enjoyed finding all the quotations and then cutting them out word by word to embed them.