Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!  I hope your new year is off to a great start!  Mine is.  And, it includes art.  I've joined a (free!!) project called The Documented Life Project - 2015.  It's for Art Journaling.  It's run by four women (Lorraine Bell, Rae Missigman, Sandi Keene and Roben-Marie Smith ) who are accomplished mixed-media artists and they've gathered some other well-known artists to take part in the project this year.  I'm so excited!  There's a monthly theme.  For January, it's "The Blank Page and How to Face It".  Then, there's an art challenge and a prompt.  But, of course, you use what you want from all of that and do it your way!  The first week's prompt was Be Your Own Goalkeeper and the art challenge was Book-Paper.  Using book-papers on your foundation makes for a quick and easy way to get rid of that big, blank page staring up at you!  Book-papers consist of, but are not limited to:  Old letters/envelopes, scrapbook papers, maps, dictionary and encyclopedia pages, other book pages, tissue-papers, security envelopes (they have some great little designs in them!), ledgers, old time-cards/sheets, library cards, etc....

So, with Mod-Podge, I put down my Book-Papers.

Then, I laid down, not too thickly, some of Golden's Gesso, (pronounced JEH-so).  

Then, I started playing around with a brush and Martha Stewart Craft Paints (high-gloss and satin, which I'm just now realizing), in the colors Surf and Granny Smith and Folk Art Acrylic Paint, in Pure Orange.    Those paints are watered-down a bit.  I squeeze out a bit of paint on some deli-paper; I dip my brush into some water, first, then pull a bit of the paint away from the rest of it and mix it around with the water.  This makes the paint more transparent when you put it down.  The idea was that you could see some of my book-paper that I laid down first, but I ended up adding enough paint that you can't really see much of the foundation.  But, that's okay.  I sprayed down some Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, in Chili Pepper Red. Then, I added the rectangular area, on the right, with Golden paint in Titanium White.  The white paint picked up some of the red mist and made it a bit pink.  I used rubber and acrylic stamps with ColorBox's Chalk "Q", in Prussian Blue and Dark Brown.  (I linked to a different color scheme so you could see how luscious they look in their packs, but the color scheme that I used was actually Chocolates and Blueberries.)  I used a Pitt pen for the writing and the "thought bubbles".  I used Washi Tape by K&Company (they're actually calling it "Paper Tape".  (That's the vertical strip on the left, with the polka dots on it and on the "GOALS" tag, on the right.)  I used a General's charcoal pencil and blended it, on the outside of the little scalloped area on the right.  The woman, doing all the thinking, is from some Artists' Papers, from the Stampington Company.  They send you a paper pack when you subscribe to Somerset Studio, which I highly recommend if you're interested in mixed-media art.  A superb publication.  Not one you'll browse through and then toss into the recycling bin!  You'll want to look at them, over and over, and keep them forever and ever.  Oh, and on the woman's hat, I used Prismacolor pencils and Ranger's Stickles, for a little shimmer.

FYI:  I try to find links of the exact product.  If a link goes to a product that's not exactly what I wrote about, it means that I couldn't find the exact product, online.  I use links from some of my favorite, trusted, websites.

This was lots of fun!  Took me far too long, though, so one of my hopes is, besides my art getting better - is that I get faster at it!  Wish me luck!

Happy creating!
Enjoy the day!

     ~ Teri