Saturday 2 November 2013

Art Journal page - Just Breathe

Hello everyone, thank you so much for visiting.
I have another Art Journal page to share with you.  I wasn't actually going to post this one because so many things just didn't go right with it and I almost tossed it in the bin.  It was my lovely friend Heather Jacob who persuaded me that it wasn't a total loss, mind you she hasn't seen the finished product so maybe she'll change her mind ... LOL.  
She actually loved the background and I must say I do too.   The base colour was laid down using Walnut Stain and Faded Jeans Distress Inks.  I used the Walnut Stain again to randomly stamp around the page with the Arty stamp and  script stamp from Kaisercraft.    It was the texture paste that was the first thing to go wrong.  I used the Crafters Workshop Mini Ledger Stencil and it looked great but as it was drying the paste started to bleed into the paper.   Not happy Jan!!!!  Won't tell you which brand texture paste I used but I just wanted to throw the whole thing out.  This was the stage Heather saw it and persuaded me to do some more and see what happened.  
I was going to cover up the script but then decided to leave it as is.  After looking at it for a while I decided it wasn't a big issue and I could live with it.  So I said to myself  'just breathe' and think of what to do next.
So I added some flowers.
 Cut out some random flower shapes, stamped them with a KC stamp and coloured them with a mix  of Distress Inks and Reeves Water Soluble Wax Pastels.  Must say, I do like how they turned out.
 I originally had some paper flowers glued to the bottom of the page but again, didn't like it, so took them off again and added the hearts which were also stamped with a KC stamp and coloured with Distress Inks.

I went around the edges of the flowers and the hearts with the Wax Pastels in black and went around the edge again with a wet paintbrush to blend it a little and that went wrong too.  I made a mess.  Tried to fix it but it didn't work too well so, again, I left it.  Take a deep breath I said to myself and keep going.
There really wasn't much more I wanted to do except perhaps add a few words.  Thought about it and decided to add what I had been saying to myself all along.  'Just Breathe'.
Coloured some paper with the Faded Jeans, wrote the words and cut them out.  I then edged the pieces with Walnut Stain and glued them to the page.  And, of course, when I outlined it with the wax pastels and tried to blend it, I did it again ...  made a mess.  But, you know what, I figure this page is just for me.  I haven't made it to give to someone, it is just for me to have a little bit of creative time for myself.  So, what the heck!!  Doesn't matter if I made a mess and, funny enough, I actually do like it.  Probably because it was a pain to put together, but now it's done I can look back at it and say 'so what' if it didn't turn out the way I imagined and 'so what' if no-one else likes it.  It's mine and I can look back at it and laugh at myself for taking it all so seriously!!!!
Done!!!  Finished!!!!
"Just Breathe' !!!

Thank you so much for visiting, hope you enjoyed it a little bit.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg


17 comments:

  1. At least you have a story behind this page and I think it looks lovely, glad you kept it.

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  2. Super woderful!!! Love this flowers...Hugs from Spain! :)

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  3. I feel absolutely COMPELLED to leave a comment - I LOVE THIS PAGE !!!!! First because it's so worn and vintage and I think the "modeling paste disaster" is genius and people will try to get that same look! Last, our journals are for experimentation and not perfect work that sells for a zillion dollars. The act of creating something you can't do exactly the same again is art - it's beautiful and I'm so so glad you shared because this inspired me to try something new ;-) You were brave, and it's a beautiful thing - thanks again {hug}.

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  4. Gosh well I think this is gorgeous!! I don't care about things like that - to me it is all part of the art. A very beautiful page!!

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  5. I love this Margy, the heart stands out magnificently and the script compliments it perfectly ..... so pleased you finished this and it looks beautiful. I really love it , truly really xoxooxoxo

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  6. Well Margie I have to say I totally and utterly agree with Linda R's comment and could not possibly have said it in a better way! I love everything about this page and yes, well done for having the courage to keep going and show it here, - so glad you did. I just adore those flowers and they come out so well against that blue and brown background, it is beautiful!!!

    Oh and by the way, you are just so lucky to have Heather close by and to do stuff together, I am jealous!!! :o)

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  7. So glad Heather convinced you to keep going, because I LOVE this. I love the soft blue and brown together, love the stamping AND the texture paste. It has a lovely vintage feel to this. Sometimes I am not liking a project , but I force myself to keep going and trying to improve it, that all is not lost. Sometimes I am still not sure when I finish, but funnily the one's I am not so keen on, others really like, so who knows. But I do Know I REALLY like this, it looks great and I love how you did your title for the cover as well

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  8. Thank goodness this beauty was saved from the bin!! I absolutely love it!! Love the title and love the background design!! xo xo

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  9. Love this Margy!!! so much detail and love went into this art, love all the different treatments- just wow xo

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  10. The lovely Heather is a very wise woman indeed, so glad you decided to keep this journal page and blog it. It's a very creative page and I love the depth you have achieved in both the background and your elements. Your colour choices are wonderful too! Just gorgeous xx

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  11. HI Marg, I love your honesty.. and I enjoyed reading about your creative process here.. isn't life like a scrap page? sometimes no matter what we do it does not go the way we had thought it might.. I love the shades of color in your back ground and the stamping is great.. love the hearts and flowers and the texture paste.. well it looks chunky but fine to me.. I think all of us can relate to you in this post.. creating is a process and often an experiment, if we like what happens we use that again, if we dont, it aint the end of the world.. thanks for showing this art page.. and have a creatively wonderful week ahead! xx

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  12. I love this!!! I wouldn't worry about the script either because in art there's no rules! This rocks!!!!! :D

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  13. That's a great story! And a great page! You've used my favourite stamp on there too - the KC chequered liney sort of one. (that's it's technical name - lol!)

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  14. Hello Marg, Another beautiful piece of work. You have friends in high places in Heather Jacob. Her work is amazing as is yours. Your art journal is coming along beautifully. Can't wait to start my own. Do you need to use a particular type of paper for this? I expect I might need a heavy paper. Cheers Karen.x

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  15. This turned out beautifully,...'disasters' and all :-) I believe in Art ournalling there are no such thing as disasters. Your bg work here is great and I love the way you coloured your page. TFS!! :-)

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  16. Marg, I've been admiring this all week. I would have never guessed that you had any missteps along the way. That's the great thing about mixed media - it doesn't have to be crisp and clean. Those grungy edges add so much character and this page is just amazing!! ~ Blessings, Tracey

    Garden of Grace

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  17. My daughter always "no problems only solutions". This project looks like it had no problems at all.

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