Let It Be

Dylusions 8x8 journal with acrylic paint

Funky birds

Used Antique White over the background, one coat

But still felt incomplete

Now it's done. 

Made this tag to put on the cover of one of the junk journals

I was all over the place the past few days, working on anything but drawing or painting girls. This is the pattern I have fallen into when I am stressed, and this past week has been stressful.

The double page spread in Dylusions journal: I applied acrylic paint with the Catalyst wedge, just swiping the tool across the page. Using cheap craft paint works well for this technique, because it dries quickly, so rarely do you get mud. Let that sit a few hours to make sure it was dry, then drew the birds out with the Jumbo Black pencil from Jerry's Artarama. It is waxy oil based, so doesn't really move if you accidentally hit it with a wet paint brush. Before I worked on the interior of the birds, I first painted around them with Apple Barrel Antique White. Not heavy. I wanted to block out the background but not completely. Looking at the photos, I should have done some light grey shading around each of the birds. Hmmmmm.

I have used this process many times. Getting lost in the act of making a marking mess, then creating the birds with negative painting is, to me, very therapeutic. There are multiple layers of stress present today. Coronavirus, lack of medical accessibility, lack of leadership, lack of cognitive thinking when idiots say they are willing to die to open up the economy, and the inevitable depression of isolation. Sometimes you just NEED to make a mess.

The tag was based with Bimini Blue from Apple Barrel. I edged it with Archival Ink in Sepia. Pulled the question mark out of a set of Tim Holtz Ideaology that was so old, it smelled musty. I think I bought it at Tuesday Morning, and that local store closed 4 years ago. The base embossing powder is Patina Oxide from Baked Texture, a Seth Apter product. I then added a few grains of Aged Black from Stampendous. Sewing the edges gave it a nice frame. Glued everything to the altered book cover with Aleene's Tacky Glue.

Today's therapy will be returning to pages in that junk journal, just tear, glue, and move on. Be creative. Take care of you.
Linda