Winter has returned. Well, crap!

I screwed up and stenciled the earrings over the face

Then painted over the mistake with gesso and more acrylic. The quote is from a book I was reading.

You can see her face is not blended well. My journal, my boo boo

Collage with a bunch of Gulfsprite downloads and some stamps I purchased at the Heirloom show

Artist bleeding tissue (yes, it's a thing) on deli paper

Cut out the big heart and added to the last page in a journal

Collage with watercolor

Explanation below

Gracie and her spreading beauty mark. My girl is turning white.

Drawing with fountain pen inks and spraying with water

Used a bit of white acrylic paint to finish

Watercolors and NeoColor II's, a bit of pencil

Crayola markers but there is a story. Of course there is.

 I really need to pay attention to the amount of time between blog posts. Dang.

Gulfsprite has taken us on a new journey of exploring water soluble products, such as fountain pen inks, Crayola markers, Paper Mate Flair pens, etc. I bought some cheap fountain pens, with the inks, at Five Below. The colors are vibrant, but the pens do have a tendency to leak and/or dry up. Going to continue to experiment with the cheapies before I invest in anything else. But what I did do, on Christy's recommendation, was take every marker or pen I had in the house and test them on a journal page. I first coated the page with a light coat of Liquitex Matte Medium. If the paper you are using is too porous, or has a coating, you can't get the inks to move as well. The Matte Medium seals the substrate, and allows the water to do it's magic. 

So. The page directly above has a light coat of Matte Medium. Let it dry completely. I then drew the girl with pencil, and started with the lightest colors of Crayola markers. I used yellow and a pale green to do some shading, then sprayed lightly with water. Mop up any pools with a tissue, then I used a heat gun to dry. Next layer was a darker blue/green, a little red, spray with water. After that, I started to finish it off and not use any more water spray. I love that mottled effect you can get on the Matte Medium. If you try this on raw paper, the paper starts to grab the water and buckle. This page is flat.

The collage of 2.5 inch squares was done with 2 different gel plate prints that weren't too busy. I then stenciled with Gulfsprite's earring stencils in a midnight blue, randomly. Cut out the squares, and arranged them on the page. I am trying to become more conscious of patterns that can be used in backgrounds, so this was a great exercise. Again, one of Christy's Patreon lessons. 

Go make something! Too cold to clean the garden or mow grass. Dang. Linda