Be Your Own Light

I have really enjoyed doing more Art Journaling lately.  This particular spread is one I could see in my brain but was so worried wouldn't materialize the way I imagined but I have learned that is OK as the path you think you want to take may not be the right path at all and journaling allows that process to occur so the end result is always exactly as it should be.  However, my brain must have been on the right path as it is PERFECT!  This is a loooooooong post, with a lot of pictures, but I wanted to share as much of the process as possible for those interested.  I suggest you click on the pictures to see them larger so you can see the detail and shimmer.

This is stage one.  I took pictures as I went, mostly because it was going so well, I was scared I was going to screw it up at the next step so had to be able to prove it was working.  The nice result is that I can share the progress.

The background is painted with Luminate Silks.  The grass is Olive Vine and the sky is Harvest Sol  with some 'dabbed' Periwinkle.  I also scattered the tiniest amount of the Scarab Beetle Luminarte Mica Powder.

The dark trees on the edges are done with black gesso and the Branches Reveresed Crafters Workshop stencil.  Once it dried I used the same stencil and a black mist to create the shadowed ones in the background.  The black on the ground is just some random markings from the palette knife after using the black gesso.

I knew I wanted to add in a fence using the LaBlanche Wrought Iron Fence stamp.  I also knew I didn't have a prayer of actually having it stamp correctly and line up properly multiple times on something where I really, really wanted it to work.  I decided instead to take a chance on a different technique.  I stamped the image multiple times on tissue paper.  I then trimmed it out, put plenty of glaze medium where I wanted the image and stuck it down.  I covered it with more glaze and then waited for it to dry.   It worked!  WOOT WOOT!

This fabulous girl is Rockstar Eyes "Alex".  I have never had the honor of having a stamp named after me before and I ADORE this one.  I would, regardless of her name, which makes it even BETTER.  I used copics on her skin, but colored the rest of her using Luminarte Silks in Vavoom Red, Periwinkle, Honey Amber and Ice.  The image has wings, but I decided, at the last minute, to cut them off for this page.  I am hoping you can see how gorgeously she shines in the picture.

This close up of the background really helps to show off how gorgeous the Luminarte Silks are.  I am completely in love with these.

I began to pull everything together and finish it off.  I used the Bird on a Wire stamp set by Dylusions.  If you have been reading my BLOG long, you know I kind of have a 'thing' with ravens.  I begged, yes, BEGGED Susana to bring this set to SCACD and I am sooooooooooooo glad she did.  How more perfect could it be than to have ravens deliver the message?

I DID, however, cut apart the birds in flight that are in the set.  Now, that was a labor of precision, but I needed to use them differently, so just went for it, because I am crazy like that :).

This close up of Rockstar Eyes "Alex" shows the glow.  I created it with a thin outline of Viva Decor Precious Metals Silver paint.  While it was still wet (as in immediately) I then mixed some glaze medium with some Luminarte Mica Powder in Solar Gold.  This was probably a 2/1 mix of glaze to mica.  I only needed a touch and wanted the gold to really be prominent.  I applied it with a small flat brush and brushed away from Alex to blend the silver and gold creating the glow.

This is a close up of the raven messengers.  I added a touch more glaze to the left over gold mix and swiped it over the words for added shine.

The finished product.

I am so very, very pleased with the end result and enjoyed ever single step of the process. Well, except for waiting for things to dry, but that is only teaching me patience. Something that I need to continue to learn and be reminded of over, and over, and over again.

Have you played with your supplies lately?  Gotten a bit messy and just gone where you heart and soul want to take you?  Try it.  There is no perfect, no right, no wrong, just a process and FUN!!!

Get Inky!

Alex