Sunday 24 January 2010

GPP Street Team Crusade No 36 - Braving the Elements

I chuckled to myself writing that title as although it really refers to the recent cold weather, I do feel I braved, or even battled, with one of the elements we had to use in this challenge!



Michelle Ward's challenge was to gesso a journal page, paint it with acrylics, splash it with water and wipe (I forgot to wipe...ooops!) then stencil with homemade snowflakes before adding them to the page. 



It was the paint on the gesso I battled with!  I'm used to splooshing my paint around, dabbing and blending it, leaving some areas dark and making other areas lighter by watering down the paint.  Acrylic paint does not behave itself when it's on top of gesso....aaaarrrgh!

Having said that, I LOVE the result!!



I meant to take a couple of photos as I went along but I got a bit engrossed and forgot!!  I used Adirondack paint dabbers [stream, pool, eggplant, snowcap] and then highlighted areas with my new Inktense colouring pencils.  This was soooooooo relaxing, and the gesso base gives a great 'tooth' for the pencil. 



The final task was to add some journalling, which I did, but may paint over as I'm not happy with it.  I preferred the page without it and imagine it would look better with white gel pen handwriting across areas.  I was trying not to write in and out of the snowflakes, don't know why, just thought I ought to try something different!!



This is my first time at entering this challenge, although I've often looked and drooled over entries.  If you look at my snowflakes, they have little hearts in there, an idea I stole from Julie Prichard!  I've always put straight cuts into homemade snowflakes before!!

Going to leave you with a couple of images of the pages I did yesterday to demonstrate how I layer acrylic paint onto my journal page, and later add stamping and images.  It's still a page in progress.






The page on the right, below, was one from a previous demo which I added to with a baby wipe and green true colours paint to co-ordinate a little better with the page on the left.



17 comments:

  1. Sarah - thanks for coming to play on our team! Your pages are very pretty - love the close-up shot that shows all the colors and the snowflake layer.

    *braving the elements* is a title chosed for its double meaning. not only the weather...but also the act of being brave in trying something new, being brave by sharing your work .... and using handcut paper to use a tool and then an applied element. You did it all! Cheers.

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  2. oooh Sarah! Those pages are just BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can't even pick a favorite, I love them all! Hugs, Paulette :)

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  3. Brilliant job as always, girl!

    I love that you are NOT afraid of a challenge...we need to talk! ; )

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  4. What stunning pages Sarah. I really like the snowflakes you've made, and the quite strong colors you used. The other journal pages are gorgeous too, again your color use really appeals to me. I'm glad you had a chance to join in this time.

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  5. Hi Sarah
    Thank you so much visiting over at my place and entering my OWOH giveaway.
    How fun it is, that you mother is coming to Hugglets with her bears too.
    ~ Tina

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  6. Am just adoring all those backgrounds you have created...the depth and layers are FAB! x

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  7. These pages are just amazing. I'm so envious of the way you create, just splooshing and playing. Whenever I try anything like this I just end up with a mess, think I need lessons!!!!!
    The colours and textures are gorgeous. I am in awe!!!!

    Lisax

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  8. Great job on the Challenge. I like the way you showed your work in various stages. I must remember to do that. i'm curious if you like your Inktense pencils.

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  9. Your pages are great -- love seeing them all!

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  10. Very cool pages, I like all the soft colors and "blending" :-) Nice work crusader!

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  11. Yes, gesso can be a tricky element, but oh, so useful. I LOVE the results on your page.
    I totally get the frustration with journaling on the page. I've been working on being "brave" and writing on mine, but I wish I hadn't rushed into write on my snowflake page. I think.

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  12. Beautiful! I love all the layers of rich color!

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  13. Fantastic layouts! All of them. The snowflakes with their blues are my favourite.

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