Live, Love, Laugh

I thought I would never get this done.  The base was relatively easy to make.  The background is acrylic pain on watercolour paper.  The heart is made with poured acrylic as described by Debbie Arnold in THIS video.

I don't have gel medium (mine went hard and I wasn't able to recover it) so I used the same purple acrylic paint to adhere the heart.  The result was an unexpected shadow which I really like.  There's a bot of a shine from the iridescent copper/metallic copper paint I used.  This is the same pain I used on the back of the tags.

The pockets for the tags was made with standard vellum.  I initially stuck it down with double sided tape but didn't like how it looked.  The stitching was the best way to cover up the marks from the strips of glue.  I liked how it looked so much that I decided to stitch around the heart as well.

The tags were made with acrylic paint.  I cut them out added the paper on the back and covered that with the metallic copper acrylic paint.  I added the hole protectors on the back and front then used a pen with white artist ink to write the titles.  On the back of the tags, I put stickers that correspond to the three topics.

Here are the tags outside the page.  I haven't made up my mind about adding string to the end of the tags so for now they are going to remain plain.

Is this Love?

I wasn't sure what to do this week.  That's what happens when a good resolutions meets up with bad planning.  It is one of the reasons New Year's resolutions never make it very far.  Carried on the wave of excitement and anticipation I made a decision but didn't put a lot of thought into what that decision was going to mean in real terms.

It is a testament to my dedication that I not only made it through week three but that I have every intention of going froward from here.  But I cannot ignore the fact that I only made it this far with some help.

Stuck for an ideas I went trolling through my favourite source of ideas...the internet.  This weeks page is a reproduction of Limor Webber's mixed media Friday art journal page on YouTube.  You can visit the thread HERE.  This particular page was inspired by THIS VIDEO. 

I used different colours and since I didn't have the templates she did, I either made them for myself using cereal box card.  The repeated print pattern on the (handmade) envelope was made by pulling stamps from different stamp packs that fit the theme onto an acrylic block and stamping them as a single image.

Music to Inspire

Sometimes music can inspire but most of the time it helps me find the words to say what can't always come out of my mouth.  Knowing this I decided to put together a 'Creative Path Soundtrack'.  Music that helps me see clearly who I am and what I'm worth.  Music that makes me believe anything is possible.  Music to listen to when I can't remember why I'm doing this art journey to begin with. Music to feel by and dance to...music to live.

Sadly, I didn't do a step by step show of how I made the art journal page because I wasn't sure what I where I was going with it until it was done. But here is the final product:

I did the art journal page first using (very watery) acrylic paint then added salt to give it texture.  I spattered black paint with a mask over the main area.  Using a roller I added gold paint over the whole.  I used a credit card to add even more black paint around the main area so it could *pop*.

With a butterfly stencil I painted in the black butterfly at the top then used more of the diluted acrylic paint in the main area to make a brighter/darker butterfly.  I scanned that image into my computer.  Using it as a template I added the text and the veins on the butterflies.

I then used photo editing software (Microsoft Office Picture Manager and Windows Paint) to create the front and back of the music CD.  I added the song tracks and titles then printed them out.  I burned the music on a CD and the final product goes into the binder with everything else.

CD Front

CD Back

The Creative Path - Cover

This is the first page of my art journal for this year.  The step to create it were relatively simple.

I used a piece of cardboard-box card (can't remember where I got it from but it was 12x12in).  I covered the back in fabric to reinforce it and give it some interest.  Once that was dry, I trimmed the whole to be an A4 size (8.25x11.75in) with an additional 1in tab.  I'll be using A4 sized paper for most of the projects.

I covered the front with gesso primer and let that dry completely.  I drew my image with pencil and painted it in using acrylic paint.  I finished by adding the silver embellishment with "The Creative Path" embossed with a stylus, punching out the three holes on the side and putting in the three binding clips and adding the lettering.

The final product...and the start of my creative journey:

The Creative Path

I'm back!

It's not as impressive as it sounds.  I got distracted by *stuff* and found that doing my blog posts was no longer a priority.  It doesn't mean I haven't been doing my art or writing.  In fact I've been doing lots more of both...and plan to do lots more this year.

NaNoWriMo was a blast and because of that I'm interested in doing Camp NaNo this year - twice.  I haven't totally given up on Illustration Friday but I have gone in the direction of the Art Journal/Smash Book for now.  I bought a couple of moleskin journals and with the help of a lot of YouTube tutorials I'm learning the tricks of the trade and loving every minute of it.  I hope to share the flips just as soon as I learn how to make them :-)

Which brings me to the plan for this year: THE CREATIVE PATH.

The Creative Path is a 52 week creative challenge that I am embarking on so I can remain true to my creative development but also so that I can use that creative walk to improve myself as a person being.  To live, to love and to learn...to share and grow and remain accountable to this creative journey.

The creative work will revolve around my art journal/smash book and a monthly theme.  I intend to include writing as well.  This blog will have at least one weekly post featuring the art work for that week.  I will write no less than 2,000 words of fiction as either a part of a longer story or as a short complete story.  I will probably share a few of the short stories (especially flash fiction) when I can.  I will work on at least one article for my personal magazine/newsletter which I hope to start sharing as well.

So...it begins.