Wanderlust Book Pages

Here are 2 more pages in my Wanderlust book. This first one came with the prompt 'what do you see in the mirror' I wasn't sure I wanted to do a self portrait, but then I found this page in my journal. This is a background started many years ago, like most pages in this book. It is Neocolor II crayons and acrylic paints. It seemed perfect . 

So I added a double border using Metallic pens and Portfolio pastels. 

I then added liquid pearls. 

and using paint markers I did this sketchy weird colours portrait. 

Added a little more shading and it's done.. hope I don't actually look like this .. maybe first thing in the morning lol

The other page is based on the prompt, 'my past' ..

Again I had a background already done.. 

Then I printed off a photo of me from when I was 6 or 7. At this age I was taking dance classes 4 times a week. 

The dress had a lemon yellow underskirt made of net, the top part of the dress was white with sheer sleeves. I was wearing my Grandmother's necklace and bracelet.. I still have those. Oh and the shoes were silver. 

I also had ringlets in my hair, created by sleeping the previous night in 'wrapped rags'.. gawd I hated those things. 

So I applied Mod Podge to my image and attached it to the page. I brayered it to ease out any air bubbles and left it to dry. 

We danced to many types of music in the classes. I took Ballroom, Latin. Modern Sequence and Disco classes, so there was a huge range of music. However the only one that has stuck in my mind is 'Save all your Kisses for Me' by Brotherhood of Man. So I wrote the lyrics out onto the page. 

This was a quick and simple page and definitely from my past as i don't dance at all these days lol Though a few years ago I began tap dancing, the class is just too far away to get to.. I should look for another one. 

For someone who doesn't dance I do have 3 pairs of dance shoes!!! I really should get back to classes . 

Darcy x

Waxy Poppies

Over on the PaperArtsy blog this evening I have a waxy experiment.. I say experiment rather than project as I really was just trying out lots of waxy mediums, to see what effects I could achieve. 

Pop over HERE, and see what I was playing with.. 

Darcy x

ABC of Flowers

A quick and funky single page for you today. A few weeks ago while doing another page I had cleaned off my brushes onto this page... might seems a dirty thing to do, but..

this is the ideal way to get excess paint off your brush...

it means that paint isn't wasted..

and it gives you a base to start a new page. 

There were 3 patches of colour, Ice Blue, Mocha Mousse and Pansy. The colours don't matter, whether they go together or not.. they can always be covered up, partly or totally. As it happens I quite liked the 3 patches, and decided to just cover the whole page with an alphabet stamp. I have this stamp plate twice.... one plate is kept as a whole for doing backgrounds and the other one is cut up into individual letters.I love this set.  Ink and Dog Words 2.

Next I used the stencil PS009 and black gesso to create these silhouette flowers. You can see more clearly here the original patches of paint. 

I cut out some flowers from scrap paper and placed them over the flowers to protect them. 

I then created some background circles using Portfolio Pastels. Light blue, dark blue, brown and orange. 

Next I mixed some Fresco paints with water, just enough to make it runny enough to drip and splatter. I used 3 colours, first Tango, then some Autumn Fire and finally some splatters of Blood Orange. 

Here is how it looks now that the paint drips have dried. 

Next I took  a white Posca pen and did some doodling. 

To finish off the flowers I added some stems using a Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel pencil, this is a bit like charcoal and is quite smudgie. I then added some white details again with the Posca pen. 

Here is the finished page. I was in two minds as to whether I should add a title or a quote at the bottom right corner. I still might go back and do that, but i will leave it for a while... live with it and see how I feel in a week or two. 

This really was just a 'play and see' page, and I found it very relaxing, pages like this are great for trying new techniques. You don't have to finish them in one session, you can keep going back and adding 'stuff'

Give yourself permission to just play. 

Darcy x

Weekly Face on Weds {Miss Agnes..}

Here is another of my big haired girls, I love making these with their funky hair-do's full of stamps. 

I started with a light sketch, on heavy smoothy  then I stamped the images onto scrap paper, cut them out and cut them apart. Now I could play with placement to get a better idea of how things were going to come together. 

I then started to fill in her face using Snowflake,Nougat,Rose and Irish Cream. These are my go-to colours for skin tones. However since our newest colour Chalk has been introduced as a limited edition I am finding that I prefer that over the snowflake. 

Here you can see I chose to make the left side in shadow, so that becomes the darker side, with more Rose and Irish Cream on that side. 

I then blocked in the hair using Eggplant, Spanish Mulberry and Candy Floss

I blocked in the green 'roads' first with Sage, and then with blends of Hey Pesto and Green Olives. I also went over the hair again, adding in shading and highlights with the same 3 purples/pinks used previously. 

I wanted the snail  from EM04 to be the main focal image, as he travels the twisty mountain road up her hair. I stamped him onto tissue paper. I coloured the fiddly bits from the back and the easier parts from the front. then I cut a curve out of him, so that it looks like he is behind the upturned fringe.  next I created a traffic lights, again on tissue paper, using the water reed flower head from EDY05

I then decided to work on the background. I used the star stamp from EDY08, and some Snowflake fresco. I stamped randomly all over the background and left that to dry. 

The Snowflake stars then became a resist. I brushed Tango, Guacamole and Space Cadet over the background, quickly wiping them back to reveal the stars. I also added some budding grasses from EDY05 around the hairline, along with some of the lollipop flower heads from EDY06. Once painted they were cut in half and glued to the hairline.

Next I painted some tissue paper and stamped more lollipop flowers, and the heart from EDY06 and the heart from the birdies wing EM02. I created mini stems for them all using the border stamp from EDY06

Now a lot of elements were in place I added in some shading using French Roast, I love this colour for adding depth. I added small dashes of Snowflake to the green bands to indicate road markings. 

See this little chap, isn't he cute? I stamped his body using one of the small swirls in the background stamp on EDY07, his wings came from the flower stamp EM03. I painted and stencilled the tissue paper first, then stamped in black archival over the top. once he was glued in place I added antennae with a black pen and some highlights with a white pen. 

Finally I made it to the top of the hair, the fence was created from the petals of the large flower on EDY05. Again I painted the tissue paper first then stamped on top. Then I stamped and stencilled more tissue paper for the mushrooms from EM01. The sign is just 2 pieces of tissue paper, one stencilled the other just painted and stamped. 

and there you have her mountain of hair...

To frame her face I used the border from EDY07, cutting it in half so that it curled down each side. To frame the whole page I rubbed on a little blue and purple portfolios, and finished the edge with a little Treasure Gold. 

At this point, all I needed to finish off was her face, this took me a lot longer than I anticipated and gave me no end of trouble lol

I finally got there, and finished off by painting tissue paper with Blood Orange and Vintage Lace, then I stamped the teeny heart from EDY07. I attached this to her cheek with matte glaze. 

So here she is all finished. Say hello to Miss. Agnes. She is looking rather quizzical at what is going on in her hair...

Hope you enjoyed seeing her come together. 

Darcy x

My stamps are also available from 

The Craft Barn... Country View Crafts.... The Stamp Attic

Hello Wednesday, it's been such a long time since I have played along, almost 6 months in fact since Ian broke both his feet. He is on the mend now and should be back at work by the end of the month...fingers crossed.

So here is my desk, it is pretty tidy...a rarity for me, but then you can't see the floor lol All the usual stuff on there, plus my Art Portfolio that I have just made. It is on there as it is quite big and I haven't found a permanent place to keep it yet.

If you would like to see how I made it, I posted all the instructions with lots of photos in four blog posts.

PART ONE.

PART TWO.

PART THREE.

PART FOUR.





I have also started a weekly word prompt, all the words so far are IN HERE. Each Monday I post the new word prompt and questions to think about and on the Friday I post my finished page. I would love it if you join in...if you do please let me know so I can add your name to the side bar.

last week I drew this little robin, he turned out a bit angry looking. I didn't mean him to lol



I first applied a wash of watered down acrylics..



and then added all the shading and details with Derwent coloursoft pencils.



Do any of sketch,draw or paint?????? then you might be interested in joining a new blog that I set up. It is a monthly prompt blog for drawing, you don't have to be good at it, the whole point is that by doing the prompts it makes you practise and you get better.

Here is The blog , please take a look at the first prompt/challenge. If you join in we also have a Flickr group... HERE.... where you can upload your challenge pictures.

Hopefully I will get to visit lots of blogs today, but I also have to make cakes as it is Ian's birthday today and it is my birthday tomorrow.

Have a great day.x