A Different Direction

Amazingly, I find myself blogging two nights in a row but I have been doing so much stuff recently that I find I have quite a lot to blog about. This post is one of the pages I've recently completed for the current round of 'The Circle Journal'. There are seven of us currently passing our journals between us and 'playing' in each other's hand made journals. It's been fabulous fun and I've learned a lot just from seeing everyone's ideas. For Catherine Johnson's journal page I wanted to find a way of making more use of black ink. A lot more. Recently I've been inspired by the work and conceptual thinking of Deb Weiers. I'm also very inspired by Tracy Scott and her take on Deb's ideas too. But I want to find my own way with these ideas; hence the page I'm posting tonight. I hope you like it!

As there is no focal point as such, I wanted to concentrate on producing a rhythmic feel and a continuous flow. No surprise then that I included the title: rhythm and flow. Catherine's name is tucked inside there too. One of the rules in our circle is to include at least one PaperArtsy product. So for me this has been their Fresco chalk paint. It's a lovely medium to use and offers both opaque and transparent options. Great for layering. The photos below probably don't need much explanation but I will add product names where appropriate.

The stencils are all from the Tim Holtz range by Ranger.

I love the contrast between the dominant, darker, inky pool stencilling and the receding, snowflake stencilling. I'm learning to make a lot more use of white! The next stage was to plunge right in and create some lines with black ink to trail across and around the page to give the impression of continuous movement. I hope I've achieved that. I used Winsor and Newton drawing ink and calligraphy pen.

I was tempted to allow drips which I think would look effective but wasn't brave enough in the end. However, I used a black sharpie pen to add more thickness to some of the lines. Eventually I want to use only black ink to do this but was running out of time so used the sharpie instead. It still didn't feel quite finished at this point so I added some white doodling to the black lines. I tried to create the impression of ribbon unfurling around the black lines but possibly added too much to make this convincing. 

 Although I had added some doodles in black ( faber castell) around the textured circles, I didn't feel they were prominent enough. So I added some Treasure Gold over the top. I tried Emerald at first but then resorted to good old renaissance!

So there you have it. The beginning of a new direction for me in art journaling but one I'm keen to explore further. I really hope you like it. I would love you to leave a comment so I know you dropped by. Until the next time! Xxx