Since the last post, I have joined a monthly challenge called Mission Inspiration run by Mike Deakin in the UK (https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMikeDeakin/videos) and virtually stopped doing the Journal 52 challenges. I have been watching Mike on YouTube for a while and finally decided to bite the bullet and join in. Here is the challenge format:
As you can see, you get ten things to do on your page - sometimes there is a theme and sometimes not, so you can pick your own. I will say it looks much easier in the YouTube videos than it is in real life. The associated Facebook group is very supportive - I've never had so many nice comments or as many likes before.
Journal 52 Week 26 - Barefoot
I turned this prompt on its head because it is winter here and that week we had a very cold snap - so I photographed my bare feet all toasty in their slippers and then used a magazine page to make it look like I was relaxing by the fire. I filled in the gaps with paint and voila - a warm inviting lounge room.
Colour Me Positive Week 27 - Do It!
This week was about practising art no matter what and the quote came from Kurt Vonnegut: "To practise any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it." Guest artist Carolyn Dube said an OOPS is just an Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Suddenly, and we were encouraged to use a bright colour on our page - one we wouldn't normally use.
No bright colours, in fact it all looks a bit murky. I spread colour with an old card and then smooshed the pages together. I thought it looked a bit rockpool-y so did a blue wash over the top but that just made it muddy. It's hard to see in the photo, but I outlined lots of areas with gel pens and drew some sea urchins. The quote is written on tracing paper so that when glued down it is sort of transparent.
So not my best effort and certainly in the realms of art done badly.
Colour Me Positive Week 28 - Smile
"Never regret anything that made you smile" was this week's quote with a reminder that life is full of great experiences of our own making.
I saw a book on portraiture that had something like this on the cover, so I went trawling through my magazines looking for suitable faces - they had to be about the same size and all facing the same way - and I HAD to use the Queen in there somewhere! The colour was already on the page (Distress Stains) so all I needed to do was glue in my collaged face. To add decorative detail, I masked one corner and stamped the doily shape. And, as usual, I didn't use their quote.
Mission Inspiration - May 2016
May was the first month that I chose to do for the Mission Inspiration challenge. I wanted to use this quote that I found somewhere in regard to grief: "You can't hurry the letting go", which I loved because we all grieve differently and sometimes you can't let go when others think you should. This applies to lots of things in life, not just grief, but and it's a big BUT, you should not hang on for too long. Work through things at your own pace but work towards finding your balance and your time to finally let go.
So I used pink and orange gelatos, a couple of Tim Holtz layering stencils, had great difficulty blowing paint through a straw (hence only one corner done) and used a couple of bird stickers from Daphne magazine. Like Mike I tinted my modelling paste, did some pen work around my words and then I drew in some branches for the birds. I used glitter glue to give a sparkle to the bird's eyes.
It was harder than I thought to include all ten prompts - you really have to think about these challenges.
Mission Inspiration - July 2016
So here is the mission, followed by my response.
I chose the song "Loverly" from My Fair Lady because I knew I would be able to find an image of a comfy chair. The hard part was doing the background - choosing napkins, colours, stencils and stamps that would go with the image. I find the background a bit busy but others in the group like it - so maybe it's a case of being my own worst critic!
Anyway that's me for now - I haven't done any more collages and none of the recent Journal 52 prompts have interested me - way too summery and a bit woo-woo. But I'm sure there will be weeks where something appeals. I must say that I am enjoying Effy Wild's videos on layering.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed my offerings. Keep warm if you're in the southern hemisphere and cool if your not.
