A few finished Art Journal pages to share

Hey Art journalers! :-)

This Monday I'd like to share some of my finished art journal pages.
Although I only started art journalling 2 months ago I have made a lot of pages. I was hooked immediately and still am...
I am finding my way with it and with working with mixed media. So far, so good, I'm loving it! I just can't stop, haha :-D
Let me know what you think!

Love,
Monique

This is my first page ever... (translation: Grateful)

Hmmmm, doodling.....fun!

 Translation: Life is remembering that everything is in constant motion.

Translation: Happiness is... freedom, 

Herman (the love of my life), Champaign, laughter, sex (with Herman off course!), BFF's, music, sunshine, spinach (yummie!), butterflies in my stomach, dancing, flowers, Myrah.

This is Myrah, our very, very, VERY, hugable cat...who is also into computers.... :-D

I hope you liked the pics! Next week I will post a process again. Who knows, maybe even a video...

Happy Creating!

The ABC....

Hi Mixed Media lovers, Stampers and Creatively Inspired Creators!

It is Monday night and as promised another post from me, so far so good hey? :-)

This time I'd like to share with you how I made my Alphabet Stamps and show some projects I did with them.
However, first things first....I discovered the previous name of this blog was already in use, in English aswel as in Dutch so I changed it into Life's true Colours.
Now,  I realize this name fits me and my plans for this blog much better! Sometimes things seem to be working against you when in fact it's a sign that tells you there is a better way!
Don't you just love when that happens? <3
It teaches me to keep the faith and just move on. Not to slow, not to fast but keep in motion and your muse will find you!

Here's the process of making my alphabet stamps that will last forever!
I found this alphabet in a book and I loved it!

I decided I wanted stamps to last a while.
I do make stencils/stamps out of paper or card stock as well and like the fact they don't last forever. It keeps me awake. Creating a new stencil for a new project keeps me on my journey as an original person and artist. But, every now and then I buy a stencil or stamp or make one that can travel with me for a bit longer....

I decided on linoleum. In the meanwhile realizing it wouldn't be a quicky. :-)
First I traced the letters on tracingpaper.

I then traced it again with charcoal, flipped it over and put it on a piece of linoleum.

Give it a rub and the letter is transferred onto the linoleum.

Then the fun part! Cutting away the linoleum you don't want to show.
Although I had to rediscover that to be honest. I remembered when I was a young girl (a long, long time ago, hihi) I 'had to' do this in school and I hated it! So I was a bit worried if I could get through the 26 letters..
But, I enjoyed it! Al 26 letter were done in one sitting!
Here's a pic of the cutting tools and the result.
Remember to you make alphabet stamps in reverse! (I know that now..hahahahaha)

Time to throw some paint on and stamp!

All done!

These are two journal pages I used then on.

Hope you enjoyed this post.
I'll be back next Monday, until then: Go and be creative in whatever way you feel is right!
Love,
Monique

There is a first time for everything

Here we go, my first official blogpost about my artwork.

I have given myself the challenge to create a blogpost every Monday about art, mixed media, art journalling and many other art and creativity related topics. I hope you come back to visit and please feel free to ask any questions and do leave a comment if you like what you see. :-)

My first post is about an art journal page I made this weekend.

First of all I have to give a big thank you to 

Nolwenn Petitbois http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkjUCzEQaNg&feature=plcp and 

Shannon Green http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdzraj2FMl4&feature=plcp for sharing their techniques and vids on you tube. They were such an inspiration for me! 

This is what came out of it.  I did not journal on this page, for me this picture says it all.

Title: "Lost for words" 

Here's the process of creating this page. I'm hoping to make some vids in the near future to show you how I go about my work. For now I hope these photo's are sufficient?

I started of in my Art journal with a double page, glued scrap paper on the pages (paper used for leftover paint etc.) and then a layer of watered down Gesso.

 

I then doodled with oil pastels, played with sprays and acrylic paints and stencilled with gel medium to create some 3D textures. No thinking, just making a big mess, I love it!!! :-) 

A detail of the 'mess' I made. :-) 

A sketch with black pencil. 

In the scarf I sketched I added pieces of an old handwritten letter which I had saturated with olive oil the night before  and left it to 'dry' overnight between sheets of newspaper (this is the technique Shannon Green shows in her video). 

This makes the letter translucent without disturbing the ink. And yes, it will stick with glue!  

Then it was time for some finger painting! Yes, sooo much fun! This is where I tried the technique that Nolwenn shows in her video. Dabbing here, dabbing there.....yummie!

For me this is a perfect way to 'tackle' perfectionism, shut of my 'thinking' and just play, have fun and create the features on her face at the same time.

This is the result of my dabbing....

I added acrylic paint around the edges of the sketch to blend the background and push the picture more in the foreground.

A little more accents around the border with charcoal for a grunchy look. Hehe, I felt that was appropriate because.......well........she is a bit scary, freaky and weird right? :-D

Wel, there you have it, my first post! It was a bit of a struggle to get everything alligned in Blogger but I think it worked out OK. I hope you liked it and we meet again next Monday.


And now go and create something! It's nourishment for the Soul.
Love,
Monique