This post includes 2 subjects: creative writing and making your own textural/dimensional paste. Lets start with textural paste first.
I checked a library book out recently that talked about making your own paste by combining acrylic medium with a thickener such as sand, clay or talc. I've had both matte and glossy gel medium for quite a while now and as they are both starting to get rather thick I figured why not give it a try. So I grabbed my matte medium, re-inkers and some talc powder and started to play around with the idea. It was easy to do and the results are amazing! I don't know for sure buying pre-made paste may be cheaper in the long run but it is nice to know that I can make a small batch to use on a project anytime I want.
See the wonderful bubble texture on the left of this first picture, the right side looked like that originally but I couldn't leave things alone. There was one little spot that didn't look right so I decided I neede to "fix" it and flattened it out instead. I should have remembered the "Un-Rules" of mixed media that we started over at SCS: it doesn't have to be perfect. I've added another rule to the list, leave things alone until they are dry. At least I was able to do something with the mess I'd created by taking a craft stick to create fish scales, sort of any way.
The texture on the bottom of the page in this next picture shows how I used both the positive and negative of a stencil. I laid the stencil down on the right corner to apply my paste and then flipped it over onto the left corner to use the paste that was now on the top of the stencil. The stencil I used by the way was actually a Cuttlebug die cut out of card stock. Looks a lot like a fishing net to me, what do you think? I saved the die cut and will use it sometime in the future, which makes that one die cut a 3 for 1, yeah!
I created the mermaid freehand and am pretty proud of the way she came out. I followed another "unrule", don't be afraid, just do it. If I can do it so can you, I challenge you to to jump in and draw or create something without a stamp or stencil, nobody needs to see it if you don't like the way it turns out but at least you tried. I learned me lesson, after the mermaid was completely dry I painted her with some iridescent green Twinkling H2O's so she would sparkle and shimmer in the light. It also helped her stand out better on the page since I used the same color of paste as I had used at the top and bottom of the page, if you look close you can see the green. I hand drew a mouth and eyes and she was done. Hint when creating eyes, draw a larger white oval or dot first then put a smaller dot of your chosen color in the center of the white dot.
I loved the way all the textures turned out on this piece but was stumped at this point as to what to do next. What kind of journaling goes with mermaids anyway?!?! This is where the let go and just do it mantra came in handy again. I grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down what I though being a mermaid would be like and within no time at all I has some free verse of sorts that I knew I wanted written on my journal page so I started writing and before I knew it the page was full. Now I want to be a mermaid because it sounds like a wonderful place to live.
Art journaling really does help you free your creative nature, the more I art journal, the more I'm finding that teenage girl who loved to doodle and write silly stuff again because while making this page I could feel her stirring, trying to wake up again. I will definitely be exploring my creative side more.
About that "letting go and just do it" thing isn't so bad either, I kinda liked it. Give it a try, I'm glad I did.
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