Sunday 20 March 2016

Today ... A Work In Progress - Part 1

Hi everyone,

At the start of this year I decided not to set New Years resolutions (after all, I never stick to them!), and instead I chose a word to focus on for 2016.  My word is TODAY.

I've found that it's really helped me to focus on what I want to do - every morning I will think "what do I want to achieve today?" and change that answer into a statement (or two) - "Today I will ...".

In January I brought myself an IKEA Ribba frame - one of the big ones with room for a 12"x12" picture - with every intention of creating something for it to represent my word of the year. Well weeks have passed, and it seemed like such a big project that I never could find time for. Until today. I've decided to start it - afterall, I don't need to finish it in one day do I?  So this is Part 1 of my journey - I have no idea how it's going to turn out - but what's the worse that could happen eh?

I started with a sheet of PaperArtsy 12"x12" Heavy Smoothy, and added some pieces of scrap patterned paper. I then covered it with a layer of Dina Wakely Clear Gesso.



Next I wanted some colour and pattern ... so I stenciled some circles and a sun-ray with Archival Ink Pads - and also the year. (I don't mind if the year can't be seen at the end of the project - but I felt it was important to include it).


Now for some colour. I scrapped various PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints over the page (Caribbean Sea, Chalk, Limelight, Tango and Bougainvillea).



I then added more Chalk with a brayer to knock the brightness back (just a tad).



I stencilled some text in random areas, and painted thicker areas of Chalk to add more "white space".



I then sanded pretty much everything. I wanted some of the patterned papers to peek back through the layers, and I love the effect of this text piece with a resist effect on it (I think it was a Prima paper).



And that's it for Part 1. Hope you'll join my for the next installment...

Enjoy!

5 comments:

  1. Part 1 is looking pretty fab! I didn't know Smoothy came in 12x12.. how did I not know that? (or have I just forgotten...old age striking) Can't wait to see part 2.

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  2. Ohhhhhhh. Looking AWESOME!!!

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  3. Love, love, love!!! :o) xxx

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  4. You have a new stalker! ;o)

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  5. Wow. That looks great. Look forward to seeing how it progresses.

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