"Thought breeds thought; children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education." ~ Charlotte Mason

Monday, February 9, 2015

"Layers" DLP2015 Week 6

February's Theme for The Documented Life Project is:  Layers You Will Love!    The art challenge for February 7th was: When Not to Stop!, The journal prompt was Don't Stop Till You Get Enough!

I followed the prompt as best I could.  I didn't have the tools they used so I need to improvise.  I layered acrylic paints in layers starting with the blue followed by tan, green and white.  I used a baby wipe and my fingers to do some blending.  Once I was done I thought it looked a lot like how our earth looks from the International Space Station, so I decided to make some moons in their various stages, the sun and a couple planets.  I then used a stencil I made and added some of the stars in whichever way struck my fancy.  I went over some of them with a fine black pen, and added some squiggly lines here and there near the other more linear star patterns.

I am not super crazy about how it turned out but it certainly is a lot of layers!  It also gave me an idea of how to put some layers on and then add some mixed media techniques on top.  I tried to use layers and shading to make my space theme look more 3D.  I enjoyed that very much! :)  I love blending techniques and mixing colours.


Space theme for "Layers"

Words with Friends: DLP2015 Week Four

Continuing on with the January theme of The Blank Page and how to face it the prompt for week four of The Documented Life Project was Writing, the journal prompt was Words with Friends.  The idea was to use your writing in combination with art.  I find it very interesting how everyone interprets the prompts.  There is so much creativity expressed through each person's unique perspective.  I love looking through them on the Facebook page.

I decided I wanted to learn how to do a sunset and then drop some silhouettes onto the page.  I choose birds and did some free hand sketching with them.  They were each doing their own thing but flying together.  It reminds me of my friends, all so unique and different, on their own paths but still together!  I put a little girl with her puppy, it reminded me of Miley, who I have often walk in the sun with, whether it is early morning or at dusk.

I noticed a fair amount of people did the writing right on their pictures but I wasn't keen on doing that with this particular piece.  I left some room on the side to write some quotes in cursive (I enjoy cursive writing).  I coated it with some yellow water colour and then took a fine tipped black pen to add my quotes in.  I pulled from various sources.  I had most of them in my commonplace notebook so I looked them up and copied from there.    I love C.S. Lewis quotes so most of them are from him, along with Helen Keller and Martin Luther King Junior.

I am pleased with the way this turned out!  It's one of my favorites so far.
I let it dry before I put a wash on it to 'set' the picture back and make it look hazy.

Finished it off with the water colour and quotes.