Secretive: An Art Journal Page with Image Transfer

Hi everyone, and happy Friday! Happy November, too, since this is my first post this month. The darkest time of the year is falling upon us but I have a pretty bright journal spread here to cheer it up.



Inspired by the October Challenge at Wanderlust Class 2017, I tried image transfer with acrylic medium for the first time. I have previously tried packing tape transfer and found it fun. Here, I was excited to see the image lifting directly onto the page, whereas in the tape method the tape remains visible and you need to glue it down.

The images I have used here are inkjet printed and my medium was Liquitex acrylic matte medium.



You can see I have used two different sized transfers of the same vintage image, showing a mysterious woman with daisies and a veil.



I had prepared a background on my square Dylusions Creative Journal collaging bits of gelli printed and die cut book pages, and then added acrylic paint.

What happened with the transfer was that it seemed easy at first but then I did rub too hard and lost quite a few pieces. This was my first try, directly onto the journal background. Luckily, I had printed a smaller version of the same image and tried it on a separate painted paper, and it worked better!



I didn't want to give up my background and taking a second look at it, I came to think that the smaller image on the orange piece of paper might look cool mounted on the side of the more broken image, so this is what I did.



At the same time I was trying to learn from a recent lesson by Kasia Avery at Wanderlust 2017, about the use of Black and White as Contrasts, and how they can work to calm down or unify a page with many colors. I think the final spread is still slightly too busy/colorful for my mood at the moment, but I didn't have time to work it any longer, wanting to make the challenge deadline.



I also used some lace and machine stitching as effects. The (originally white) lace had been used as a stencil in Gelli printing, so it already had those cool darker and lighter areas. Then some Gelatos around the edges, plus some black stamping, marker and white paint pen. I love the image, she reminds me of a good fairy with a secret that makes her smile!



The image, by the way, is printed from The Graphics Fairy, who offers thousands of good quality copyright-free vintage images for free. (There is also a paid Premium membership option, but I haven't felt the need for it so far. It would especially benefit someone working digitally, since it offers a lot of special effects for editing programs).

This site is a great resource for finding images for transfer techniques, and its search engine helps to find images in the theme that you want.



I am also linking my project to this week's challenge at Take a Word. The theme is Family Albums, meaning the use of old photos to create some altered art. Photos from other sources are ok, if you don't have family photos, says the challenge guideline.

Happy weekend everyone and thanks for taking a look!

Nature Prints Journal Spread

Hello, and happy new week to everyone!

My biggest inspiration of this year has been the year-long Wanderlust 2017 online class. I've started more projects than finished but at this point, this doesn't feel like a failure at all but instead one of the main teachings of the whole class so far.

When I feel good making art, the important thing is to do it as often as I can, and not count the finished projects. This goes at least for the kind of period as I have in my life right now - my to-do-list seems very full also without art deadlines and blog posts. The main thing I'm sorry for is that this has also meant neglecting my blog.

Anyway, today I have a Wanderlust inspired project to share!



A while ago the class theme was Nature Prints. Kasia Avery, the sweet and super talented main teacher of Wanderlust 2017, inspired us with a video of Gelli printing with objects from the nature.



I've used household items for Gelli printing before but hadn't thought of trying something like flowers or leaves. I got really hooked on it right away so I was lucky to have picked plenty of different leaves with the help of our three-year-old! It was a good idea to let them straighten overnight between a newspaper, under a weight of books or something.



I still have some of those leaves from a week ago but I suspect they may get too dry at some point, becoming more fragile, so I may want to gather new ones for my next prints.



The photo above is of the spread before adding the photo and the final touches.



I am also joining the challenges at Eclectic Ellapu: Everything Goes and Art-Piaskownica: Plant/Floral Motifs.



The last few photos are detail shots where you can get a better idea of the see-through beeswax technique!



I made my prints on tissue paper, wanting to try them for the beeswax collage technique I've done a lot lately. Beeswax technique is so special in how it leaves the different layers quite transparent, and I thought this might be the perfect way work with my nature prints!



I just realized I only have photos of the finished project and none of the individual prints. I have gotten the memory of my phone nearly full so I'm afraid I have to spend the rest of the afternoon organizing my photos. I'll post pics of the prints as soon as I have time!



Thank you so much for your visit!