Introducing Maud...

I would like to introduce Maud, Miss Maud Lin.

The Adventures of Red Mole

This page was inspired by the lovely Goog over at Journey of a Mermaid.

Mr B goes to Sea

When my daughter was little I used to read a series of Mr McGee books to her (by Pamela Allen). Two of her favourites were Mr McGee and the Flea and Mr McGee Goes to Sea. When my son Benjamin was born, we would call him Mr B. Naturally my daughter would say Mr B Goes Sea. Well, Mr B is now three, and the name has stuck. It was the inspiration for this journal page.

I really like many of the pages I have seen online, that use a diamond stamp pattern. So I quickly cut one from an old eraser and using Vintage Photo Distress Ink, stamped up a border.

 

Because the Distress Inks are water soluble, I painted over the images with Acrylic Gel Medium. That way I could keep adding layers, without the ink running. I added a shadow using Red Tinted Graphite Paint.

 I added a twisted frame  - technique taught by Pam Carriker

I then drew my image using an HB pencil. I was recently watching a video by Suzi Blu (Self Guided Portraits) where she shows a technique using gesso over a drawn image. Well I adapted this technique and used my favourite staple: white gouache.

 I then coloured the background using a mix of gouache paint, and water soluble crayons.

 

 I used Derwent Graphitint pencils to create a "moody" sea and coloured the person with coloured pencils. The title was done using Collections Tiny Tiles.

Finally I added some journalling, and launched Mr B out to Sea.

Fairy Princess

The conversation started like this:  "Mummy, I have drawn you lots of pictures, and you haven't drawn me any!" And so began the process of doing a fairy princess, for my 5 year old princess.

	The image was drawn lighltly with w/c pencils on Stonehenge Paper. I chose this method, since incorrect lines were easily erased, and the outline would blend with the fill colour, once water was added. The picture  was then coloured using w/s crayons. A small amount of white gouache was added to the crown to increase its opacity.
	Wings added. Unfortunately I decided to try some alcohol on the wings (RHS) hoping for a suble mottled effect. Instead it left dark blotches.
	The background was added
	And then, Miss 5 pointed out that she was floating in the sky. And so, I added grass
	I am not usually a glitter person, but since this is for my daughter, and I wanted to obscure unsuccessful wings, glitter was added to the wings, crown, shoes and wand.
	A few flowers pencilled in, and voila, she is finished.

Wonders of childhood

I am stepping out of my comfort zone and trying to capture the childhood delight of colour, and the freedom to express myself in loose drawings, that are not planned.

	Images were added with a modified acrylic transfer technique, and then sealed with acrylic matt medium.  Blocks of colour were painted around pictures with gouache. Frames were added with panpastels.
	Paint pens were used to frame each picture and to add text to the pink frame.
	Final tweaking, including redoing the top lefthand border and my layout is finished.

In fleeting moments we glimpse the memories of childhood delight.

Because some days are like that

It had been one of those days. The kind where you wish the world would stop spinning and you could get off. Major things...No. Its always the accumulation of minor things that drive you crazy. Anyway, I decided that I needed to distract myself, and direct my attentions elsewhere. So I decided to do a healing page.

I drew the picture with HB graphite, and then painted lightly over the image with with Gouache	I then started to add colour using w/s crayons. I usually use them as paint stick, but in this case applied directly to the paper
As one area dried, I added colour to the next	Finally I finished her hair, and added the background (green Gouache.) To tone down the colour I added cross strokes of white. I then decided that her eyes and nose were not right, so painted over them with white.
Once dry, I redid the eyes and nose, using a combination of Pencils, watercolour pencils and w/s crayons.	Highlights and tears were added using gel pens
Background was added to: imperfect stamping, Tattered Angels Chalkboard Glimmer mist -pink	I added a Pam Carriker inspired border and a title

And finally I did some subtle journaling on the RHS in pencil