another two page spread inspired by Yvonne’s OUT AND ABOUT theme for Art Journal Journey this month…
just in time as March 2017 is just about history … whoooosh … traveling has always been one of my favorite things…
here is a photo of rubber stamps I stamped onto white tissue paper to add to my pages (if you’re interested in the name of a particular stamp please ask…I am always happy to share details)…
a few rubons and some pencil scribbles and I thought I was finished but when looking at my photo on the computer screen I felt it needed something above the newspaper word TRAVEL so I added a postage stamp…
I intentionally left other spaces on my pages representing openings for adventures to come…
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard
being out and about recently as noted in my earlier Botticelli post I was inspired by an image of Venus…
using some rubber stamps I got busy layering my pages with lots of paint… gesso… and stamping on tissue paper as well as directly on the page… the stamp on the lower right ended up completely buried but my new cityscape stamp from StampDiva was brand new (a great company with a great stamp selection and very good delivery)…
a snippet of my favorite flimmersterne made a nice halo…
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” Henry van Dyke
my mojo has seemed to be mostly out and about lately partly due to a few hitches in my get along (leg pain) which slowed me down and curbed my creativity…
grateful to be feeling a bit better again I did not want to miss playing along with Yvonne‘s OUT AND ABOUT theme for Art Journal Journey this month…
looking at my journal pages on the computer screen…I noticed that they needed a little something to help anchor them…
so I stamped additional arches using my Impression Obsession, Inc. J4478 Moghul Arch stamp and tore strips to add to the bottom edge…
my spread includes various kinds of paper…deli paper scraps…map pieces…scrap papers from cleaning paint brushes…bits of napkins…stencil with super heavy gesso…grass from a magazine and rubber stamping
in some ways it seems like only yesterday and yet…
I am extremely grateful to have had a wonderful relationship with her with so many fun times and no regrets other than selfishly wishing she could have lived forever…
still inspired by my mother’s painting on the step stool I shared earlier this week here…
I printed out several copies of photos I had taken doing lots of cutting and layering…
I painted several shades of red on top of the heart I gessoed in the center…
I am pleased with how these pages came together and am sharing them for Linda’s “Fifty Shades of Red” challenge over at Art Journal Journey…
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” -Robert A. Heinlein
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.” – Neil Gaiman
this week’s lesson in Lifebook 2017 is about using lots of layers of watercolor and other kinds of paints (hot mess at the moment LOL)… not wanting to waste any paint left on my palette for the work in progress above …
I smeared the dribs and drabs of paint onto smooth blank journal pages and then played with a new circle stencil and assorted colored pencils…
thank goodness for Super Heavy GESSO I was finally a bit happier with the pages…
inspired by words I saw on Facebook along with a few rubons one side of my spread is complete…
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” -Martin Luther King, Jr
since 1999 … January has been a challenging month with the anniversary of our son’s death… he was killed exactly one month before his 17th birthday…
this year I wanted to create a January Art Journal to help me through this bumpy time… turns out I am feeling like I’ve turned a bit of a corner with lightness and joy and many more bright days than dark(extremely grateful for that!!!)…
losing a child is every parents worst nightmare… even I have a hard time finding the words to comfort friends that have lost a loved one…
it is not my intention to look for sympathy by mentioning Alex but rather to share that there is hope for joy in life after great loss as I’m sure some of you have also experienced… somehow we keep on going…
what I would say to anyone suffering from grief and loss is be gentle with yourself… there are no rules… seek healing in ways that feel right to you and know that it will get more bearable over time…
“It has been said, ‘that time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” ~Rose Kennedy
I have missed art journaling and playing along with my favorite challenge blog friends over at Art Journal Journey…
Valerie’s brilliant theme this month is “Light and Darkness” which is something I think about quite a bit having experienced a fair bit of darkness in my life (mostly in the form of loss)…
we all have to face it at some point (I used a fine tip black Sharpie marker for highlights around the gold)…
I have also been blessed with so much beautiful Light (couldn’t help but notice the difference in the Light in my photos)…
this journal page began with what was left from a sheet of Christmas stamps (those little snippets always seem too nice to throw away)…
“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.” -Madeline L’Engle
happy to have some time in the middle of our beautiful Indian Summer days here in Virginia to share two spreads that I created over the last couple of weeks…
these pages were inspired by an ad for a ballet performance that I clipped from The Washington Post and I just happened to have a stencil that I wanted to play with too…
I liked these pages so much I did not want to cover them up but I eventually forged ahead and had fun adding gold paint along with the Robert Browning quote…
now for something a little different… these green and gold pages were an attempt to step outside my comfort zone using colors and collage in a different way…
I am still not crazy about the end result but thought I’d share both spreads with you since I had Valerie’s Golden Autumn theme in mind for Art Journal Journey this month when I created them..
“There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves.” -Joe L. Wheeler
the music lady I put together awhile ago waited patiently in one of my art journals until I figured out what was next for her (she was from a catalog and I gave her the music dress)…
the talented and prolific Valerie chose INDIAN SUMMER-GOLDEN OCTOBER-AUTUMN as October’s Art Journal Journey theme which sends my mind in lots of directions…
just when I think summer might go on forever it turned cooler which is perfect for open windows and warmer clothes...
we finally got some much needed rain too…
soon I will give up running barefoot around the house and get out my cozy slippers…
autumn makes me think of golden leaves andgolden sunsets so I added lots of gold to my scraped paint pages which was tricky to capture in my photos…
the WONDER page on the right began with an index card that I had made awhile ago…
~* Happy October *~
“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”~ Jim Bishop
an all time favorite Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young song TEACH YOUR CHILDREN inspired this two page spread for Elizabeth’s BACK TO SCHOOL theme over at Art Journal Journey…
I challenged myself to use colors I don’t often use and found a napkin along with some of my mother’s old paints that helped move me in that direction…
not totally comfortable with my color matching my favorite heavy gesso came to the rescue once again…then I got distracted for a bit by my paint tray noticing a small corner of paint sticking up… sure enough the layers of paint peeled out easily and yes I did save those bits for what I am not exactly sure 🙂 …
then it was back to trying to make my pages work on a lovely rainy day here in Virginia…
it was fiddly fun cutting and pasting thin pieces of napkin to carry the design from one page to another (that napkin was too good to cover up completely)…
it took me awhile to get some matching turquoise and greenish yellow for my painted pages…
some Adirondack BOTTLE stamping ink applied with a wet wipe worked for one part since a lot of my Tim Holtz DISTRESS STAINS seem to have lost their color over time…
a little more doodling with my gold paint pen and my pages are complete (tricky to photograph on a rainy day)…
You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.
And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.
Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
"the 'L' in Love should be capitalized" ~♥~Patty Szymkowicz .....
Virginia, USA
*Copyright = A FRIENDLY REMINDER TO PLAY NICE*
I try to give credit where credit is due. Please do not use any images or text from my Magpie's Nest Blog without my permission.
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~*~ Patty
you can contact me at:
PatriziaSzymkowicz (at) gmail.com
it also represents passion, heat, strength, danger, power and courage…
we’ve had so many cloudy days this month I kept waiting for a good time to take some photographs…
Magpie's Nest ~*~ Patty Szymkowicz 