"Float" - Created through Play

So if you read my last post , you know that this week I experienced a perfect moment...ahhhh...

What does and artist try and do when they experience a perfect moment ? They try and capture it somehow in a piece of art.

So yesterday, I tried to recapture my perfect moment in an art journal page :

ICK!!!! Ya, the background was okay. I like my trees made with a stencil I cut out myself. The spatter of snow is alright too - used a tooth brush with pearl paint - my entire table and all its contents have "glitter snow" on them now. But the GIRL ?!!!

So sweet she makes my teeth hurt ! I love her shape - I copied the pose from a dancer in a magazine. I always wanted long red hair, so I thought, I'm the artist, I can have the hair if I want it! But she is just too...sweet. Period.

Unhappy with the page, I decided to do the fearless artist thing and start to play ! First, I tore the page out of my journal, and sliced it up !!!

Then I glued in down in a bizarre order in another bigger journal.

Hmm, this was a little more interesting... could be a funky background for something else or...

I could cover the page with some black gesso - using a skewer and rolling some gesso on as well as one of my favorite hand cut stamps - the "points", and a rag in some spots.

Now this is getting somewhere fun - check out the texture ! Oh, you can still see "sweet" Kim hanging upside down in the corner !

I liked the black and white contrast. I thought about stopping there but then, the play time bug said "Just keep going !" So I did.

Here's a wash of watered down navy blue over the page :

I liked how the blue absorbed more in some spots than others. Here is a close- up shot that shows some sweet textures once again but this time in blue :

Then, I took a break for a couple of hours. I came back to the page after surfing for awhile. During my blogland travels, I saw a list of journaling ideas at Misty Mawn's Journal Page a Day in January project. I have seen so many people working on this, and have wanted to jump in but have been feeling like I can't commit to anything everyday - especially in January !!! But nothing was preventing me from jumping on from where I am right now, right ? Friday's prompt was to do a page inspired by your favorite artist. I have so many favs but some how Teesha Moore has been in my head lately - the whole black, Zentangles, gothic look, kind of goes with my early January frame of mind I guess ! ;-)

So with that in mind, here's where "Sweet Kim" ended up after about an hour, using Faber Castell Pitt pens (Manga Set), a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in white, a Figgy Pudding rubber stamp (the birdie) and one small collage element (see if you can find it !):

(click to enlarge)

"Float"

(I see Teesha in here, but also Chagall...)

(And even some Leah Piken Kolidas....)

But most of all, instead of "sweet Kim", I see "Fearless Artist Kim" , who took a chance and played....

(Inner Critic's last word : I am sorry about the quality of some of the photos here ! I am still learning the amazingly powerful Rebel and also in the winter in the studio - lighting is an issue. Anyhow, David and I are taking a photography class starting tomorrow morning so I will hopefully improve my close-up shots soon with a little more practice ! "Float" ROCKS though - that is this critic's opinion !!!)

(ARTIST'S LAST WORD : no way the Critic is getting the last word !!! The collage element is the hand ! I wish I could draw that well ! ;-))