This has been another of those week in which I have not been all that inspired. The e-course is going well, family time is going well, we are very busy indeed but that's OK, I think part if it is the monsoon season we are having. One day a ton of rain, the next, a little, the next downpours and all through this are my headaches. I am learning to let go and just take the time to put cold cloths on my head and literally chill out, but I have the fact that I my productivity is 0. I really need to finish up my journal pages for class this Friday but I am so totally not motivated. At least all the textured background are done and I have actually finished 2 of the 4 pages. At the left is that hide glue background which I totally love. I really want to experiment some more. You know, playing with transfers, what can I put on top of the glue, will acrylic polymer media have a hindrance on the effect etc... Sigh, one of these days. For now, I am making this background as simple as I can because I really want the class to be successful. So here is what I did with the background.
One of my prompts this weeks theme is a peaceful retreat (from the theme places you have visited). I actually gave this some thought. One of the first things that popped into my pea brain was my experience in the CatedraldeSevilla. That was way back in 1992 but I have never forgotten the feeling I had when I first set eyes on the altar. I waded through photos I taken of the cathedral and found one of a facade. The original photo was taken in bright sunlight. I popped it into photoshop and played with the filters and what you see is what I got. One can't visit a place like that and not feel an immediate connection with our Lord (or some force more powerful than us). The cathedral was cavernous. Bigger than any cathedral, church etc...that I had ever seen. And yet, that connection that was made when I entered through the door made it feel so intimate and familiar. Even with hundreds of tourists milling around, there was a reverence and quiet that is hard to describe. The prayers I said there still ring in my soul and I am so blessed to have experienced it all.
Here is a little video I found on YouTube of the Cathedral. The quality is so so but it will give you an idea of the beauty, the grandeur, and the holiness of this monument to God. k
I have to admit that these straight forward resist techniques are rather addicting. The two you see here are alcohol resist (my cousin Terry) and crayon resist ( Uncle Marcelo). I used an old gel pen on this first one on the left. It never really dried but when I sprayed it with a workable fixative, bingo, perfectly smear proof. In general I have found Sakura gelly roll pens pretty good on acrylic surfaces if those surfaces are relatively smooth, this was an off brand gel pen, which is now in the trash. If you have not already guessed, our theme has to do with relatives. In the second entry, I used good old fashioned kids crayons and talk about releasing. I felt very free and worked without any real planning. After I had the background done, I made up a relative ( a great, times 12, uncle). The text on this page was done with the pencil that I can't seem to live without...the Stabilo marks All. I love that pencil and I go through quite a few per year. These resist backgrounds are really very user friendly and all levels of artists can enjoy them. Hopefully we will have time to do two more resist techniques depending upon how fast we all work. I have a gel pen resist in mind as well as the old standby, salt resist (using watercolor paint). Hope to see you all there at the Studio in McHenry IL!
