Journaling The Garden Week 15

This new journal entry was more of a challenge
than I have experienced with earlier pages. Not
unusual, as all artists have ups and downs during
the creative process.

When wrestling with a work, I have found that it
is best if I let it rest, not try and force a solution.

SO," let it rest" is exactly what I did for almost the
entire week... slowly, very slowly the work began
to come to fruition.


I started by using some favorite colors to paint
a background using a dry brush technique.


My painted background went through many
iterations. This was a picture of only my first
attempt.


Ultimately, I felt the pages were to dark, so I
lightened them with coat of heavy white acrylic
paint and added texture with a piece of stenciled
tissue paper.


I love creating custom shipping tags from
vintage papers. I decided to make several
and used almost everyone of them in the
finished design.





I added small stitched details to the cut paper leaves
to draw the viewer into the artwork for a closer look.




Finding the right balance between all the elements on
the page was probably what took me the most time.
I especially like the burst of art that seems to radiate
from the center and the absence of visuals on the
edges.

I am very pleased with the finished pages!!!