After watching a Sue Pelletier video, I wanted to try a 'little dress" piece. It took me about a week or so to get it where I like it. It was fun. I used a stencil and light molding paste on the background and a used dryer sheet for the dress. Then i cut a piece of vintage rick-rack which I cut in half and painted. It was off white and was really neat but too stark to go on here.

Then, who would have thought it? I found a pink measuring tape. I cut it and stuck it down and washed over it with magenta and other colors to tie it in to the piece.

While playing with the molding paste, I grabbed a masonite board, applied a thin layer and stamped into it. Adding more thin layers of paint, a butterfly cut from a dryer sheet and a cut-out of a bird, and more layers of paint.

I added a red edge and that finished it for me.

I made a journal out of watercolor paper following Pam Carriker's "Art at the Speed of Life" and her "seven day journal." There were two pages in there that have been bugging me for months. They were too dark and just didn't fit the journal or my mood. Sooooo, I took light colored paint and dry-brushed over the backgrounds to start over. Above is the "before" and below is the "after." There wasn't anything I guess that was wrong with the first one but I wasn't happy with it.

I think the re-do conveys the thought better. The scene on the right is from my trip to Bermuda in 1981 and was one of the best snorkeling spots I've ever visited. It holds a special place in my memories.
The page below was very light and I'm not sure I ever shared it anywhere. I darkened the background a bit. Made the butterfly pop out better.

This spread was another one too dark and I couldn't get the face right. So once again, bring out the paint and dry-brushed it out. Not finished it yet.

You can see the re-done magenta page in the journal below along with a peek of the other bright pages. It's more cohesive now. I don't usually worry about that in journals but this is a smaller journal with fewer pages. It just seemed right.
