Getting on the Inspiration Train

My nephew and his wife gave me a gift card for Amazon at Christmas.  So, I bought Pam Carriker's  Art at the Speed of Life.  I started looking through it about a week after Christmas.  There's a project in there called the 10-minute journal so I made one.  Mine took 2-3 hours!  Only because I played with the backgrounds and cover, etc.

I didn't have waxed linen thread so I took baker's twine, waxed that and used it instead.  The image on the front was from a tag on a piece from DJ Pettit.  I'd held onto it for a long time now and finally found spot for it.

Here's the first spread in there.  LOTS of layers of glaze, paper and the stars and word are light molding paste.  Reading the book has made me drag out some art supplies that I have but don't automatically reach for.  Not that I don't like them, I just forget about them! 

Then there's a project in there by Brandie Butcher-Isley  and I followed her steps and made a piece on illustartion board.  The image is of my mother at about 18 years old when she was in the Victory Corps during World War II.  The piece is only about 4 x 5 but I love it.  It means a lot to me.  The colors are not ones I usually use and the challenge of using them and then doing the layering made it enjoyable.

I sort of combined a few things from the book in this one as I used light molding paste with stencils on the background before I started painting.   After I finished it, I topped it with self-leveling gel medium.  I showed it to my mother and she really liked it.

Anyway, this book has inspired me with it's great photos of projects and examples, short to-the-point instructions and projects that are usually laid out in 1-2 pages.  It's enough but not overwhelming.  Hope you enjoyed your visit here. :)

Comments

[Pam Carriker]

I love what you did! I especially love the swirls on the Brandi Butcher-Isley piece, so beautiful. Reminds me of 'A Starry Night'. Thank you so much for sharing and I'm very honored that you used your gift card to buy my book:-)
xoxo
Pam

[joanne thieme huffman]

Love your palette in both these pieces. I'm going to have to look at Pam's book; your journal work is quite enticing. I can see why your mother likes the piece with her photo; it's lovely.

[Aileen]

Christy, what awesome pages!! Love each of them, but the one of your mother is both tuching and wonderful!!