WANDERLUST 2016 WORD PROMPT PAGE ~ WHAT I AM MOST GRATEFUL FOR

It's the start of a new week and I wanted to share some art journal pages I recently finished.

I am loving my Wanderlust 2016 year long art journal.  We are given prompts approximately every other week.  They are thought provoking and sometimes a real challenge to put my feelings down on paper in art form.  But I love doing it!  For me, it's a very introspective and creative process.

"What I am most grateful for ..."  Just think about that for a few minutes.  SO MANY things come to mind ... what I am I THE MOST grateful for?  

It took a while for me to really consider ALL of my blessings and I came upon the one thing that I think is at the root of all other things that make me grateful.

~ UNCONDITIONAL LOVE ~

I created this simple tree of life covered in hearts.  Life and love are so intertwined.  I cannot separate the two.

At the center of my tree is a cross with a heart in the center representing my faith in God and my belief that from Him, all things are created, given and blessed.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 is a beautiful scripture often referred so as "The Love Chapter" in the Bible.  I thought these words were so appropriate for these pages.  They truly express what unconditional love is all about.

It begins with my Heavenly Father: the creator of life and was then passed onto me through my loving parents.  What a gift!

I pray that I have been able to share this type of love with my family and friends.  

So what I am MOST grateful for is the unconditional love that is at the foundation of everything:  happiness, harmony, understanding, joy, compassion and so forth.

I began these pages by covering my art journal pages with some different Tim Holtz' Tissue Wrap papers.  I glued them in place using DecoArt's Media Matte Medium.  Then I brushed over the pages to seal them.

Next I added some torn cardstock, book text, portions of a doily and some corrugated paper to the pages.  I glued them in place using DecoArt Media Matte Medium and then brushed over them to seal them.

Once dry, I began adding DecoArt Media White Gesso on top of the pages in random strokes ... not covering up all of the colors, pattern and textures of the papers below.  Let dry or gently heat set.

I added more texture to the pages by using some DecoArt Media Modeling Paste through Tim Holtz' Bricked and Bubble Stencils.  I randomly added the bubbles towards the top of the pages and the bricks across the bottom to create a wall effect on either side of the pages.  Let dry and immediately clean your stencils.

When the Modeling Paste was dry, I began to add color to my pages.  I started with the corrugated paper that was going to represent the Earth and grass and the brick walls.  I experimented with a combination of DecoArt's Media Fluid Acrylics and Dr. Ph Martin's Concentrated Water Colors.  After I had colored my bricks, I added depth to the mortar with a Stabilo black pencil and a Detailer Water Brush.

Now ti was time to add some color to the sky.  I experimented with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics Titanium White and Dr. Ph Martin's Turquoise Blue to create a wispy blue sky.  I did not want to cover up the musical notes and other images below so the water color was a wonderful semi transparent blue.  I dabbed some solid Titanium White to add a cloudlike texture along with the stenciled bubbles.  I loved the varying hues of the blue sky!

Then I sketched my Tree of Life onto the pages.  I off set the tree to the left of center so that I could add my scripture to the right of the tree.

The tree began to take shape as I used DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics to paint it.  These colors are more opaque and really made the tree stand out against the wispy sky.

The tree was painted using DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Burnt Umber for the tree bark, Pyrolle Red for the hearts, Hansa Yellow Medium for the cross, a combination of Blue Green  Light and Yellow Green Light for the leaves.  I then added a black line around the tree and the hearts.  

A little trick ... I sized the scripture to fit in my space on the right side of my page.  I then attached a piece of plain tissue paper to a piece of copy paper by taping it around all of the edges using 1/4" Scor Tape.  Then I ran the tissue paper taped to my copy paper through my printer and it worked perfectly!

I then tore the tissue paper around the edges of the scripture because the edges of torn tissue paper melts better into the background than does cut paper edges.  I brushed DecoArt Media Matte Medium over the area where I would be laying down my tissue paper.  Then I laid the tissue paper in place, made sure there were no wrinkles over the letters and then brushed over the top of the tissue paper with Matte Medium to seal it in place.

Here is a closeup of the left side of the pages.  You can see alot more detail in the background in this picture and also the depth that the corrugated paper and stabilo pencil shading add.  I also added a dry brush effect of DecoArt Gold Metallic paint around the cross.

I hope that you are having a lovely day and you are finding some time to create!