Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Joy of Skipping and Stenciling


Remember when we used to skip?  Wow - that was a joyous, carefree feeling.  I'll come back to that!

I had a spread to complete in the very last journal of the 6 artist around-the-world-circle-journal project started by the lovely Tracy Woodsford.    We all started sending our journals to each other in September.  This was mine, using stencils by Pam Carriker for Stencil Club as well as Dots & Dashes and Hebrew Calligraphy with Hamsa.


I had created this spread in Beate Olivia's journal.  It began with a mix of orange and pink gelli prints and left over book pages, which I pulled together with a yellow glaze.  It sat and it sat in all of its beautiful texture all last week, as I prepped for Saturday's class at The Ink Pad.


But on Monday, a wonderful white chipboard envelope from Stencil Girl arrived, bringing me Mary Nasser's compass and latitude/longitude stencils!  Also on Monday, I saw this gorgeous post by Maria McGuire, in which she spread modeling paste through her serene goddess stencil.


And my muse grabbed me!  I mixed blue paint and modeling paste and "smeared" it through Mary's stencils.  Honestly, I don't know how Maria does it -- mine was not nearly as even and crisp as hers.  But that's ok!  My uneven application led me to do more to my image - giving it a painterly look that went well with my textured background.


I added "my girl" skipping through the world, skipping through life.  We are about to go to Austria to meet up with my older daughter Mariel, who is living in the Czech Republic as a Fulbright English Teaching Scholar this year.  We plan to visit Vienna and Salzburg, then drive to Slovenia (where I will meet up in person with internet art friend Natasha May), then drive up to the Czech Republic for Easter in Mariel's town of Znojmo, and then visit Bratislava in Slovakia before returning to Vienna and then home.  How's that for 10 days of skipping around!


I added some background stenciling with the Circles and Squares stencil, and embellished her dress with Flying Tulips.  I added some rubber stamping using Graphic Detail stamps by Michelle Ward, and some images from old maps on the top left and bottom right.  


Linking up to Art Journal Journey's Moments of Happiness theme,  Mix it Monthly's Maps Challenge (which includes one of Mary's paintings as inspiration!),  The Artistic Stamper (Embossing and Texture), Art Journal Every Day and Paint Party Friday.  

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Leave a comment and say hello.  It means the world to me to know that you were here.  xo



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45 comments:

  1. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this, Jessica!
    So joyful!
    Thank you for using my stencils! Love what you created!! Those blues just POP against that complementary colored background! :) Love everything about this!!

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  2. I love this spread, so much pattern and color and, well, just everything. But it WORKS!! And I want to run outside and skip, I used to do that so much as a child, I haven't thought about it in years. xo

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  3. Thanks Jessica! LOVE your happy page :) :)

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  4. What a great spread. Enjoy your travels - happy skipping....

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  5. So sweet and, yes, memories of skipping...definitely a carefree joyous time in life.

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  6. Love this page and the story behind it!

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  7. there are beautiful and fantastic cover!

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  8. Your faces are so innocent and open like you my friend. xox

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  9. Yes I am really in love with your happy spread! It looks so easy to travel to so many places and loved people in only 10 days...wow...wish you so much joy and a good journey! You are such a sunny person like the little girl you have painted and you inspire me to let go of any stress I make my own, to be perfect....every moment is perfect as it is...thank you for reminding me :D wonderful you paint with us at Mix It Monthly ♥ Conny

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  10. so wonderful Jessica! GREAT!!! Amazing to have you with us this month at ART JOURNAL JOURNEY!

    Happy Journey!

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  11. Adorable! And thanks so much for sharing your list of places that I can link up to… Always good to know going to check them out now! Best, Miriam

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  12. Oh Jessica! How wonderful that you are meeting with your daughter for Easter! I went over to her blog and had some good morning giggles with her! Have a most wonderful time skipping around and make sure to journal and photograph your trip as I look forward to living vicariously on your journeys! All the best to you and your family- hugs and love Jackie and i love your lil darling girl!

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  13. I love seeing your process and your lovely art work!

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  14. You really work wonders with those stencils! Love your little skipping girl, she's so sweet, and I like how happy and carefree she looks. Beautiful colourchoices as well ....

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  15. Your colorful journal makes me smile...
    really lovely and uplifting!
    oxo

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  16. This absolutely gorgeous! I really love your colourful and happy journal pages!

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  17. This SCREAMS happiness! I love the pages, but the colors in her face make me smile...she makes me smile! Fabulous!!!!

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  18. Looks gorgeous, Jessica! And the journals have almost come full circle. Can't wait to see all the loveliness :)

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  19. Your work has such joy to it. I love this spread and how you had the girl skip across the page - perfect movement !!

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  20. You do such beautiful art work and the colors are skipping
    across the page with the little girl!

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  21. Gorgeous, exquisite spread. Love it's joyfulness and beauty.

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  22. Wow, happy work!

    Smiles, Saskia :)

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  23. Beautiful work, really HAPPY! I often skip along the path at the Rhine; at first only when nobody was looking, but now I don't care! Pessach kasher v'sameach! Valerie

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  24. Cute and colorful page. We all need to just play more!!

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  25. A lovely colourful spread. Happy PPF!

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  26. Positively fabulous! LOVE this spread. Here's to skipping.

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  27. She makes me wanna do the skipping thing too! :-) Happy Weekend!

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  28. Fantastic spread! Absolutely love what you did with the stencils!

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  29. What a lovely piece of artwork...love how you made that girl....fabulous!!

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  30. I find all the colorful layering so intriguing. It is certainly a talent of yours and fascinating to try to see all the under layers! have fun on your trip.

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  31. So Beautiful, just like your soul, inside and out!! Enjoy your trek and thanks for sharing this joy! Yes I remember skipping! I love this little girl you keep doing...does she have a name? Did I miss it?

    Hugs Giggles

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  32. A lovely little doll on a spectacular background.

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  33. wow,love your sweetie girl in her wonderful colorful world,such are amazing pages,loove so much.

    XXX Jeannette

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  34. what fun! she is an inspiration of joy; have a nice weekend

    much love...

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  35. Wow Jessica,
    Sounds to me you have found a way to travelling back in time! Enjoy your trip and visiting with your daughter and Nat, definitely a memorable trip!
    Beautiful pages, with a very happy feel to them.
    Annabelle : )

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  36. love your fab pages, so full of love. Happy PPF, Annette x

    http://nettysartadventures.blogspot.co.uk/

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  37. Love your spread. It's so colorful and happy! Have a great weekend, Rasz

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  38. Joyful, happy, positive art!! Just what we all need:)

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  39. That skipping girl is just filled with joy! Sounds like a great trip - be safe and enjoy!

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  40. Wonderful pages! Love the movement and the colors - they simply exude happiness :)

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  41. Wow this is fabulous. Wonderful expression. Happy and full of joy.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  42. Fabulous happiness page! I love all details. The cover is really fantastic.

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  43. Very fun & happy! Maybe we will mmet sometime - I'm in NY.

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