Documented Life - Week 14

Week 14

Theme for April: Color Safari (Inks and Paints)

Art Challenge: Watercolors

Journal Prompt: "It's Water Under the Bridge"

The challenge this past week (yes, I'm caught up) was working with watercolors, something I'm not very skilled at.  I tend to mix them too much and end up with mud, or one color.  

I knew that the pages of the journal would probably not stand up to the watercolors, so I primed the pages with Golden Absorbent Ground. This is a medium that you apply to non-watercolor papers or surfaces to make them react well with watercolors. I was lucky to find an old jar in my stash from long-past painting days!  It worked well, preventing bleed-through to the backs of the pages and the watercolors did move nicely on the prepared pages.

After much fussing with the background, I decided to leave it as is. I wasn't totally satisfied but figured the more I worked it the worse it could get. I wanted more texture so I used a stencil and rubbed through it with a baby wipe to remove some of the color.

I knew my drawing skills weren't up to drawing a bridge, so I went with the idea of forgetting what was in the past and letting things go. The butterflies are supposed to symbolize that. 

I have saved several of these girl images from Christy Tomlinson's product packaging and decided to use one for the focal point. I collaged her head, painting over the face and hair to integrate it with the background. I also used some painted scrap paper for her dress.

This week I've been reminded that I must learn more about working with watercolor - and practice lots more too! Can't wait to see next week's challenge tomorrow!