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Welcome! I’m Carolyn Dube – This colorful journey is all about the freedom of play!

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The Fine Print

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Herding Bunny Rabbits

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I had a plan for this Artsy Fartsy Friendly Fun challenge.  Maria McGuire and I are using the Gelli Plate, oil pastels and a die cut.  Pop on over to her blog to see what she created!

I was so proud that I had a plan.  I knew exactly what I was going to create for this challenge.  It involved fabric.   It was a great plan.   Things don’t always go as planned and this was no exception.

 

 

I thought I was going to use some of the fabric I printed…nope.  This scrap paper that I cleaned my brayer off on and picked the last bits of paint off the Gelli Plate yodeled, yes it yodeled, to me so this is where I started.

It was in the last part of the video.

 

 

 

 

I grabbed one of Sherrie JD’s fabulous Pulp Dreams digital goodies I had printed a while back.  One thing I love about digital is you can print it any size you want!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I painted in the speech bubble.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A touch of blue oil pastel here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lately,my life has felt like I have been herding bunny rabbits.  Cute and friendly but not very obedient and can scratch at you if you don’t handle them correctly…so I reached for Tracie Lyn Huskamp’s bunny stencil.

 

 

 

 

The white was just too plain for me so I reached for my Twinkling H2O’s.  These are totally risk free on the paint because if I didn’t like it I could just use a wet brush to wipe them off.   I went a bit light the first time over it so I easily added a bit more on the backs of the bunnies.  Twinkling H2O’s are so forgiving!

 

 

 

 

A few finishing touches and my art journal page was complete!

As this week unfolded I continued to think about the  security prompt from Fall Fearless and Fly.  My sense of security too often comes from a sense that I am in control of what happens.  The reality is I only control how I respond.  These bunny rabbits I’ve been herding have really taught me a lesson because some bunnies that I thought were cute and wonderful turned on me unexpectedly.  Not a great feeling but I will master the art of herding bunny rabbits…

 

I know this is going to be a great week! Why? Because of all the fabulous creativity in it!  Check out Maria’s take on the Artsy Fartsy Friendly Fun challenge, Fall Fearless and Fly, my  bunnies begged me to do them in orange to be a part of Mandarin Orange Monday, Creative Every Day Month, and Inspire Me Monday!

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Dare to be a Bird-Ephant

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Can you tell it was a happy day?  No matter what is going on in my world, when I get painty it is always a fabulous day!  These happy hands and my muse collaborated to bring me a bird-ephant with an important reminder!

 

I squirted a bunch of colors and closed my eyes! With my eyes closed I couldn’t worry about what color I was using or if it looked “right”.  The more I painted on the the 18×24 canvas, the happier I felt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon opening my eyes, the swoosh in the middle kept calling to me, so I outlined what I saw.  This animal probably won’t be found in any zoo around here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit of white to make my bird-ephant stand out, as if a bird-ephant wouldn’t stand out!

 

 

 

 

 

After doing this canvas I wished it was in my art journal…Luckily, I have a printer, so I printed out a smaller one and headed to my art journal!

 

I started to think about a bird-ephant as I built this quick art journal page.  This bird-ephant doesn’t fit in the usual zoo circles.  She doesn’t fit any one else’s definition and she doesn’t need too fit their definitions!  She dares to be herself!  A big thank you to my muse for giving me the reminder I needed today!

Notice the cool squares?  Those are from Jessica Sporn’s new stencils over at Stencil Girl Products!    Hope you are having a creative day!  Want more creativity?  Take a moment and check out Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day Month and One Little Word!

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Fall Fearless and Fly Challenge #4

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Challenge #4  from Fall Fearless and Fly inspired this page.  The quote resonated with me and I knew that it had to be a big part of this art journal page.  I really tried to stay with the cool color prompt but a bit of yellow managed to sneak in on me.  It looked so nice I just couldn’t turn yellow away…and once it had some shimmering Twinkling H2O added it just couldn’t refuse it!

 

My Gelli Plate keeps on giving and giving! This background was made as I cleaned off my brayer while making prints with the Gelli Plate.

I never would have put the yellow here if I was planning this out.  Seeing the impact of it as it developed reminds me to add a splash of unexpected to my work.

 

 

There is a great giveaway over at Fall Fearless and Fly  for challenge 4 from DreamingColor.com – I have loved their Twinkling H20’s for a long time.  They have Silks, a great translucent shimmering paint that works on fabric, Radiant Rains spray inks, and more in bright vibrant colors!  There will be 2 winners for this challenge!

I did 2 kinds of stamping here- clean and precise & messy.  If I take my time and carefully brush the Twinkling H2O on the stamp I can get a very detailed image.   That is not my first choice- I like messy so I slopped the shimmering purple onto the stamp and got  a more “artistic” image.

I have been known to forget to clean up paints from my stamps before but it is no big deal with H2O’s because they react with water- so I can clean them up later.

The acrylic paint was good but I wanted it to be more intense.  Since Silk paints and Twinkling H2O’s are translucent when I added them over the paints they worked together & brightened it up. Here you can see if before (on the left) and after  (on the right).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good think I don’t mind warped paper since I was building this journal page on a very thin piece of dictionary paper.  After I was finished I just flattened it out under a book for a while and it smoothed out considerably.

 

A white pen and the flowers felt complete.  Unfortunately, I began to love love love it at this point.  That is a problem because it felt precious  and I began to think too hard about what to do next.  If this is my biggest problem- I consider myself very lucky!

 

 

 

I was worried my handwriting would destroy it so I used my printer.  A nice part of using printed titles is I can move them around to find the placement that makes me happiest.

The blue doily was another remnant from my last Gelli Plate session.

 

 

 

Here is a quick video of the page coming together.

One of the greatest aspects of an art challenge is that I get to see how others interpret the same prompts.  You will be knocked over by what guest artist, Maria McGuire, made for this challenge.   Click here to see it!

Sharing with Creative Every Day Month, Inspire Me Monday, Fall Fearless and Fly, and Show Me What You Got.

 

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