Polite Ladies Use Their Napkins

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“Polite ladies use their napkins,” said my mother when I was a little girl. I listened. I remembered. So when this perfect patterned napkin came into my hands I knew I had to use it. The colors in the napkin inspired this page.

A background made with gesso and spray ink and paint a while back.

A happy napkin glued down with matte medium. Couldn’t believe I grabbed orange. That is my least favorite color in the past but I thought it worked perfectly with my napkin.

A poppy stencil by Julie Balzer and Crafters Workshop. Since I didn’t use my napkin like a proper lady, I didn’t stencil properly either. I just grabbed heavy bodied acrylic paint and my finger. There were bits of leakage that created the imperfect look I wanted.

The outline layer is also on the poppy stencil- and that messy finger based stenciling made it randomly imperfect.

Scrapped in the pink around the scallops because just having paint there didn’t sit right with me.

Another quote from Donna Downey’s stamps.

A couple of butterfly rub-ons and it told me it was finished!

Hope you have a weekend full of color and fun! Linking up with Paint Party Friday & Art Journal Every Day & Creative Everyday.

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Talking to Myself

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“Too many word stamps. You never use them all,” said my irritable inner critic. Lately my inner critic has been full of constructive advice said in a gentle tone. Not tonight. She was in foul mood. But I can be a real pain the rear too- just ask my kids! So I decided to show that cranky critic I will use them all. Ha! I used tons of them here!!

I started this background with NO CLUE where it was going. Not completely true, I knew what colors I wanted since it is week 4 of the Summer of Color. I read the sayings as I was stamping & something shifted for me. My inner critic wanted to have a heart to heart conversation. A kind and open talk. Not the cranky authoritarian rant. The art reflected that conversation – myself talking to myself. That’s all my inner critic is- the scared, defensive, protective me talking.

The stamps are by Donna Downey, Dylusions, and Tim Holtz.

In the video you see me cleaning off my stamps by stamping them in a journal. That lets me clean most of the ink off the stamps and build a base for a journal page. I used up leftover paint on the palette on the pages too. Here’s what it looks like for now. On the left side the blue if my favorite part- that’s what happens when you use watered down acrylic paints. Happy accident I will be trying again!

I spent way too long trying to get a good photo of the main work. Fiddled with the colors in Photoshop. Retook the photos. This photo came out true to life the first time. Does that ever happen to you?

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Can You Help Me Get Unstuck?

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I’m stuck. I started this on Monday. I got to this point by Monday night. I was sure it would be finished in time to share for Paint Party Friday. Nope. I have let it sit for several days waiting for it to speak to me. All it has said is, “I am NOT finished yet.”

I tried several things but didn’t like them so I erased them with water or a layer of white. I’ve pulled my hair out in frustration. I’ve stepped away and worked on another project. I’ve tried bribing my muse to inspire me. That has gotten me nowhere!!

So now I am turning to my friends – any ideas of where to take this next?

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Polite Ladies Use Their Napkins

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