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Too Many Visits to the Leaning Tower of Pisa

One of my favorite ways to start a journal page is by using the leftovers from another journal page.  The 14×17 page below was used to protect my counter while spray inking pieces of paper.  There are a few stamps that were cleaned off too.  I rubbed a few colored pencil stix (basically a colored pencil without the wood) for a gentle bit of color.

I saw buildings in this.  Out came my trusty Sharpie marker. Most of my spray inks react to water and I wanted to keep my options open at this point so I sealed it with polymer gloss.  I think any sealer would work.

Noticed the tilt after I was finished…perhaps too many visits to the leaning tower of Pisa has affected me.

I wanted more color. I know shocking that I want more color. Watercolors to the rescue.  Now my buildings stood out from the background.

Thought about adding some journaling but changed my mind at the last minute.  I like this just the way it is.

Linking up with Paint Party FridayArt Journal Every Day and Creative Every Day. If you have a few minutes these are great places to find inspiration and creativity!

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  • Valerie-Jael July 26, 2012, 3:05 pm

    Love your Leaning towers! The delicate colours remind me of holidays by the Mediterranean Sea. Valerie

  • alice July 26, 2012, 4:09 pm

    gosh! your leftovers page looks great all by itself! and even more lovely with the drawing and the additional color – i’m a color person, too 🙂

  • Rinda July 26, 2012, 4:19 pm

    I love the way you used the shapes as the basis for drawing something else.
    Rinda

  • Carin July 26, 2012, 5:23 pm

    OMG! I ADORE this! Love, love, love!

  • Lynn July 26, 2012, 7:02 pm

    mmmm I love buildings…. And I love your buildings they have colour and character 🙂

  • Corrine July 26, 2012, 9:08 pm

    What fun, I like your learning leaning towers! xox

  • Rita McGregor July 26, 2012, 9:18 pm

    Yes, I like it just the way it is! 🙂

  • Diane Morris July 26, 2012, 11:14 pm

    Fabulous! Love seeing the process! thanks for sharing!

  • Tat July 26, 2012, 11:55 pm

    I love it with the extra colour! And I’d love to go the Leaning Tower of Pisa one day, too 🙂

  • Bleubeard and Elizabeth July 27, 2012, 2:36 am

    Leaning may be the way to go (grin). This would make a fantastic entry in my Houses AB. I may have to imitate your page. After all, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I LOVE this page and all the color, too.

    • Carolyn July 27, 2012, 8:14 am

      I”d be flattered!

  • patsy July 27, 2012, 8:25 am

    Stained glass colors! This turned out great! Patsy from HeARTworks and papemelroti

  • Jessica July 27, 2012, 8:47 am

    Really love the saturated colors of the buildings against the more watery colors of the background. And love your doodled buildings. This looks great and makes me think of a an illustration in a children’s book. Xo

  • NatashaMay July 27, 2012, 9:13 am

    When I clean leftover paint from my brush on my journal I always end up with a mess. 🙂 love how this came out!

  • Marja July 27, 2012, 9:32 am

    Carolyn this is gorgeous. Love the colors and the houses. marvelous combination. really great work.
    Lovely greet
    Marja

  • Cynthia July 27, 2012, 9:57 am

    I love that your buildings lean! Very whimsical!! Love the colors too!!

  • Shahrul Niza July 27, 2012, 10:18 am

    OMG!. Totally stunning!. I even loved your leftover page on its own! With the buildings, it simply blew my mind. Gorgeous colors, beautiful leaning buildings!. Hugs.

  • Susan July 27, 2012, 11:05 am

    Delightful! And I always appreciate hearing about the process. Thanks and happy PPF

  • gloria July 27, 2012, 11:37 am

    I love your leaning houses. Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing. Happy PPF!

  • FranT July 27, 2012, 11:59 am

    wonderful post! I love the page!

  • Christine July 27, 2012, 12:18 pm

    lovely piece, nice to see the process!

  • Terrie -Creative Explorer July 27, 2012, 12:40 pm

    Wonderful color, fun, whimsical buildings – a great page. And a great idea – I often use my protection pages for backgrounds too but haven’t had anything as successful as yours in quite a while……….

  • carol July 27, 2012, 1:31 pm

    Wild and colorful is your wonderful style ~ Love it! ~~ thanks, namaste, (A Creative Harbor)

  • Faye July 27, 2012, 2:10 pm

    Carolyn, what a fun painting! Now I know what to do with my papers I use to protect my desk. This is beautiful with the extra colors.

  • Linda K July 27, 2012, 3:24 pm

    Wow- I love how your page started and the glorious explosion of colors it ended in!! It actually looks like layers of colored tissue paper under and around the buildings.

  • Valerie-Jael July 27, 2012, 3:29 pm

    It’s me again! Pity I didn’t know your daughter was over here in Germany! Where was she staying? Glad she enjoyed herself! Valerie

  • AJ July 27, 2012, 4:06 pm

    Abolutely wonderful 🙂

  • Kat July 27, 2012, 4:57 pm

    This is such a great piece Carolyn, I especially love your background, so mellow and full of lovely soft colors.

  • Leovi July 27, 2012, 5:39 pm

    I like it, good job, excellent compositions on the architecture of this great tower, good tribute.

  • Mary C. Nasser July 27, 2012, 6:06 pm

    Love your leaning buildings!
    What wonderful colors, composition and balance!
    Always a pleasure visiting your blog and seeing your bright beautiful work!
    ♥♥♥
    Happy PPF!!
    Mary
    Mixed-Media Map Art

  • Jan L. July 27, 2012, 7:57 pm

    Love the colors….such a great idea!

  • giggles July 27, 2012, 8:31 pm

    What an exciting piece. I love houses and building done in color. These are wonderful…you should play around with photobucket edit program, it would be so fun to see how they turn out!! Great job, and thanks for sharing your process…Happy ppf…

    Hugs Giggles

  • Tracey Fletcher King July 27, 2012, 8:49 pm

    you never fail to inspire and get my brain working… and of course your colours are such a joy…xx

  • Gloria J Zucaro July 27, 2012, 9:25 pm

    Love,love,love your leaning towers, Carolyn. I so like the idea you have had in this post and the one just before to paste and place and use up! What fun you have had this week. And I must say you have a very good compositional eye! Not everyone could come out with wonderful collage like you do.

  • Ginny July 27, 2012, 10:15 pm

    Carolyn, this is wonderful. The colors are beautiful and the whole painting makes me smile. Awesome.

  • cat @ sea.sky.stone. July 27, 2012, 11:04 pm

    Wouldn’t it be fun to live in such colorful buildings? I’d like to claim a spot in that center yellow building, please. I like the blue awnings and the stripey roof 🙂

  • Debbie July 28, 2012, 7:58 am

    I love this! The colors are really pretty!

  • Jenny Petricek July 28, 2012, 12:55 pm

    Great page! What a wonderful use for papers that we would normally toss out after we’re done creating! Very economical, good for the environment, and a challenge to flex the creative muscles!:-)

  • Alicia July 28, 2012, 9:40 pm

    lovely happy piece! love the pastels – also love the idea!

  • Caitlyn July 28, 2012, 10:46 pm

    With all the color, the tilt fits right in! Great work!

    How are the woodless colored pencils to work with? I’ve seen them in stores, but it seems like they’d break too easily to work well…maybe I’m thinking wrong?

    • Carolyn Dube July 28, 2012, 11:06 pm

      These have been pretty sturdy so far. I haven’t broken them but once I post this I am likely to break one…

  • JKW July 28, 2012, 11:14 pm

    This is so much fun and so colorful. I love buildings. I hadn’t heard of woodless color pencils! Blessings, Janet PPF

  • Carola Bartz July 29, 2012, 12:16 am

    I like the process of how you start and work in your art journal. Great colors – I love colorful pages, especially if the colors are so happy like yours!

  • Marit July 29, 2012, 6:22 am

    I love your ‘building page’… and yes, you stopped in time. No journaling… it’s perfect this way!

  • lynn cohen July 29, 2012, 1:38 pm

    Such fun to see this grow it’s colorful end! Beautiful in every aspect of it’s creation!
    LOVE COLOR TOO!!!!

  • carlarey July 29, 2012, 6:57 pm

    Oooh!!! Love this, it’s so colorful and whimsical.

  • Carol Samsel July 29, 2012, 9:20 pm

    Love your leaning buildings :0) I love all the blended colors and the bold ones…I just love color :0)

  • Maria McGuire July 29, 2012, 11:00 pm

    This is one of my favorite pieces you have done. My favorite part, the way you POPPED the color with the watercolor!

  • Natasha July 30, 2012, 1:39 am

    I use those bits as well. I love seeing what you did with it, and the city scape is stunning.

  • Cris, Artist in Oregon July 30, 2012, 9:01 pm

    Love seeing how things progress from beginning to end. Love the leaning bit and all your colors. Happy PPF ..even if I am late getting to everyone.

  • denthe July 31, 2012, 8:38 am

    Lovely! And such nice vibrant colors!

  • Daniele Valois August 2, 2012, 8:44 pm

    love this and thanks for showing the wip pics. very cool!