Mysterious Man

Mysterious Man, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Oh, how I love my Mysterious Man!!

I saw this idea over at A Colorful Journey (dot com), where Carolyn had used a stencil from Spray Paint Stencils (dot com) of this seriously cool looking man.

I used some pages from an old English textbook I bought from the Friends of (my local) Library. Ripped them, then I randomly painted green watercolor all over the bits.

For the stencil....I just printed The Man out and then carefully, with super sharp scissors, cut the inside out, leaving a man-shaped stencil.

All of Spray Paint Stencil's stencils are free. (AND THEY HAVE LOTS.) Just download, print, and you're good to go. They even have instructions on how to make an actual stencil, versus cutting up a stiff sheet of paper like I did. :-)

I might not be done with this page, but for the moment I'm moving on. =D



A very very safe and Happy Fourth of July to all my American friends!! Let freedom ring!!!!

~Cynthia

Triangles are the new circles. Really.

Triangles are the new circles. Really., a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

As I was making this page in my Canson Mix Media journal, I decided the lowly triangle doesn't get a whole lot of respect in your average, every day art journal.

You know. Most artists prefer swirls and circles.

I rarely see triangles. And why *is* that, I ask. Respect the triangle!! ;-)

So this page is for you, triangle!

I used a base of yellow acrylic paint, followed by the dots and dashes in red. I made my own funky stencil using a piece of stiff paper and a hole punch/comb binder machine. Then I added a layer of old gold acrylic paint, with another layer of terra cotta. For the triangles I used watercolor crayons and a waterbrush.

It's just...you know...kinda funky. In a triangular sort of way. ;-)



Have a triangle day!

~Cynthia

Sunshine on my shoulders....

Sunshine on my shoulders...., a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I *totally* meant to take a picture before I journaled all over this page, but I uh...forgot. ;-)

It's nothing too private. I was describing everything I saw, smelled, felt, heard while I was sitting outside on Sunday.

I did the whole page with watercolor crayons and my brand new waterbrush. Man, what did I do before I got that??? :-)

I punched a circle from a piece of manilla folder and used that as a stencil for the orange circles. I outlined them in black and then just did little circles of yellow around the orange ones. I roughly painted the background with blue watercolor crayons.

After I started journaling inside the big orange circles, I felt like the little yellow circles (petals?) needed something so I used my Bic pen to outline them. I think that makes them stand out a little more. (That was after I took the picture.)

I also noticed, once again, that I really, really need to keep practicing my handwriting with watercolors and paint. *shakes head in embarrassment*


Thanks for stopping by today--I really appreciate your visits!!

~Cynthia

Hot Sunflowers!

Hot Sunflowers!, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

After Saturday's cool blue scheme, I decided to heat it up!

I bought a brand new stencil at my local scrapbooking store. I so hope they decide to carry more! This one is a 6x6 size, by Crafters Workshop. It's partly quilt-like and partly Aztec-like. An interesting mixture!

I actually have three stripes of color, ranging from dark red on the left to a lighter yellow on the right, but I covered everything with a few more layers of acrylic paint, plus the Glimmer Mist I used for the stencil.

I followed Paula's (Journal Artista) recipe for an art journal page. Lots of layers, lots of colors!

This is in my little lined journal and I used the remnants of the clear gesso for the first layer. The layers of paint even out the grit in the gesso. I discovered when I went to write on the blue page from Saturday that Bic-type pens don't like writing on grit!! Oops!! Lesson Learned. :-)



Looks like we've got some bad storms headed our way tomorrow so I'm trying to get all my work and errands now. I might not make it back into the craft room today. OH THE HORRORS.


~Cynthia =D

Weather or Not...

Weather or Not..., a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Wow. The colors in this picture are NOTHING like what it really looks like! How weird is that???

This page is from my little lined journal. The prompt was to make a page about something you loved about summer. I'm pretty sure it came from Janel at Run With Scissors. Heh. Pretty sure. Yep.

One of the things I love about summer is the weather. And by weather I mean thunderstorms. =D I used a cloud stamp, a raindrop stamp, and my favorite face sun stamp. The stamps are layered on Broken China Distress Stain and a bit of clear gesso. I used Black Soot Distress Ink for the letters and really smooshed them down on the paper so they would bleed a little.

I just noticed the blatant stripe down the middle of the journal. I used masking tape to keep the ink/paint from bleeding through to other pages, but I seem to have totally neglected to actually COVER the tape with ink. Nice.



Have a great weekend!!

~Cynthia =D

Flowers make everything prettier

Flowers make everything prettier, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

This page is a redo of a redo of a redo of a page I didn't like. I posted the original earlier, then painted over it all. Then painted over all of it again.

Finally, I was done dealing with it and ended up with this flower garden, which I kind of like actually.

I still don't like the background though.

The flower are from the Circle Graphs set from Inkadinkado and I just free-handed the stems and leaves.

After I took this picture, I found this quote and added it:



There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice. (John Calvin)



I thought it was just a little bit ironic that the color of my background does NOT make me rejoice! ;-)


***
Sorry that I haven't been around here this week. I've been so busy that I haven't had time to create much. I *have* been smashing stuff into my faux smash book though. Five minutes of creating and I have a little snapshot of my day. It doesn't involve a lot of thinking, just a glue stick.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!! =D


~Cynthia

New Journal

New Journal, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Ooooo, I got a new journal!! Well, technically, it's really more of a diary-type journal. But still. It's cool.

It has lined pages and a kicky little magnet closure on the flap. It's also a smaller size (5.5 by 7.5) than my other art journals. Love that.

I treated this just like my other journals. I applied a layer of clear gesso first. Sadly, it was the dregs of an old old old bottle and I guess I'll just have to go buy more! I really like how the lines are still visible.

I found some funky, waxy, shiny tissue paper and adhered that over a layer of yellow acrylic paint, followed by a layer of brown acrylic.

The result is a dusty, Rosetta Stone, archeology kinda look. Love that too.

I'm not sure which direction this journal will head. Paula Phillips (Journal Artista) has one that contains something like positive thoughts. That might be cool. Some of my other journals are more rant-oriented. =D


Happy First Day of Summer!!

~Cynthia