2015 #9 Words of the Wise {by Pam Thorburn}

2015 Theme 9: Words

Hi everyone, Pam Thorburn from Waltzing Through Life here, joining you this evening with a post about on the theme of Words. When I was thinking about what project to do for this theme it occurred to me that since books were full of words, that I should alter an old book in some way. In the end I decided to make a portfolio of quotations. What mixed media enthusiast doesn't love to collect quotations? I liked the idea of a portfolio, rather than a journal, as it meant I could work on loose sheets of card stock. Working on loose sheets, can be easier than working on fixed pages. When my art pages are completed I can just use the bulldog clips to keep them in the portfolio. My techniques are simple: stamping, painting, collage and hand lettering. 

So here's my very simple quotation portfolio using an old book cover:

Front Cover:

Inside:

Step 1: The book is a cloth covered book, and I really liked the cloth texture, so I decided to give it a paint finish which would allow the cloth texture to show through. After removing the pages from the book with a craft knife, I painted on gesso inside and out. I followed this by sponging on three shades of blue: Mermaid, China and Blue Glass. I was quite random with my paint application, and not at all concerned if the finish was blotchy. When that was dry I used gesso and  two stamps: JOYF 32 and Background Plate 6 to add some pattern.

Step 2: The images were first stamped on thin card and then painted with Fresco Acrylics. I then cut out the images and collaged them on using heavy gel medium. The stamps are from JOYF 32 and   E Lin Brown 17. The inside also uses JOYF 14. The colours are Yellow Submarine, Tango and London Bus.

Inside cover:

Front and back outside cover:

Step 3: For I my first quotation page I kept it simple, just stamping onto the smoothy card stock which makes stamping so easy. I stamped with stazon ink and painted the images with Fresco paint. The transparent paints are perfect for painting stamped images as the fine detailed lines show through the paint. I used the same clouds as before: Yellow Submarine, Tango, and London Bus. 

Like a lot of people I am not particularly fond of my own handwriting, but I have discovered that by exaggerating parts of your writing, for example sprawling the letters out, or making the ascenders and descenders extra long you can give your writing a bit more personality. As you can see I use a pencil to lightly write before using a pen. I then erase the pencil marks, and add some thickness to my letters.

The large scallops are the 'wings' from the E Lin 17 stamp plate, and the smaller scallops are from the JOYF 13 plate.

Step Four: For my next quotation page I started by painting a background of a sky and sponging on some green grass. I found a quick way of making the flowers. Rather than stamp, then paint, I painted the cardstock and when dry I stamped on top. This is much quicker as it doesn't require the same amount of care to paint within the lines! The flowers were then cut out and collaged on. I've sued some additional colours for the flowers here: Candy Floss and Pansy.

Step Five: When everything was dry I took my black pen and wrote my quote. 

WORD OF WARNING: Make sure you choose the right pen!

I didn't and as a result of grabbing a pen that was not quick drying I accidentally smudged my writing.  I thought I would try to fix it by painting over the smudges with acrylic paint. That's when I realised my pen was slow drying because it wasn't waterproof! So I actually made it worse. 

As another attempt to repair the mess I outlined the writing with white pen. It's not perfect but I think it probably minimises the mess a bit! 

I think I will really enjoy making small art works inspired by my favourite quotes, and having the freedom of working on loose card within this portfolio. 

Do you do handwriting on your projects? What are your favourite quotes? Do you ever use them in your art work? I'd love to see you use your own hand writing on your art work and see how quotes inspire your art!

Pam Thorburn, Waltzing Through Life

Wow Pam, this is such a striking project, and you have a cazillion brilliant ideas going on! I did have a giggle at the bird, a very knowing expression on his face suits the quote of the page perfectly. Thank you so much for sharing with us so many great uses for 'words' in a creative sense!  ~Leandra

We would love you to join in with challenge #9: Words If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Words link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, May 24th, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.