A Visual Journey

Hello from a wet, windy and cold Shetland! It was the same yesterday so I had a lovely afternoon playing with some art journal pages. 

My lovely and very talented friend Brenda of Bumblebees and Butterflies has invited us to join her on a Visual Journey - experimenting with art journal pages with no constraints, working quickly and freely. What a fabulous idea. You can find all the details of the journey here and clicking here will take you to her post this week where she has made a fabulous double page collage using image transfers.



I was having a bit of a tidy up the other day (nothing to get excited about as it lasted for about 15 minutes only!!) and found some napkins I bought in Ireland last year. The current challenge at Paper Artsy is Fragile Papers so I thought I would try a bit of an experiment with the napkins, fragile dictionary paper and some gesso. I was inspired by Lynne's Golden Hours post to layer my elements and stamping over dictionary paper.

I took a couple of pages from an old dictionary (it has been falling apart for years and so I don't mind re-using it) and gave them a coat of gesso.



I used a wet paintbrush around the napkin image I wanted which made it easier to tear. It was a little difficult to separate the top layer of the napkin from the other two layers, but this managed I then stuck them down with multi medium adhesive. They took a while to dry but later I blended some Victorian Velvet and Peeled Paint Distress Ink here and there and used Walnut Stain Distress Ink through the layering stencil to create the cup marks and for the dream stamp in the top right hand corner. I blended some around the edges of he pages too. The butterflies and sentiment were stamped in Arcival Black and Coffee.



I have worked with napkins before but not on dictionary paper. I love the way they just float on top of the text and it is easy to stamp over the top of them to blend everything together.



And here is the double page spread stuck down in my art journal - the pages were so very flimsy I had a job getting them to go where I wanted on the page!

Thank you Brenda for a lovely inspiring challenge and Paper Artsy for the prompt to try my napkins on dictionary paper! 

Thank you for joining me today.

Jennie





Comments

Very very beautiful.
Joan said…
Love how the text shows through the serviette! I have a large collection of serviettes sitting in a box , need to get some out and try this, thanks for the inspiration
Scrumplescrunch said…
Hello Jennie.
This is exactly what Brenda wanted; to be free to express oneself on a page without worrying about design etc...The pages look great with the napkins.
Smiles:)
Sue
Hazel Agnew said…
Delicate and beautiful!
massofhair said…
Ethereal pages, very pretty napkin and over book pages it works beautifully:-) xxx
Astrid Maclean said…
Gorgeous pages Jennie, love the napkin technique and this looks brilliant! Must catch up on Brenda's post too.

Sorry I have not been around much lately, but I have been away from home as you know, with very little time on the internet. Back home now, so hoping to catch up. Belated Happy New Year to you and yours!!
Lucy Edmondson said…
So beautiful and delicate!

Lucy x
Colleen said…
Jennie,
This turned out beautiful, love the way the image just floats on the background as if it was gently laid there.
These pages are beautiful, even in a photo you can tell how fragile and delicate they are x
Brenda Brown said…
Love this Jennie and in fact it's quite spooky as I was tempted to get out the napkins but decided I would try the transfer technique instead. I love the ethereal look you have achieved and how everything comes together so well even though you have used such different elements. Thanks for linking to my Visual Journey. xxx
I love how napkins can be transformed in the craft world. Your journal pages are so feminine and lovely.
Julie x
These are beautiful, Jennie - love the napkins over the dictionary pages (and I think I have the same napkins, or very similar, so I'm very tempted to play). Fabulous!
Alison xx
~*~Patty S said…
Your pages are really beautiful...I like the softness with the text showing through.
REALLY lovely!
Esther said…
Your pages are so soft and beautiful...and I love the Courage quote...Esther xx
kaybee said…
Beautifully fragile!
This is fabulous - a wonderful elegant page! The napkin really works well! Hmm….must try this again!!
Chrisx
Jennie - I love your work, and am trying to teach myself how to make various flowers from your wonderful tutorials. This page is so beautiful, and so you! Fabulous and a lovely reminder of warmer seasons to come!
PaperArtsy said…
Wow Jennie, the dictionary pages work brilliantly with the napkin. So glad you linked to the challenge, you've pulled all the elements together beautifully.