Let Fly Mixed Media Art Journal Page

OK, I think this may be one of my favourites. And...I liked it so much I recreated it on a canvas!  It's not identical to the art journal version of course, but I still really like them both.

I call this one Let Fly, and when you read the sentiment that's on it, you will understand :)

I started this project by using modelling paste on the top 1/3 of the page with a stencil.  Then I used heavy gesso on the bottom 2/3 of the page and made lines in it with a stylus.  

After letting the page dry overnight, I started adding some colour to it.  I watered down some of the colours so they would run.  I had recently purchased my first Golden Fluid Acrylic (Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold) and I am totally in love with it!  Although, it's still the only one I own at the moment, I do plan to purchase more.

Once the paint was dry, I added a strip of washi tape at the line between the bottom and the top of the page.  I stamped some butterfly stamps from Tim Holtz and cut them out.  I added some matte medium to make them non-porous, and then coloured them blue with acrylic paint.  I glued them down to the page, but only the bodies of the butterflies because I wanted to be able to bend up the wings to give the page more dimension.

I found some small metal key embellishments and glued them down for the butterfly bodies and picked out my found poetry.  I find this the hardest part, however I truly love what I came up with for this one:  If they were to let fly away, she could believe she was herself again.  This just speaks to me and reminds me to reassure myself that it's ok to let some things go, and that I always feel freer when I do.

Lastly, I added some micro beads with matte medium and framed the page with ink around the edges.

The canvas follows some of the same processes, except I didn't add the micro beads, and I added a polymer clay edge behind the butterflies.  

I also added a book plate with the word timeless instead of the found poetry.  The top 1/3 of the canvas was done with Ranger Crackle embossing paste, and I added keys and some round intricate metal embellishments I had in my stash.  

Similar but not the same, and I love them both!

Oops not sure what happened to the focus in this one!

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back again soon :)