Back to my art journal

Yesterday I got the paper finished early, which meant I had time for art again today. Nice! Spray inks, tattered floral die by Ranger, old rub ons.

This ANZAC Day

This ANZAC day I spoke at the Waverley RSA service, which was a privilege.  As always, I remember with love my Dad, Mansel Barker, and Dad 2 Jack Robinson (my best friend Sandra Robinson’s Dad). I also acknowledge the loss of so many ANZACs overseas, and am grateful our Dads came home. 

Able Seaman M Barker, June 1945

Getting there

Remember I said I was burying the evidence? It’s now lost under gesso and ink, stenciling and more ink! It’s not finished but it *is* starting to make me happy. Even Tony could see what was happening once I hauled out a photo of the gardens in Aquino (or was it St Angelo?) that we photographed as we walked down to the bridge over the Rapido River for the yearly commemorative service with the American and Italian soldiers. Edit: my geography and memory is poor – see correction in comments – thanks Kay. Here’s a progress shot, including a blurry one showing the layers, and the original photo I’m using as inspiration:

Trying Tim’s tags

I have been following Tim Holtz’s blog for a long time now but for various reasons have never joined in the monthly tag challenge. I have much more time on my hands these days, and a decent stash of ‘Tim-ery’ so decide to give it a go. You can see details of the April 13 tag here. I used the colours I have on hand, plus one or two new purchases. I also had a wee accident with a bottle of Broken China Distress Paint; let’s just say I have a lot of pre-painted manila tags ready to go! I’m so pleased I decided to give this a go – no doubt next month I’ll feel more confident to put a bit of my own spin on it.

Combining the elements

I’ve been piling up the gelli prints, writing and drawing in my journals, and playing with photos. So the next step was to combine some of it in Photoshop. This is fairly small, and has about 7 layers. I’m slowly learning to do more in Photoshop but it’s still feels a bit foreign to me. I need to head over the Michelle Ward’s blog and reread her information about making digital brushes masks – she’s an awesome teacher and incredibly generous with  her knowledge.

More Gelli prints

Yesterday I got out my Gelli Plate, a new selection of colors, foam stamps, bubble wrap and a pile of plain newsprint and some newspaper. I like the way fluid acrylics print on the absorbent newsprint, but had to be patient as it needs to be fully dry before trying to overprint. I’m not sure what I am going to do with these yet, but I know I’m not finished with them…. As with previous prints, the paper I cleaned my brayer on was worth saving. i