The second part of the Get Messy Season of Seasons is all about the season we are in and an experience/event that defines me.

Memories of this week just gone in Tenby, Wales (UK) where I enjoyed looking at the ocean.

 

MATERIALS USED

• my altered book (there is also some white stitching around the edges of my page – I used it to test my new hand-held sewing machine)
• Liquitex white gesso in a Jane Davenport dabber bottle
• Pebeo 4 Artist Marker oil based gloss in Light Blue
• black  liner marker Staedler Pigment Liner 0.4
• Prima Marketing watercolour set The Classics
• Stabilo All soluble pencil in black
• waterbrush
• Posca paint pens in white and pink
• photos (printed on sticker paper from Polaroid zip mini photo printer)
• Mod Podge
• clear gesso
• some sand from Tenby South Beach
• heat tool
• black Gelli Roll pen

 

PROCESS

I started by generously gessoeing my page to cover the book page original prints, apart from the sand and shells/rocks part, which I will be using in my layout. Using my heat toll, I dried the gesso before moving on to the next step.

I decided to use part of the original title still showing through and outlined the word “Ocean” with my black liner. I then used my oil-based blue marker to colour the letters in and add the rest of my title. Once the marker paint was dry, I outlined the letters in black liner.

I painted my gessoed background with light blue watercolour to give the impression of the ocean coming onto the sand. I left the edges of my gessoed section as white to create movement of the waves coming onto the beach.

Using my black liner, I added a subtitle to my title and some journaling on the side of the page. I created a rough frame for my journaling with my Stabilo All pencil, and activated the pigment with a waterbrush to get the frame grungy and messy. I used the leftovers of pigment on my brush to underline my subtitle. I think it defines it more.

I then added a generous amount of Mod Podge on the sand picture, and applied some of the sand I brought back from the beach in Tenby. I gently pressed on the sand into the Mod Podge to make sure it adheres properly. Using the heat tool, I dried the Mod Podge.

I printed my photos and adhered them in place. I then used my oil-based blue marker to create a slight frame and tried to smudge the paint a little bit, but the paint was already dry so it didn’t smudge much.

I added some pink hearts on my photos and background and outlined them with my black liner to make them stand out. I added one-word journaling on one of my photos with a black Gelli Roll pen. “Hapus” means “Happy” in Welsh; that seemed very fitting. As the photo paper was quite glossy, I had to go over with my pen a few times as the ink was quite resistant to it. I also used it to outline my pink hearts, and grabbed my pink paint pen to add colour to the hearts in my journaling.

I felt that my photos, despite the blue frame, were not popping enough so I lightly outlined them with My Stabilo All pencil, activating it with the waterbrush. As the blue paint pen is oil-based, the Stabilo All pigment was rolling off the paint but there was enough left showing to define my photos better so I was still happy with the result.

As I was becoming conscious that my sand might come off, I decided to cover the section with clear gesso. To be honest, I think I should have added another coat of Mod Podge, and then a coat of clear gesso to mattify the shine, but time will tell on that one…

As finishing touches, I used (off camera – it didn’t record!) my white Posca paint pen to create swirly scribbles on the edges of my “ocean” to give the impression of a more dynamic movement from the waves breaking on the sand.