Harvinaisen Kaunis Elämä: May 2022

Monday, 30 May 2022

Art Daily Cafe May 2022

Hello friends,

Little Thoughts may be little in size, but sometimes they can still speak in volumes. Here is an example. A tiny page with a single print, a single sentence, and two colours (ok, and lace, silk ribbon, and vintage silk yarn) may be small in size, but it has a heart of a giant. The lovely theme of the month underlined the beautiful, uplifting message.

I created the journal spread my tiny Little Thoughts art journal, the cover size approx. 7 cm x 10 cm. Here’s how I did it.

First, I glued a tiny vintage receipt the size of the whole journal spread on top of the coffee dyed paper, and primed the pages with Clear Gesso, crinkling and folding the receipt edges on the go. Then I added white Heavy Gesso here and there, and that was all I did with the actual pages.

Next, I dyed some silk ribbon, cheese cloth, and lace with green and pink Mica Powders from Vintage Roses and Golden Hour sets (a tutorial video of the process here: https://youtu.be/CCPbR9oRpGo ), and layered them onto the ages, together with a spring green vintage silk yarn, and glued the print and a stamped quote on top.

Then I glued some lace onto the edges of the pages and stitched mica dyed silk ribbon on top and used the leftover silk ribbon bits to get more dimension around the print and quote. The print looked a bit dull, but I did not change it, as was the idea of the month; don’t hide your mistakes but uplift them. So, with a white pen, I doodled some marks on top, and it did uplift and lighten the print!

Wishing, as always, all things gentle and beautiful,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-clear

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-mica-powder-set-vintage-roses

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-mica-powder-set-golden-hour

Wednesday, 18 May 2022

Sweet Vintage Art Journal Cover for Finnabair

Hello friends,

Creating journals feels like creating new worlds. And what comes to the cover… It’s the precious, whispering invitation to step into those worlds. I created an invitation to a sweet, gentle, world, filled with soft wisdom, whispering of broken beauty and hidden strength.

Here’s what I did…

The cover, a plain thick cardboard piece, was approx. 11 cm., and I chose a pile of inspiring material for it: vintage papers and vintage jewellery pieces, 7 Dot Studio paper, lace, and fabric.

First, I covered the cardboard with Moda Tissue paper, using Soft Matte Gel, and primed it twice with white Heavy Gesso. Then, I painted it with acrylic Impasto Snow White paint, and after drying, mixed Impastos Pitch Black and Chocolate Brown for vintage look and painted the edges.

Next step was to layer vintage papers, scrapbook paper, and lace onto the cover. I primed the pieces I chose, with Clear Gesso and then added the brown and black acrylic paint mix onto the edges, to give them more worn-out look. Then I glued everything in place. The heavier pieces like a cardboard frame, I secured in place with Heavy Body Gel.

The final touch was to add the actual, tiny little composition of a swan feather, a silk flower, and a vintage earring, which I glued with Heavy Body Gel. The cover needed something darker for contrast, so I added a (half of a) Rusty Paper Clip.

Link to the video of the process here: https://youtu.be/JSR97_BGcfw

Wishing you all things gentle and beautiful,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-clear

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-finnabair-tissue-paper-moda

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-soft-matte-gel

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-body-gel

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-snow-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-pitch-black

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-dark-chocolate

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-daily-rusty-paper-clips

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Art Daily Cafe April 2022

Hello friends,

Silence… It has so much to say if we stop to listen to it, breathe it, feel it. I tried to capture the gentleness of silence into a journal page. Which wasn’t easy, by the way, as silence can easily turn into something cold, harsh, empty, if you let it.

First, I added vintage musical sheets onto the edges of the journal spread. (Bach – because if silence had a sound, it would be Bach’s.) Then I added bits of fabric tape (the one they used for ice hockey, that one) here and there, glued a sweet girlie print in place, and primed everything with a light layer of white Heavy Gesso. Next, I used Paper Texture Paste and Irish Tapestry stencil for gentle dimension that would frame the pages.

I stamped some lace and flower images in black to get contrast, and with Liquid Acrylics Ink Black and Burnt Sienna, painted the page edges. I also painted over the stamped images to get them look more free hand looking, and after the paint had dried, doodled with white pen on top of them, so they look more like sketches than stamped images.

I added some bits of my own poems to create the feeling I wanted for this silence to have and added gentle light in form of Gold Metallic Flakes (and Gilding Glue). With Dragon’s Eye Spark paint, I added some splashes of light all over the pages.