Wednesday, June 12, 2013

I'm Totally "DYLUSIONAL" with Art Journaling and Viva Las VegaStamps!


Welcome to Viva Las Vegastamps! Susan here today bringing you something a little "DYLUSIONAL"... and totally batty because... YES - I've finally inked up my dandelion stamp!!!

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking a class from Dyan Reaveley. Her bright, bold and funky art journals are completely different from my style, but I love learning from other artists. I had an AMAZING time and I'm a totally "DYLUSIONAL" now. If you are stranded over on Distress Ink Island - I dare you to take a walk on the bright and colorful side and try out the Dylusions Ink Sprays... you will be hooked!


My right hand after the 4 hour workshop... the left was equally impressive!


Dyan demonstrated her art journaling, and we learned to create beautiful blended backgrounds, stencil / stamping techniques and adding magazine cut-outs to your journal pages. Being from over the pond, Dyan is a little "CHEEKY" and quite fun. We were instructed not to bring ANY tools or supplies to the class {which I though was ODD}, so I packed a late afternoon lunch and was off on my creative road trip to West Palm Beach. We were provided with a brand-new "THE Dylusions Journal". This is a wonderful blank journal that is a combination of manila cardstock and matte white heavy cardstock, ideal for the application ink sprays and techniques using water, inks, paints and mediums. It's certainly a book that will hold up to whatever paint I can throw at it.


She had a particular "devilish way" of getting us out of our comfort zone to work freely. First she had us "ruin" our PRISTINE new books, by having us spray random colors randomly on pages, then close the book. This was repeated several times. She had the whole class, on the edge of our seats waiting for the next step - then we were ORDERED to spray the cover. I was particularly amused by how squirrely all this uncertainty was to most of the students. But not me, I was like a kid with my first set of crayons! She had a good laugh and said, "now that you've properly ruined your books, we can get to work". Random magazines were provided to select images for our art journal pages and we were instructed to pick a figure and a face and tear them out. When everyone was done, she had us pass our selections to the right... twice! WHAT??!!! So everyone got something totally RANDOM and made trying out some new techniques really FREEING and FUN. Needless to say... I totally loved this class!


Imagine that... a purple splat!


Today I am sharing a page in my journal using my interpretation of Dyan's Style - except - I'm using some of my Viva LasVegaStamps!. This background is just one of the several randomly sprayed pages I made in the class - and make a great starting point.


I traced around an ornate salvaged paper backing from some product packaging to trace around to create a border from pearlescent black paper. Using sticky notes, I used it to masked my sprays so I could stamp this swahili text in the repeatedly across the background using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.


After removing the mask, I applied 1/8" Miracle Tape to my hand-cut border and placed it in position. Then I placed my beautious Bluebell chipboard floral stem from UmWowStudio that I spritzed with black and silver metallic mists to match my shimmer paper border. I glued this in place using Diamond Glaze {my hands-down favorite adhesive}.


I stamped the border repeatedly using Lightning Black Tsukineko - Brilliance Dew Drops Pigment Ink around the pages and it gives a real, hand-drawn feel. Quick and easy.


This is how far I've gotten just with just the original splats, a border with a chipboard element, and some stamping... a very nice start! Now it's time to hunt for some collage matter to add from my plethora of magazine and junk mail salvage... and add some coloring and doodling by hand.

The finishing touches are my favorite part... and I just let my muse run wild. If you want to see the finished pages - please, please, please...

... Come back later today for the big REVEAL!!!
•••••••••••
Supplies used: STAMPS - ""Blowing Dandelion and Extra Seed" #19045, "Hatch Mark Background" #10896, and "Early in Morning Swahilis" #1692. Other supplies: Dylusions - "THE" Dylusions Journal; black metallic cardstock; Staz-On Black ink; Miracle Tape; Diamond Glaze; Ranger Distress Markers; Pumice Stone Ranger Distress Inks; Bluebell Chipboard floral stem from UmWowStudio; Fresh Lime & After Midnight Dylusions Ink Sprays; and Lightning Black Tsukineko - Brilliance Dew Drops Pigment Ink.

Thanks so much for dropping by. Have you seen what the Viva Las Vegastamps! Design Team has been up to or dropped by the Viva Las Vegastamps! store lately? There's so much amazing inky inspiration to see!  If you would like to see more of my creations please visit my blog, sbartist : painting in the dark HERE. I'll be back soon with another stamping adventure...and how I've been playing along with each round of the Gallery Idol Competition, too! Sb

3 comments:

Sandra Strait said...

Sounds like a fantastic class! I envy you! Love what you've done so far!

Julie S said...

Sitting up here in the Pacific NW green (a brilliant, bright green like Lime Zest!) with envy that you were able to take a class with Dyan. Love her style and the class sounds like a blast. Off to go spray something with abandon...

Margaret said...

That sounds like an amazing class! Can't imagine how much fun you had! Your pages look terrific so far!!