Splish, splash, splodge...

No, that's not the sound of me trudging through the rain but it is the wonderful sound of my messy hands in the craft room! This week at Simon Says Stamp & Show we are getting MESSY!!!!! So come on folks, get your ink, paint, mediums, sprays, powders and anything gloopy you like and join in the tactile creativity! For once I was very glad it wasn't baby food, nappies and other yukky stuff...

 Although I don't do a lot of it I  really like the styles and techniques used in Art Journalling. I am usually very precise and slightly obsessive when creating so this was a chance to just let go and allow the creative mood of the moment to take over... I took an 8 inch chunky canvas and dived in.

 I started with some scraps of Tissue tape, some rough swooshes of gesso and then I randomly stamped some Wendy leaves in black ink. Then more gesso, remembering to always dry between layers. I sprayed some yellow circles using a stencil I had made with my hole punches and then decided to add some scraps of design paper and more gesso. I like to use the gesso to block out anything that is too dominant or water it down when I want it to be translucent - giving a softer effect.

I needed more colour so I went for some pink sprayed through puchinella waste, added texture with more gesso and the Lettuce Dabber painted mini-mums followed by more stamping of the leaves - this time in Vermillion, with some small Wendy dots in Monarch Orange ink. I like to stamp in Archival inks as they don't smudge or move with water. Then just kept playing around with little details... such as the bigger Tim dots stamped in paint, some black pen lines and the inky bottle top rings as I needed some touches of blue.

It is very easy to forget the egdes so as I was working on the front I made sure I continued onto the sides too. I highlighted some of the yellow circles with a white pen as well as a few smaller dots and also stamped a few more  leaves in black as some had gone AWOL! Although I love all the colours and layers I just had to add some wording so I used certain words from my stamps sets along with letter stickers, typing and some Chit Chat words.

I stamped discover onto scrap paper, layered it onto a tag end, whilst possibility is stamped onto a piece of cotton ribbon soaked in gesso. I used a few smudges of paint and ink to help blend them into the canvas surface as I want them to be part of the whole composition - not 'stuck on' words...

And then suddenly I have the feeling, "I'm done". Put your hands in the air lady and back away from the canvas! So there you go - I hope it will brighten up your day. Discover the possibility... of getting very messy, expressive and inky! It will do you the world of good, I promise!

Take a look at all the fabulous creations from the Design Team - they will most definitely inspire you to get dirty! We want to see your inky fingers and art. Don't forget every week we choose our three top artists and there is also this generous $50 voucher to be won.
This is me and my pink fingers signing out! See you all soon, Sarah.  

*Tim Holtz Idea-ology 1088 CHITCHAT STICKERS TH92998	*Ranger DYLUSIONS INK SPRAY SET OF 12 Dyan Reaveley	*Tim Holtz Idea-ology TISSUE TAPE MARKETPLACE ***DISCONTINUED	*Claudine Hellmuth GESSO Studio Primer Paint Ranger
*Wendy Vecchi Cling Rubber Stamps IT'S FACE ART Stampers Anonymous	*Tim Holtz Cling Rubber Stamps STUFF TO SAY CMS110 2011	*Wendy Vecchi Cling Rubber Stamps SERIOUSLY ART Studio 490 lcs034	*Ranger Archival Ink Pad MONARCH ORANGE AIP31239
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