The third layer continued, again!

The third layer continued, again…

This week I decided to do some printmaking. Looking at  the ‘alcohol ink’ journal page completed earlier, I felt like I needed to do an underwater theme.

I love printmaking.  When I took this class at college I couldn’t get enough of it.  I spent hours creating and printing all sorts of images.  There are so many ways of printing and I would like to show you everything.  Unfortunately, I am limited to one page, but will show you more on future journal pages.

I decided that a large fish would be a good start.  There are many objects you can use to cut out images on but I decided to use good ole linoleum (available at most art stores).  I penciled out an image of a fish and used my carving tool to carve out the image.   Of course I needed some seaweed so using styrofoam and a stick, I carved in some seaweed.

To print the fish, roll some printing ink with a brayer on a scrap of heavy paper or glass.  When the ink sounds like the legs of corduroy pants rubbing together, then roll it onto the linoleum using the brayer.  Lightly mist a piece of medium weight paper with water, and place the paper over the linoleum.  Rub the paper with a wooden spoon until the image of the fish has completely transferred to the paper.

When printing the styrofoam seaweed, do the same thing as with the linoleum, the only difference is that you do not want to rub so hard as the styrofoam will flatten and you will lose the image.

You can print your images another time without adding more ink to the linoleum/styrofoam, it’s called a ‘ghost image’.   Use these images as well on your page.

Once the ink has dried on the paper, cut out the images and arrange them on the page.  In order to get dimension on my page, I glued scraps of foam core board behind the images and then glued them to the page.  You can shape the paper simply by rolling and twisting to get more dimension.

To make the blue water, I used a small sheet of metal, you can also use freezer paper, rolled on some ink and then with a small piece of cardboard scraped out my waves.  I added drops of rubbing alcohol to create some added texture.Again, slightly dampen your paper you will be printing on, place it on top of the waves, and rub with your hands or a wooden spoon to transfer the image to the paper.

To make the smaller fish, I used water soluble pastels.  If you haven’t used these before, you really need to try them.  I love the way that they blend and act like watercolors.  I also love the vibrant colors.

Draw an image on a piece of freezer paper.  Dampen a sheet of paper and put it over the image on the freezer paper, and rub with your hand.  Once the image is dry, you can cut it out and add to your page.

PROMPT

This I know to be truth…

Positive or Negative?

Each one of us do not live in a bubble.  Everything we do or say, or don’t do or say, affects the world around us.

This is an important lesson I’ve learned and has definitely made a big impact on who I am today.  I have generally been a fairly positive person.  People have commented on how positive I am even in the face of adversity, but it wasn’t until I purposely thought about it, that I decided to make it a priority.  Why would I want to be a negative person.  How sad would that be.

I’ve got to tell you, I avoid people who have a negative disposition or who, in a split second, will turn on me.  I have had people throughout my life like this.  I felt like I was walking around on egg shells afraid to say something or do something that the person wouldn’t like.  I don’t ever want to be that person.  I want to keep people around me who are positive, happy, encouraging, and uplifting.

Are there people around you who want to tear you down or who make you uncomfortable?  Is it time to let go of them?  Is it time to confront them?  Is it time to forgive and heal from the hurts others have caused?  Make it a conscious choice to let go of negativity, in whatever form it comes in, including the media world, and to start living a happier life, which in turn will change your life for the better, and also the lives of those around you.  The world is waiting to see your beauty…the person you are suppose to be.   I encourage you to make that choice today.

Believe it or not, we really do care about you.

Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.  Philippians 4:8