Good morning and welcome to December and the first day of Winter!  How’s that looking for you so far?  It’s cold and rainy here but then that’s not unusual haha and I am much happier about rain than some other winter type weather that I shall not mention!  I am eagerly awaiting some art supplies that I bought during the BFCM sales (only bought things that I usually buy just with discount this time) and I feel like I’m in a pretty good place with my Christmas gift plans.  I will be posting all my overseas stuff today and then I can relax a little bit and take my time with the rest.

So today I have a winter inspired art journal page to share with you and here she is in all her wintery blue goodness:

I am always surprised by the discovery of something in my stash that has been long forgotten (and probably should have been thrown away at the time) but suddenly can be used in new and unexpected ways.  Since I never throw anything away, these useless things take up valuable space in my tiny room and so I am always trying to find better ways to store them or find more actual flat surfaces to work on that are not piled high with random, discarded stuff.

Take this for example, last summer (and I mean summer 2019!) I bought this blue Prima spray to see what it was like.  I’m not big on sprays and I didn’t like it lol.  I decided that I would test it out on this paper that I had used a Tim Holtz die on four times so that it covered the page, but some of it didn’t cut all the way through so I wasn’t happy about that either.  I had laid it against some journal pages and you can see that it left the pattern on the pages, but that wasn’t what I wanted either, so I put the blue coloured die cut paper and the two loose journal pages away in the stash in disgust.  So many times they have popped up when I’ve been looking for something else and so many times I’ve thought I should just get rid of them, but I hate waste, so back into the stash they went!  This latest time when they popped up again, I looked at them with fresh eyes and thought there was something there that I could work with.  The journal pages were much bigger than the current journal I am using so I cut them down to size and stuck them in my book with washi tape. They remind me of wintery, icy plants with maybe a touch of frost on them so I thought they would be perfect for a winter page. The diecut blue paper I was still not sure about!


So now I had this page in my book and I really like it!  It says winter and frosty foliage to me, so maybe it could be some wintery woods? a forest maybe?


The challenge this month on More Than Words Challenge Blog is about CHILDHOOD so I starting thinking about that and then I started thinking about fairies, or faeries, or however you want to spell it. So I decided that what the page needed was a fairy, perhaps she would be a winter fairy who lived deep in the woods during the winter and that my blue diecuts would be the foliage. I was having camera problems so I missed a few photo steps but I drew her on watercolour paper (as my background was covered in blue spray) and then painted her in cool colours, and started to play with the diecut foliage idea.


I have some blue hydrangea flowers from my garden that I have been drying so I thought they might look nice on the page as extra foliage and hide the edges of the watercolour paper.  When they are in full bloom they are a beautiful range of blues and purples but when they dry, they dry to this faded blue which is also beautiful.  I really needed to fix her mouth at this point too as it looks like she’s foaming at the mouth – rabid fairy perhaps?


Sidenote:  The hydrangeas in bloom, well some of the purple flowers anyway, the blues have long gone by this stage.

I started looking for quotes about fairies and childhood but I couldn’t find anything so I decided to write my own about childhood beliefs and fairies.  I remember I used to think they lived at the bottom of our garden and I used to go out in the morning looking for toadstools and fairy rings, so I practiced writing out my quote before adding it to my page.


I wrote it in pencil first, then went over it with pen and then highlighted it with white paint marker and gold paint.

Here’s a look at the finished page, click for bigger views.

I remembered this little rhyme that goes…

Deep within the winter forest
among the snowdrift wide
You can find a magic place
where all the fairies hide

It doesn’t seem to have an author, or it is so old that the author is lost in time, but I thought it fit with my page so I wrote it in the space at the bottom of the page.  Perhaps this is the magic place were all the fairies hide during the winter, and perhaps they change themselves to take on a cool, wintery aspect, to better blend in with the wintery background and to better hide themselves from prying eyes, if humans venture too deep into the winter forest?
Here is the finished page.  Sadly my flowers faded a little and lost more of their colour when I added the gel medium so now they are looking a bit brown rather than blue.  I might add a little paint or maybe not.  I kinda like the faded petals too.


I gave her a gold and silver crown, and added gold paint splatters to the background, and a little unicorn paste dotted around the flowers and the foliage and her crown.

Here’s my DT inspiration photo which you can find on the challenge announcement post today.  Click for a much bigger version.

 

I hope you enjoyed your trip into the depths of the wintery forest via my page.  Let me know what you think in the comments and as always, thanks for reading!

 

Challenges

Art Journal Journey – December Challenge – The Meaning Of… – I am entering my page into this month’s challenge as it made me think about the meaning of childhood, and all those things that I believed as a child, fairies at the bottom of the garden, the magic of winter and Christmas, and magical creatures, and all those fairytales and fantasy novels I read as a child (still do!).  This is a fun challenge this month and I can think of more ideas for pages already (maybe even Santa needs to make an appearance!)
DT inspiration for More Than Words December Challenge – Childhood & Add Gold

Ingredients

My handmade journal (still hoping to fill it up by the end of the year!)
Previously sprayed and discarded pages using Tim Holtz die and Prima spray (never throw anything away!)
watercolour paper, Polychromos, watercolour, Pitt pens, gold acrylic, paint pens, hydrangea flowers, unicorn paste, neocolour II, black pen

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16 Awesome Comments (btw comment moderation is on)
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Alison Hall
December 2, 2020 4:15 pm

A gorgeous spread Elle! I love those faded flowers, a great contrast to the blue.
Alison xx

Nancy Williams
December 2, 2020 12:52 pm

Elle, this is amazing! Your fairy is beautiful and you did such an awesome job on her! Wow! Love the colors and everything you did to the page. Even your writing is wonderful. Such a lovely post and I still believe in them too. Hugz

Tracey
December 1, 2020 11:01 pm

Childhood memories that never fade are precious things indeed, I love how the flowers faded to brown they add a touch of vintage alongside the blue it’s always a winning colour combo. Thank you for sharing her beauty @ Art Journal Journey Elle, lovely to see you there. Creative wishes Tracey xx

Elke
December 1, 2020 8:57 pm

A lovely journal page! The color choices are lovely with this hydrangea flower and print!
Your saying is very touching and keep it in your heart!
Greeting Elke

Bleubeard and Elizabeth
December 1, 2020 3:20 pm

This turned out great. I love recycling or repurposing art, too. You are like me and hate waste. I can see where this turned from “pitch” to “perfect” with new eyes and a new challenge. Thanks for sharing this with us at Art Journal Journey using Tracey’s theme, too. BTW, I am NOT fond of sprays because they clog so easily. I sure like what you did, though, dear Elle.

pearshapedchris
December 1, 2020 3:10 pm

This is so beautiful Elle. Your rescued die cut page looks perfect here with your fairy. I love the added die cuts and those dried Hydrangea flowers. I also love the words that you composed and handwrote! Magical indeed! Hugs, Chrisx

Valerie-Jael
December 1, 2020 2:14 pm

Your page is absolutely gorgeous and transports me back to days of yore when I used to imagine scenes like this when I walked in the woods, just beautiful. And you are another who never throws anything away, good attitude! My space is also very limited, but that’s not an excuse for throwing away stuff that might be needed one day! Have a good week, stay safe, hugs, Valerie

Erika N
December 1, 2020 1:27 pm

What a fabulous story behind this page Elle. And even just as fabulous is this page. Wow! What a beauty. I think the idea of fairies is wonderful and why couldn’t it be true? I am glad you joined us for day 1 at Art Journal JOurney. Loved this entry. Thanks and happy December! Hugs-Erika

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