Happy Sunday!
I am having a “quiet” weekend except that it’s never very quiet anymore because the neighbours are DIYing like FOREVER and seems like no end in sight… if anything makes me a little homicidal it’s OTHER PEOPLE’S NOISE. Good grief, we are all enjoying our quiet not quiet Sunday, and then the drilling and hammering starts and btw these are not my immediate neighbours either so you can imagine how it is for the people who are closer!!! Venting over… guess what – I have to go back to the dentist tomorrow because they managed to get me a cancellation for the hygienist which I appreciate but it does mean another stressful trip up and down those stairs (I probably shouldn’t use words like trip, let’s say “journey” instead).
I lit the stove for the first time this season because it was only 2C outside – can you believe it? And it’s only September. Anyway, here is Miss Lily who decided the coffee table was the best place for maximum exposure to the heat coming off the stove, plus also she was getting ready to watch Tim Holtz live on Youtube, so it was perfect for her to see the laptop also. You can’t see it in the photo but she is right in the line of the stove fan which is blowing the hot air right on her. Clever girl.
Today’s art . . .
I made a page purely for the fun of making a page, which of course is perfect for Aimeslee’s theme of “Anything Goes” on Art Journal Journey. This one is all about the Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit which I watched recently, about three years after everyone else watched it. I don’t know what it was about the trailer but I just didn’t fancy it, even despite people telling me how good it was. Having run out of other things to watch, I thought I would give it a go and I absolutely LOVED it. It’s about chess, chess moves, and especially about this little orphan girl called Beth, who gets quite obsessed by chess. Actually the kid that plays her as a little girl looked a lot like me as a kid, and I was also a bit obsessed by chess lol. Yes I was a nerdy kid lol. I made my first chess set from a set of draughts (checkers), adding cardboard tops to them, to make them look like chess pieces. Then I taught myself how to play, then taught my Dad how to play, and then he proceeded to beat me every time we played hahaha.
Anyway by the time I was a teenager, other obsessions took over and I didn’t play chess, though if there had been a chess club at school I might have joined. I still have a computer chess board, handy for when you have no one to play, and it still works despite being ancient (circa 1990s). It looks a little like the one above and is branded with Gary Kasperov’s name (former World champion and Grandmaster).
And when I went to Harris a few years ago I bought a replica set of the Lewis Chessmen, because they are very beautiful. Have I played with them yet? No, because I don’t have anyone to play with 🙁 My friend’s husband is a keen chess player but they live in the Netherlands so it’s a bit far to travel lol. He is also rated so he would kick my butt.
Anyway, back to the journal page, that is Beth on the right, in her classic “contemplating the board” pose.
I knew I wanted a wonky chessboard-looking background so I drew one, then coloured it with TH Distress watercolour pencils and crayons. I also drew Beth and coloured her with the same pencils. I used Halloween colours (orange, purple, green) because I’m trying to get back into Halloween mode after all that Sizzix Christmas stuff I was doing before and also because that is the colour of her hair in the show, so it made it easy to do Halloween colours.
I have an older stamp set from Stamperia which is actually Alice in Wonderland themed but contains all of these chess pieces, so I stamped out a few and fussy cut them to stick on my board.
I did think about adding the chess pieces in the Queen’s Gambit opening positions but it was a bit impossible hard to do on my wonky board, so they are randomly placed. The Queen, Gambit and Checkmate words come from the same stamp set.
That’s it for today, I also have another physio appointment next week so with a bit of luck I can hang up the crutches. I’m beginning to feel like they are part of me and it’s not a good feeling lol. Let me know what you think in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading and Happy Journalling!
Ingredients
watercolour paper, pencil, pen, TH Distress watercolour pencils, Distress crayons, white gel pen, Stamperia AIW stamp set, glue, black and white acrylic ink, Distress archival ink, Versafine clair ink, Faber-Castell Pitt artist pens,
Challenges
Art Journal Journey – Anything Goes – September theme
Creative Artiste Mixed Media – September Challenge #108
WOW, Elle, this is amazing! I love tht you hand drew everything! It’s certainly a great memento to remember the TV series by, too. Simply stunning, brava! Thanks for linking to AJJ and I hope the appointments went well and thoe crutches can get a rest in the corner, xoxo
I wanted to thank you for the visit to see the last of the cats in my cat postage stamp book. In every other post, I added a link to anyone who contributed to the book. I was in a hurry to finish before the end of the month and forgot to go back and find links to each person who contributed so much to my little book. That includes you. I hope you will see the rest of the book at your convenience.
Love your page Elle – I really enjoyed the TV adaptation of this. What a great them – i love the colours against the muted chess board. Love seeing puss again too. Thanks for sharing with us at Creative Artiste Mixed Media
I absolutely adore your chess set and chess board. I also played chess for awhile, but like you, I have no one to play with. This is a wonderful spread and absolutely PURRfect for Aimeslee’s theme at AJJ. Thanks for sharing
Oh I loved the Queen’s Gambit, and the Lew Chessmen would make beautiful decor because they are amazing. I read a book about them, and I have seen them at British Museum-or at least some of them. But that was a long time ago. I love your page. That is a funking chessboard.But fun. And since I’m always behind on tv shows, I can relate. Grin. By the way, I didn’t see Inspector Ga,ache in Quebec-sadly. Good luck at the dentist, and thanks for joining Aimeslee’s challenge. Happy October-since when you read this it will be another new month. hugs-Erika