The Dust Settles

Posted on August 24, 2020 by layeredpages

House 4

Landscape Art Journal Page

Off Day in The Garden Oasis-Life Lesson

I started working this journal page on August 10^th-I believe- and I really didn’t have a set plan on where I wanted it to take me. I knew I wanted to paint abstract flowers in a field. It was a rocky start so I put the pages aside for a bit to get back to center. We all have days like that.

Not every art project starts out the way it was envisioned or they lead us in other directions. This gave me more determination to keep pushing on and learn from this experience. I was not giving up! When I came back to the pages and started painting, I knew there was a story here.

I envisioned a family living on this land at times battling nature’s unpredictability and what their daily lives must be like living on a farm. The struggles, sadness, working the land, traditions they pass down through the generations and joys they face.

I decided not to put windows on the lower part of the house nor the back fields or detail to the gazebo. I wanted some quirky feel to it. To open the mind to a story of one’s own imagination. The sky and back fields represent a dust storm settling and draws your attention to the front fields of abstract flowers. This piece has inspired a much larger abstract I want to paint on canvas.

This is the most paint I’ve ever put on book pages before. The paper held up great! I wish you could see these pages in person. I couldn’t quote seem to capture the vibrant colors with my phone camera. All in all, I’m pleased with the pages and this project turned out to be an eye-opening experience in painting abstract flowers. I’m used to just drawing life-like ones then painting or coloring them. A new art journey begins…

Stephanie Hopkins

30-Day Journal Prompts

Posted on June 4, 2020 by layeredpages

Today I’m sharing a few recent journal pages I created and journal prompt ideas. I had lots of fun making these and I will be journal writing on the opposite page. This particular journal is an altered mixed media book. Art Collages are a great way to express mood and can represent many different meanings of your life and creativity. You don’t have to create art for your pages. You can just write. Your journal is your own to do what you wish. There is no wrong way or right way to it.

Do you want to start a journal? I know how it feels to get started on a journal for the first time. If you are new to journaling or want to get started, it can look daunting. I promise you; it isn’t. Journaling is an amazing way to learn more about yourself and to look back on where you’ve started and how far you’ve come. How can one get started? Will this be something you can do on a regular basis?

Some don’t write in their journal everyday and some people do. The best way to get started is to journal for 30 days straight. You will be amazed how much it will open your heart and mind to this profound past-time. This will become your therapy-if you will. This will become a habit, your way of expression and an extension of yourself. Journals are treasures and a look into your soul.

Here are 30 journal prompt ideas to get you started. You can write just one sentences or as many as you choose. Open your heart and see where it takes you. I hope this inspires you and will give even more prompt ideas. -Stephanie Hopkins

Write a letter to your past.
Write a letter to your future
Places you enjoy visiting.
Favorite movies.
Favorite books.
Current book. What you like or dislike about it.
Your favorite songs.
Your top five short term goals.
Your top five long term goals.
Your spiritual journey.
Inspirational quotes.
Thoughts of the day.
Five things you love about yourself.
Daily goals.
What life means to you.
Write about the qualities you look for in friendship.
Favorite poem.
Write your own poem. (One of my favorite journal prompts.)
What makes you happy.
What makes you sad and what can you do to change that?
Write about your current mood.
Favorite school subject and why.
Write about your favorite possession that you cannot live a day without.
Write about what you are good at.
Write about your weekend.
Write about what you see around you.
Write about a current event happening in the world.
Write about your pet.
Write a wish-list about hobbies you want to do.
Write about your favorite flower or tree.

(Images may be subjected to copyright. All book reviews, interviews, guest posts, art work, photos and promotions are originals. In order to use any text or pictures from Layered Pages, please ask for permission from Stephanie.)

Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone

Posted on March 25, 2020 by layeredpages

Art Edition

Today I’m sharing a little about stepping outside of my comfort zone in regards to my Mixed Media Art. My usual styles of creating are using darker hues, vintage grudge, steampunk, doodling, fluid art and abstracts. A few months ago, I made the decision to step out of my zone and explore different ways of creating mixed media art and my journals. The piece below is a prime example of what I’m talking about.

A Sweet Mixed Media Art Page I

I had created these two pages on one example of a background for a friend to see. I had put it aside for a while knowing I would come back to it eventually.

Last week I opened the book to complete these pages without any thought as to where they would take me. As I got to what I thought the final layer would be, I was discontented with it. There wasn’t balance. I was completely unsettled.

I shared photos of the pages to my friend and she told me to keep what I had-in so many words… Normally I would but I just couldn’t let these pages stay as they were. I decided to step away from my work desk and went in the kitchen to fix a glass sparkling water. I stood in the kitchen for a bit and started having a conversation with myself. Yep. I talk to myself.

My thoughts included: Why are you not happy with these pages? What is your problem today? -laughing. What do you want to express? What do you want? Then it hit me. I wanted to go all out and get girly with it. Yes, girly.

A Sweet Mixed Media Art Page

I marched back to my desk, sat down with determination and grabbed a box with embellishments and chose the “Sweet” embellishment to cover up the word, “Love” and proceeded to add a few other mediums-including more doodles. These pages are completely out of my comfort zone but I’m glad I created it and the story it tells is a good lesson learned.

What are ways you step out of your comfort zone when creating art? Or do you ever step out of that zone? How have you grown as an artist?

Stephanie

Saturday Sunday: Mixed Media Textures

Posted on January 25, 2020 by layeredpages

Adding Textures To Your Art Backgrounds/For Mixed Media Projects

Collages/Journaling/Canvas

Paris Pages I

This blog post is getting a late start today. Yesterday afternoon I had an accident and broke my little toe so badly I had to put it back in place. Alas, that delayed finishing my journaling pages I am blogging about today and writing this post.

Paris clothes shop Adding texture to your art projects is a lot easier than people may think and is so much fun to play with. There really is no wrong way of creating texture. You just have to experiment with what works. That is part of the fun. Today I am showing you three pages I created using several scraps from my mixed-media supply stash.

I am out of white gesso so I mixed in white acrylic paint with the clear gesso and it worked out great. That was my first layer of paint to cover the packaging I used as my pages.

Paris is a good idea Then I started with my layers and paste for texture. Below is a complete list of the materials I used. It looks like a lot-yeah it is-but it is all from what I have on hand.

Using the coffee grounds and coffee for texture and staining was marvelous!

Two of the pages were a little dark to me so I took the baby wipes and rubbed it on the areas I wanted to lighten. I also used the baby wipes to blend the distress crayons.

The darker layers of two of the pages represents centuries of old building changing companies over time…

Paris sign These pages are my Paris Pages and I am thrilled with how they turned out! No, I have never been to Paris but it is on my bucket list and I love reading stories that take place in that city. Please excuse my blurry images. My camera has been giving me fits! I hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any questions about creating with textures, please feel free to ask me. -Stephanie