Dearly Departed

 

It seems almost fitting that I begin my October posts with this shadowbox of a graveyard scene. I recently lost my cat friend of 3 years and I see that this project I made has a cat in it. sigh.

Anyway...I decided that this year was the year to use the stash of vignette boxes and shadowboxes I have accumulated. It's only around Halloween and Christmas that I am inspired to make anything of them so I wanted to use as many as possible. I tried not to buy too many new things for them but I couldn't help myself with a few elements that just added to my ideas. 

The bottom half of the box depicts a small graveyard scene with tombstones, an urn, and black cat. The upper half of the box has a baseboard frame with a vellum scene inside it. I used collage elements to add a bit of detail to the frame as it seemed rather empty on it's own.

I was greatly inspired to add lights to things this year. So that was the main purpose of this project. I was experimenting with working with the tiny lights (Tim Holtz; Ideaology). When adding lights to things, you need to plan ahead if you want to conceal the "wiring" and have a place for the battery compartment. Sometimes, it's too much planning for me when I just want to sit down and make a project.

I selected this shadowbox to use because it already had some open tabs in it. (From Alpha Stamps, the tabs are meant to hold shelves within the box. I left the shelves out to utilize the holes.) This allowed me to put the battery box on the back without having to worry about drilling a hole or something. I made the little holder for the battery out of thick cardstock.

 It's hard for me to get a good photo of it all lit up as when I dim the lights, you can't really see the elements. (I'll try to improve for future projects. Hint, hint.) The purple tiny lights are much more diffuse and light up the vellum scene with a wonderfully eerie glow.

I'm not sure I'm "in love" with this piece but it was fun to make. I do like the vellum scene, not so much the collage I did on the frame. Certainly it's a cool display on my book shelves. 

I will be posting inconsistently this year. No set structure or dates for new posts. I'm winging it as we all have during 2020; why should October be different? Follow my Facebook page to keep abreast of new posts and projects. I will also be sharing any Inktober(TM) prompts that I attempt. (Just a note that I don't plan on completing it this year. I'm already off to a bad start on Day One and it's a prompt I don't consider too challenging. Ugh.)

So the word for this October will be Inconsistent. 

Hang in there wherever you are. Wear your mask, social distance, and vote!

-Wy

"Here in the silence, dark and deep, I offer you eternal sleep." Love ya, Cloudy. RIP 9/27/2020

Sunday Scrap: Art Journal

I've been very "on the fence" about starting in with the Art Journal Adventure this year. It's a weekly prompt and I never seem to have time to make a page a week. I can sit down to do many prompts at once but it hardly seems the point. If I had done Week 1 when it went up, I never would have the theme for Week 3 in my head simultaneously. So somehow it just doesn't seem genuine.

But that doesn't mean I won't be working in an Art Journal. In fact, I plan to play in several. (And just wait until the Dyalog system becomes available. Geez. I'm already excited about that.) Anyway, here's another page or two. I did these in a large Dylusions journal today.

Animal Adventure:  Just decided to use up scrap papers. If you are a fan of the blog, you know I have PAPER. I wanted to use up a bunch that had been on my table for too long. This didn't start as a 2 page spread. I did the left side then still had paper so just did the right side as well. Also great practice for PITT pen outlining.

So I went to photograph (and not very well) the other page I completed today, and this happened.

My cat, Cloudy, decided to make my page her sitting place and sleeping pad. Fortunately, all the glue was dry! It's nice to know she likes my Art Journal, too.
Anyway, after some treats, I managed to get a couple photos of the other page I completed today.

Sweet Nothing:  My attempt at an Ultra Violet page. I used an old greeting card front that I had made several years ago with a tag on it. Not sure why I pulled the card out of my stash. I sometimes think that some of my cards are too "artsy" for people. I think "why would anyone send someone that card?" But I'm trying to remind myself that cards can be little slices of artwork that someone buys for a friend. I'm gearing up for an Ultra Violet project and this page helped me to test out some color sprays.
Apologies for the quality of the photo. I must have had cat hair on the lens.

Have a great week!
-Wy
PS: Cloudy says Hey.