Song Lyrics and Me

Hello again! I am sharing the latest art journal page in my Little Book of Wisdom quotations journal today. The reason for this page was to participate in a challenge that happened back in December, Marit Barentsen's annual Top 2000 List. Lucky for me she keeps the Facebook page open all year, so I was able to finally participate, lol. But I enjoyed working with song lyrics that speak to me so much that I have a few more pages in process. No eta, though - I'm slow. :-)

Took some progress shots, and thanks for those comments telling me you like to see that, I will try to oblige. I began with this background already waiting, a multi-layering of blue acrylics on gesso, painted, sponged, palette-knived:

I then took a Crafters Workshop 6x6 stencil and some Liquitex Dioxazine Purple Heavy Body paint to make the mountains in the distance. I love how that heavy paint made ridges in the mountains. Here's a close-up of it:

Now, since my stencil was 6x6 and my page is wider, I was left with gutters. Instead of painting that out freehand, I thought of using up some washi tape as a frame (the facing page is framed as well). It's just what I went with. For some reason, it looked strange to me otherwise.

Then it was off to painting the ground. I'm trying to use up my oldest paints, so I just began picking up bottles and shaking (found a few dried-up ones to throw away). I settled on this nutmeg color for the desert floor (really old Making Memories paint - ha!). Then, I tried my hand at some cactus rows after googling some images. I did use 3 shades of green and some of them look pretty good. As usual, I overdid it, but as you will see, it might have a good thing I did that because most of it ends up covered by deli paper. I should have probably used my pen and made cactus pricks but I was lazy at that point.

I attached the washi tape around the edges with Sukwong tape so I wouldn't have to worry about it unsticking. Then, it looked really white, so I got out some Archival Tree Branch ink and stained it.

Onto my collage pieces. I could have searched for just the right images to convey the story, but the  more I looked at the Artistic Outpost stamps I already had from their Wander and Dream set, I wanted to use what I had. Colored and fussycut them out, then I edged them a bit with Smooch Midnight ink. I wanted Desperado in big letters so I turned to my QuicKutz Washington font dies (which I love but never get to use because they are huge).

Cut them in white cardstock, then I colored them with Smooch Copper and outlined the edges with an Indian Red Faber Castell Big Brush pen.

I then ran them all through my Xyrons and adhered them to my page. Next up, my lyrics. I wanted to show the lyrics that reflected the scenario I'd created from the song. And I wanted them to cover up and mute out the cactus a bit, so I went into PSE as I often do. Scanned in the page, then created an additional layer for my text and typed it on just where I wanted it on the page, this is what it looked like on the screen:

Then, I closed the layer visibility on the background and printed out only the top text layer. I printed first time on my copy paper, then taped my deli paper to cover that text with my low-tack artist tape, and printed again. I LOVE how that works!

I have been a fan of the Eagles since my college days and I have seen them live twice, both in the 70's. I love their music (that progressive country-rock thing back then set my tastes. I was 18 in 1974.)  But it's their lyrics that have kept me a fan. My favorite songs are those written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley (songwriter Hall of Famers indeed!). In addition to Desperado, I'm talking about Peaceful Easy Feeling, Witchy Woman, Lyin' Eyes, New Kid in Town, Hotel California, Tequila Sunrise, Life in the Fast Lane, Best of My Love, Victim of Love, and Take It to the Limit. They all tell stories: poignant, real, organic tales. So, this is why I was drawn to this song. And in doing this page, I discovered that I really enjoyed art journaling with snippets of good lyrics because I love to tell a story on my page.

I am participating in a few more challenges with this page:

1. Art Journal Journey's April challenge Magical Mystery Tour - my connection to the theme is that Desperado's Lyrics talk about the same things as the MMT album songs All You Need is Love and Hello Goodbye, just think of them set in the historical American West, which still maintains its own magic and mystery to this day.

2. Paint Party Friday Week 5, Year 7 - this is basically a share what you painted challenge with open themes. Many people share actual acrylic paintings here, and one day maybe I will as well, but for now if I used acrylic paint, I'm participating. I think a multi-layered painted background is a work of art all on its own! In some circles they are called abstract paintings. ;-)

3. Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #35 What's Your Superpower? theme - I'm a non-cusp Pisces and my intuitive side is my superpower. It really connects me passionately with history, my genealogy, and their stories. This page is an example of what I key into intuitively and how.

Well, that's all for today. Thanks to each of you who stop by to visit and comment. I've been having a bit of a confusing tech problem replying to each comment lately, but please know I read and appreciate them all. See you again real soon!