Thursday, April 1, 2021

What Are You Inspired By?

 Happy first day of April everyone.


Since it is a new month, it's time for a new challenge at Art Journal Journey
Before I write about that, I want to say THANK YOU to Sheila for being such a fantastic host last month. Single flowers was a really fun challenge.  It was a little trickier at first than I expected also. It's so easy to want to use lots of flowers. 
 Also thanks to all of you who joined in also.

This month Eileen, from The Artful Crafter's blog, was supposed to be our host. She picked Inspired By as her theme. I know she was excited and working on some art for this challenge before her heart surgery because she left some hints in a T Day post about being ready for an April art commitment. 

Unfortunately, as many of you probably know, Eileen didn't make it through the surgery and recovery process. It's still a really sad thing, so we admins at Art Journal Journey decided to honor her by keeping her theme this month.  Chris, also known as Pearshapedcrafting and I, Erika, also known as BioArtGal will both be hosting this month.

I am sure Eileen's creative spirit will be a part of your art this month. Share your inspired art with us. You may be inspired by someone or something from your life. You may be inspired by your dreams. Whatever inspires you, we'd love you to share your art journaling with us. 

I wanted my first page to be inspired by Eileen and to have something of her in it. I know she had been doing a lot of layering in her art  so I did some of that. And she was often posting a photo of her glass of wine when she participated in T day. Even though I am not very good at drawing wine glasses, I made a big one in gold to raise a toast to Eileen.

My page began with a watercolor wash. Then I used matte medium to attach some TH printed tissue paper. I colored the flowers and leaves for some detail. Then with a stencil and some molding paste I added some dimension to the page.  The words are from a very very old set from Autumn Leaves ( do you remember them?) that I colored in with gel pens and markers. 
The page was still unfinished, so I used watercolors to over the dried modeling paste. That made the page a bit too bright, so I finished my background by sponging on some white gesso. Finally I added the wine glass.

I hope you will join us this month with your own inspirations. I look forward to seeing your creations. 





22 comments:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

What an amazing way to start this month, Erika. Your use of modeling paste really gave this a lot of texture. I love how you colored the flowers, too. This is a genuinely wonderful post for Art Journal Journey honoring Eileen.

Valerie-Jael said...

Wonderful page in memory of Eileen. Have a great day, hugs, Valerie

Neet said...

Erika, your page is lovely - especially as it is also serving as a tribute to Eileen (who sadly I hardly knew) who passed away. The lettering is lovely and the inclusion of a glass is perfect, especially for those people who remember her from T day.
Thank you for taking up the mantle along with (Pearshapedcrafting) Chris so that those who knew her and those who were less familiar with Eileen could remember her and her WOTY.
Hugs, Neet xx

WendyK said...

What a lovely page, that is an amazing background, lots to see. A great tribute to Eileen.
Hugs Wendy.

Elkes Lebensglück said...

A wonderful idea for this topic, the font is impressive and to build the spiral into it as a background and in terms of color so great. I think it's so great for Eileen to do this and like to think about her art!
I wish you a nice day, hug Elke

Divers and Sundry said...

I know this must've been hard, knowing that Eileen should've been hosting. How thoughtful that y'all chose to honor her memory in this way.

Barbara said...

Meaningful and lovely post, pretty page.

lichazul said...

Gorgeous page, congrats 👍💐
Hugs from Chile 😊

lichazul said...

Gorgeous LO congrats 👏💐 hugs and blessing from Chile 😊

Let's Art Journal said...

Such a beautiful page! This is perfect as Eileen sharing her glass of wine, which signaled that the dinner her hubby was making was ready and it was time to stop crafting, always brought a smile to my face, such a fabulous memory and tribute to her 😀. I love that we can celebrate and remember Eileen this month by joining her chosen challenge theme, thanking you and the rest of the AJJ team for organising this! Happy April! Hugs, Jo x

Birgit said...

This is full of spring and life. Love the gold cup and I am certain she loves what you are doing.

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Hope you and your family enjoy a wonderful Easter holiday weekend, Erika.

CJ Kennedy said...

Eileen's memory is a blessing and your tribute to her is lovely.

pearshapedcrafting said...

The layers are fabulous and with the wine glass are a perfect way of honouring Eileen. Hugs, Chrisx

one irrational bean said...

Beautiful page. Cheers to Eileen’s memory. She was a special person.

Tracey@Hotchpotchcreations said...

It's a lovely tribute to Eileen with all those layers and the addition of the wine glass. Lets raise a glass indeed to another creative smiling down on us.
A very nice theme for April. Wishing you a Happy Easter Hugs Tracey xx

Jeanie said...

I just hate it when blog friends die. She sounds great. This is a fitting tribute.

craftytrog said...

A beautiful page and tribute to Eileen! Have a lovely Easter weekend Erika.
Alison xx

Mrs.B said...

A lovely page Erika and a lovely tribute to Eileen.
Lovely textures and I love the background with all it layers.
Avril xx

Lowcarb team member said...

A wonderful page.

All the best Jan

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Beautiful artwork.

nwilliams6 said...

Erika, some great texturing and colors - very much something she would have done. My fave part is the wine glass though - perfect tribute to Eileen. You did a fab job on this page. I feel her just looking at it. Hugz