Wednesday 13 August 2008

Alter this? You must be joking!

When my friend Paula paid me a visit a couple of weeks ago - apart from giving me a demo on how to colour cardstock with ink pads, she also gave me this 'to have a go at altering'.



Thanks Paula its lovely - erm how am I going to live up to her challenge?


Well I have done a few puzzle pieces - but never one like this! Ecky thump, I thought, I feel a headache coming on.

It sat and looked at me - and yesterday I decided to just relax and play and have fun and see what happens.

I sit in my studio/shed and daydream looking out of the window a lot - at my chickens, the garden, the weather - and for some unknown reason I started thinking about the jungle and a pioneering explorer in the Victorian era, collecting all sorts of artifacts.

And pictured the discovery outside a ruined stone building of an old rucksack - covered in mould and near a skeleton.

A rummage inside revealed a note book of his adventure and bits of pieces of his collection. This is what I came up with.


It was very challenging technically to do actually.

The stamp is a faux 'field' postcard so fits in with the Tag You're It Challenge

So it fitted in nicely with my daydream. The testing bit was to cover the shiny patterned surface of the original card -


and to stamp and paint and distress the tag to match up with the outside cover exactly (beginners luck methinks), and without making it too thick to slide in and out! It's a little piece of art in its own right.


At last I am finally realising that 'art' should be fun, not hard work - and not to be taken too seriously by the likes of me who is just discovering this wonderful hobby.


So I played with Guesso, paints,texture paste, inks, chalks, pastels,embossing powders, metallic pens, ink pads, and two stamps

It was fun, fun, fun!

Thank you Paula - for a great challenge - and the chance to daydream and play without any pressure.

8 comments:

Zuzu's Blog said...

well Lottie .. I am so proud .. this is looking great.. all the texture and the interest and the very clever matching up stamping ( I would never have got that spot on in a month of Sundays)
gorgeous work..

as for the glossy surface of the original .. i often either spend a bit of time peeling it off as those jigsaws come in many layers .. or I sand it down a bit..

Anonymous said...

AHA! Now I understand about the slider bit - WELL DONE PAULA on this find and WELL DONE LOTTIE on making this masterpiece.

Your exploring/jungle daydream has been interpreted well (I can hear David Attenborough whispering in the background).

Beautiful.

xxxxxxxxx

Anne said...

WOW!!!!! Lottie, this is magnificent!!! What a fabulous adventure you've been on! I could feel your excitment oozing through your post, it's very infectious! It's a fab work of art and no wonder you're pleased as punch with it!! Thanks So much for including it in our theme this week - it's perfect! ;o) x

Anonymous said...

Oh thank you Anne - a bit of a different 'tag' though isn't it - so I thought I might get 'disqualified' LOL

Sharon said...

Hi Lottie

You've done a wonderful job here. I love the textures you've created and your stamping is spot on. :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you all for the comments - so very much appreciated

Sam said...

WOW indeed! What an original work of art! It's great finding new blogs, especially when theyare full of such talent! Love all the texture and wonderful stamping, thanks SO much for taking part in this challenge :)

Momiji said...

I love the way you have altered this piece and the texture..