Week 15 : DLP 2015

It is school holidays in New Zealand, and last week the weather was still lovely for bush walks. On Easter Monday we did the Sledge Track with my brother's family. It was an easy walk alongside the river being escorted by fantails, hearing the call of tuis, lovely dappled light, and the view and sound of water tumbling alongside. 
Information about the FREE Documented Life Project is HERE. This weeks challenge : 

I'm not interested in crying a river, but I wanted to celebrate our river walk. I decided to try something different for my page this time, and started by gathering some previously gelli printed papers in bush-like greens/themed.

I then printed my photo (at the top of this post) on my canon printer onto a piece of A4 photo paper, so it was larger than normal photo size. I cut it in half and glued it to my spread thinking I could use that to inspire the rest. I tore various pieces of gelli printed papers and added them with gel medium. Then I covered the whole with clear gesso to ensure I had the same surface for consequent layers and I wasn't sure if the ink on the photo would run if I added wet media without a protective layer. I'm happy to see the sections of the photo are already blending harmoniously with the papers

I like the printed piece on the left that will become my journaling spot because it's not too dark and has a variety of pattern. I am absolutely in love with how that purple swirly piece makes me think of the water swirling over rocks. My next step was to add lighter greens in acrylic paint, with additions through stencils that suggested rocks in the lower right and dappled light along the top

Click on any photo to enjoy it larger

Then I was thinking about how to add more light and decided that stamping with perfect medium and apply some perfect pearls would be nice - I was right

This naturally led to me using the same stamp but with embossing powder this time for a different texture/look. The darker bronze is utee ultra-thick embossing powder

I have an old book of the "Famous Five" that has lovely old thick paper and good words. I roughly tore words to capture the event and once glued down, outlined it with a black marks-all stabilo pencil which makes a lovely grungy line when activated with a water brush

I had also used the stabilo pencil to make some tree trunks  before I did the embossing:

I really enjoy applying acrylic paint with a cosmetic sponge through drywall tape - it gives a lovely subtle effect so I did that next for adding the sense of more different light and shadow

I just needed to add a little more movement and blue to the water

and can't forget the fantails!

I feel really happy with my spread. I have captured the essence of that lovely morning walk - the feeling of the light and peacefulness. 

Hope you enjoyed seeing how other media can complement acrylic paints, and how you might include your gelli prints in your art. You can see all my posts about this project HERE and I've created a Flickr album for all my Documented Life 2015 spreads HERE.