My Visual Journals arrived just in time for the Strathmore journal project.  I got a few other things in that order too….a circle template, Alfred Durer watercolor pencils, 2 sizes of Visual Journals and some Gum Arabic in powder form.

Some of you may ask, what is the Gum Arabic for?  Well, I read online about how to use it mixed with Pearl-Ex powdered pigments and water.  Guess what?  I have a whole set of Pearl-Ex powdered pigments I have never used.  I think it’s time, hence the Gum Arabic.

So in the Strathmore online workshops, the first video lesson was put up on Saturday.  Here is what I put together for the first week.  Mind you, this is only a start.  It is not finished…there are three more weeks to go of work that will go into it.  This is just the base.

I used a tracing of a windmill (I like old windmills) and some doodles from my sketchbook, a woman cut from a magazine, the torn strips are a photo of…cardboard!  The words are from a magazine.  It will be interesting to see how it transforms in the next few weeks.

We were instructed on the video to make sure to get all the bubbles out of the paper as we glued it down, but no, not me.  I couldn’t get mine flat.  Oh well, I’ll either use the bubbles as a design element in some fashion or I’ll cover it up somehow.  That’s the way I work.

And here, I made some more felted wool beads.  From the bottom clockwise, we have Lima Bean, Raspberry, Turquoise, Berry, Turquoise and Berry again.  These are fun.