Let there be art!

For the first time this year, I think, I filled in for a particular art teacher at school. (We have two art teachers.) I had the benefit of having a student teacher with me all day, too, so besides being really inspired by what the kids were doing, and the intern's portfolio, I also had some time to play.

I made a couple of ATCs, and then decided to try my hand at watercolour. Up to that point, I'd only used watercolour pencils and crayons, not actual watercolours, and they scared me a bit. I made an ATC with a blue flower, but I was afraid to do anything else with it in case I wrecked it.

Finally I took a scrap of my watercolour paper and decided to just play around with it, figuring out how strong the colours would be, how fast they would lighten, etc. I made a mess! Then I just painted some weird lines on it and put a purple border on it, with the intention of covering the whole thing with a sheet of tissue paper.

Well, when I started spreading the glue, the watercolours started smearing all over the place (told you I was a total newbie), and I wound up with glue all over my hands to boot. So I decided to tear up bits and pieces of the tissue paper and then just glue them on. And I was very excited and pleased with how it turned out! It reminded me of breccia, a type of conglomerate stone with angular, rather than rounded, components. (See? I really did take geology a million moons ago.)

But the real delight came when I brought it home. I took some gloss spray and coated the bookmark to keep the colours from running. As soon as the spray hit the bookmark, the colours became vibrant, translucent jewel tones! I gave it another coat and it looked absolutely magical! I was giddy with glee!

With the added touches of a silver eyelet and some off-white organza ribbon, I now have my first official piece of artwork I love. And I've been creating things like mad ever since!