Shine

  Ever have a time or two when you and your mind wandered from one thing to another, and another, and another, and....?  I admittedly do that quite frequently and thus don't always reach my goals for that day. However, sometimes those days bring those wanderings full circle; it's all connected, and an unexpected project is created. Like this canvas :

 

 

   This is how it happened. First I spent some time reading thru a recent Cloth Paper Scissors magazine (July/August). I read an article by Cathy Taylor titled "Rethink Alcohol Ink". One of the techniques she suggested was to use tar gel. And the wandering begins :

 

  "Hey I have that stuff-haven't used it in forever! Same with the alcohol inks...gotta try it NOW... but where are my supplies????" Ok, got the tar gel and a scrap of glossy paper. I really should be working on my stamp carving and thinking of a word to carve in my next lesson-Ooh, I'll just drizzle the word "shine" with the tar gel."

 

  If you haven't used or heard of tar gel it's gel transparent made by Golden. The consistency is similar to that of Karo syrup. It states on the jar "it is very stringy and web-like." You can also mix in acrylic paint to tint the gel which I didn't do here.

 

  "It takes awhile to dry so I'll leave it for now. Better go watch Lesson 8 of Julie Balzer's online Stamp Carving Class. Done. But while I'm on the PC I should catch up with some more of my fave blog haunts. Oh, Dina Wakley has had an Out of the Journal Challenge going on her blog! This is the last week so I have a chance to add the tar gel thingy to the challenge if it turns out. "

 

  Once the tar gel dried I added a few drops of several Adirondack alcohol inks along with some blending solution and watched it spread about. I gently removed some color off the gel tar letters with a an eraser so it would be more pronounced. I used the basic idea of Cathy Taylor's technique but got different results because I played on glossy paper instead of what Cathy used. I still think it's pretty cool tho and plan on experimenting more now that I have the supplies out.

 

  "Oh, but wait, no more experimenting until I get a word carved for lesson 8. Deal. But I need to rest awhile; it's been a long journey :)"

 

   See what I mean, full circle! I'm linking this up to Art Journal Everyday and the Out of the Journal Challenge.

 

    Just a reminder that I'm having a Summer Inspiration Giveaway which ends Sunday Sept. 9th. Go here to see what I'm giving away and to lv a comment.

 

 

                "I may become distracted and wander, but sometimes it all comes together in the end.

              That's a good thing."