Peacock

My favourite colour is blue so what’s not to love about peacocks (apart from the fact that they are noisy at night – which I discovered whilst staying at a bed and breakfast with my American friends at Stratford-upon-Avon :-)). The peacock is such a beautiful bird with its vibrant iridescent blue and green plumage and when he displays all those tail feathers with those eyespots he is a wonder to behold! I’m excited to be able to join Art Journal Journey and Gill who is hosting the new theme this month, which is “Nature’s Wonders”.

My page is inspired by a peacock image I was given. I had no plan of action when I started and I often think it’s for the best as you can create something of beauty!

To start I stenciled the trellis fretwork using a Dutch Doobadoo mask with two colours of glitter glue and left it to dry. I covered the remainder of the page with patches of white gesso using a palette knife and applied Liquitex Acrylic paint with a baby wipe, gradually building up the colour intensity to my liking. I tore and then stuck down strips of music sheet using gel medium and smudged paint over the top of them to blend into the background. The white and purple flower images are stickers which I fussy cut with my craft scissors, I also used pieces of the sticker surround as it had a lovely marble-like quality to it; ripping and sticking them onto the page around the music sheet pieces. I then outlined all of these elements with my black Uni Pin fine line marker. To intensify the trellis I outlined the shapes and applied colour using Spectrum Aqua markers. The gold flowers and circles are outline stickers. For the tag, I used torn strips of music sheet and sticker background, outlining and embellishing them as I did for my page background. I fussy cut the peacock and edged it using a navy Spectrum Aqua marker and then glued it to the tag using a UHU Stic. To finish the tag I added some gem stones and gold ribbon then attached it to the page using double-sided foam tape. Lastly I added words which are associated with Peacocks – Beauty, Kindness and Peace!

This page reminds me of the beauty we found in the Art Deco tile panels at the Blackpool Winter Gardens. The stunning panels feature a range of ladies in exotic costumes and were created by William James Neatby, who is best known for his designs of the tiles in the Harrods Food Hall. I found the panels mesmerising and there are two panels that feature peacocks called “Peacocks” and “Labradorite”, the latter is pictured above.

We recently went on a Heritage Tour of the Winter Gardens, where they share some of the history of the building. We took photos of the panels during our tour and this one is called “Hummingbirds”. Aren’t they just breathtaking! If you want to see more of them here’s a link – Neatby Panels by Dawn Mander, the photos are taken by a fabulous local photographer whose blog I follow.

The Blackpool Winter Gardens is an extensive complex of venues filled with history and imaginative designs dating back to 1878.  It has one of the largest theatres in the country along with another theatre, one of the largest ballrooms in the world and several other halls and venues. It has recently become publicly owned and is subject to a slow but thorough restoration which is discovering Art Deco and other period features which have been covered up over the last 138 years.

The tile panels lined the original entrance tunnel to the Empress Ballroom. The tunnel was wide enough so that a horse and carriage could deliver guests and then turn around to leave. So you really started your evening in style! Later the area became a car showroom and this photo (which we took a photo of, hence the quality) gives an idea of some of the original tiling.

We were also lucky enough to see an entire intact original Art Deco floor which was previously unknown and was recently discovered underneath a carpet! Possibly another Art Journal page in the making?

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Swedish Blue, Christmas Green)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist’s Markers (Aquamarine, Navy and Slate)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.1mm and 0.8mm)
• Hobbycraft Glitter Glue Pens (Assorted Colours)
• Dutch Doobadoo Stencil (DDBO Dutch Mask Art A5 Vintage 470.715.028)
• Penny Black 2010 Stickeroos (In Bloom 10-208)
• Magenta Style Outline Stickers (Gold)
• Dovecraft Peel-off Stickers (Alpha Caps G DCPO-05)
• Hunkydory Jewelled Feather Collection (Pretty Feathers)
• Poundland Die Cut Tags
• Bosworth Violin Studies music book
• Hobbycraft Self Adhesive Gems (Assorted Square 5666141000)
• Gold Ribbon
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• UHU Stic
• The Range double-sided foam tape