Rise and Shine

In our beach themed room we have a little plaque that our friends from America bought us when they came to stay, so I thought I’d pay tribute to it for the “Poetry in Motion” challenge over at Art Journal Journey. I’m sure those of you who know my love for walking will think this saying is very appropriate …

I started by prepping the page with a thin layer of Pébéo white gesso to give a smoother finish in readiness to apply the Faber-Castell Gelatos. Once the gesso had dried I scribbled patches of Snow Cone, Lemon and Lime gelatos onto my page to represent the beach; the blue for the sea and sky, yellow for the sand and green for the grassy dunes. Then I dipped my finger into water and rubbed the gelato scribbles to blend the colours; I didn’t use too much water as I wanted a heavier coverage of gelato for the next technique. I covered each of the different coloured areas of the page with a different stencil by Creative Expressions. I rubbed the gelatos through the stencils with a baby wipe to remove and lighten the colour; the stencils I choose were of dots to represent the sea breeze as we take our walk, birds in flight as we often see birds on our beach walks, cogs and a clock face to represent time which ties into the saying. I then used the stencils again to apply Black Soot Distress Ink using a blending tool, lining up the images so they were slightly off centre to add contrast and depth. Next I secondary stamped some arrow images by Hampton Art, using black Archival Ink, to depict the different directions that we can take on our beach walk. Then I used the same ink to add the saying using a Papermania alphabet stamp set. The page is edged with black and white polka dot washi tape which I ripped the tape in half to create an uneven edge. To finish, I added some paper flowers and three wooden polka dot butterfly buttons which I had tied black paper twine through; they are all stuck down using Glossy Accents.

We feel very blessed to live right by the sea so we often go for a walk along our beach. There are lots of different directions that you can choose from … you can walk over the dunes and to a pebbled coastal path.  On the right of this picture are the mudflats where we often see birds (see previous post).

If you walk along this path or through the dunes it leads to Fairhaven Lake.

Go the other way and there are beaches and a promenade with lots of things to see and do such as beach huts, pitch & putt golf, cinema etc.

Eventually you’ll reach the pier, this is my hubby with one of our friends from America when they came to stay – hence why they bought us the sign (grin!).

Of course sometimes the tide is in, the structure on the left of the photo at the end of the pier used to be attached to the pier at one time; in Victorian times it was where ships dropped off their passengers unfortunately it was claimed by a fire.

And when the tide is out you can even walk out to sea, that’s the pier you can see in the distance! It actually feels like you are on another planet the way the sand blows in ripples across the surface of the beach (grin!).

Here’s the plaque that inspired my page; it always makes me smile when I see it and it’s a lovely reminder of our forever friends! In case you’re wondering the lamp in the background is made by my hubby out of drift wood that we collected from our beach too (isn’t he clever!).

So as you can see with all the different walks we have to offer, it’s so easy for us to say “Rise and shine it’s beach walkin’ time!”

“Poetry in Motion”

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
• Faber-Castell Gelatos (Snow Cone, Lemon, Lime)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Papermania Alphamania A-Z Clear Stamps (Leftovers Alphabet PMA9071102)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Poundland (Washi Tape 156456-GE16)
• The Works (Butterfly Wooden Buttons)
• The Works (Mini Paper Flower Embellishment)
• Wilko (Paper Twine)
• Ranger Glossy Accents