Today I was inspired by a seahorse mosaic that you can find in St. Anne’s on the Sea where I live; I always love seeing artwork when I’m out and about and this dancing seahorse is one of my favourites!
I started by covering the page with Salty Ocean Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad directly onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the paper a number of times to build up splashes of ink to depict seawater.
Then I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain through a circular stencil from Inkylicious and also blotted the stencil onto the page to mop up the excess Stain. Next I used a mosaic dot stamp using both Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink; firstly through the circle stencil to add more details to the large circles that I stencilled and then to the rest of the background so it looked like bubbles of water. I outlined each of the stencilled circles by stamping white acrylic paint using a plastic tube and then smudged the white gesso over the circle. When the paint was dry I coloured it with the Platinum Planet ink using my finger. I added more bubbles by stamping some dot stamps from Paperbabe Stamps using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and then I splattered the page with some white acrylic paint which finished the background. The foliage is tissue paper which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine which I then stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; I wasn’t to careful how I stuck them down as I wanted them to look like they were floating and moving in the water.
My dancing seahorse is fussy cut from a colouring book and coloured using Gold, Yellow, Sunset and Amber Spectrum Aqua markers to match the seahorse colours of the mosaic. Then I used a blending tool to blot Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto the seahorse to add texture and give it more of a 3D look. It is stuck in place using matte gel medium, detailed using some black Derwent Graphik markers and a white Uniball pen for its eye. The words “Be your own beautiful self” are cut from a 3×4” card by Kaisercraft, stuck in place and outlined with a black marker pen. To finish, I added some silver and blue sequins to the background to add some sparkle.
This is the pretty seahorse mosaic and the words say “Golden sun rise on our sands moonlight pass us by. As seahorse dance among the waves. Our sandgrown spirit flies”. I particularly like the words as it mentions being “sandgrown” which applies only to the Flyde coast area where I live and literally means someone born by the seaside; I happen to be a Sandgrown’un too (grin!).
This is the other beautiful mosaic, this time of a pretty mermaid and the verse reads “We dream fondly of seas. Her waves lap softly on our shore. While mermaids songs drift onwards. Our peace to breathe once more”.
Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.
Challenges
I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:
I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my circle patterns on my background.
I’m also happy to join in the Under the Sea challenge over at Country View Challenges with my seahorse art journal page.
I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my dancing seahorse too.
I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page which included inks, paints, papers and sequins.
Don’t forget that you still have until over a week to join our Hot, Hot, Hot! Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, maybe you can use hot colours like those I used for my seahorse; it would be lovely to see you there!
Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:
- Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters, Rusty Hinge)
- Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
- Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
- Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
- Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink (Platinum Planet)
- Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Birthday Wishes)
- Art Discount Acrylic (White)
- Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206, Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
- Recycled dark and light green tissue paper
- Animal Kingdom Suduko & Doodle Book
- Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Gold, Yellow, Sunset, Amber)
- Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm, 0.1mm)
- Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
- Kaisercraft 3×4” Cards (Life’s Treasures CM108)
- Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
- Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
- Ranger Glossy Accents
I love the colors of your seahorse page. The mosaics are just beautiful as are the sayings. Sandgrown. Such a wonderful phrase. Enjoy your weekend.
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That is such a happy piece for me today Jo as I love being by the ocean and think seahorses (as well as other ocean creatures) are really just amazing. So I must say that’s perfect art today. You really managed to capture the feel of the water, nice tropical water that is. Not Maine or New Hampshire water as you know. And those tiled mosaics are really beautiful I love the designs the and colors of them. Happy weekend and big thanks for joining in at AJJ. This piece works great with the challenge! Hugs-Erika
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Super cute seahorse and I love how you do the blue background with bubbles! Beautiful! Happy Friday, Jo!
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Thanks so much 😁. Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs, Jo x
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This page is such a happy creation and I loved those tissue paper foliage so much and the lovely seahorse! And those inspirational mosaics are increcible! Have a very happy weekend dear Jo and thank you beyond belief for joining AJJ once again and with such a wonderful entry!
Big hugs, Susi
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Wow! I especially like your background colors and design. The seaside provides you with great inspiration 🙂
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Wowwww Your Art journal page is Amazing Jo !! Absolutely Gorgeous, I loove this so beautiful seahorse dancing in the sea!! Love the water, the plants, and the lovely result !! Great Art, as always ! Bravo !
I wish you a very nice weekend, enjoy, and send big hugss
Caty
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I absolutely adore this, Jo. I was working on an under the sea scene, then saw yours and gave it up. I love what you did with the background, and that seahorse was fussy cut to PERFECTION. Thanks for sharing it with us using Erika’s theme at Art Journal Journey.
I adore both the seahorse and mermaid photos that inspired you, too.
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It is a fabulous page and the seahorse does look beautiful, they always look so proud and stately to me. The mosaic that inspired you looks amazing, I’m sure many folk would be taking photos of that to remember how lovely it looks.
Have a happy weekend Jo.
Yvonne xx
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Really amazing, Jo. Beautiful page and really inspiring. Hugs, my friend.
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Oh Wow Jo I love your page and those mosaics are amazing! Happy weekend hugs
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Thank you 😁. Happy weekend to you and your hubby too! Hugs, Jo x
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Those mosaics are marvellous, and I can see how they inspired you. I just love your welcoming inky waters in the background – I’d love to dive in! – and the seahorse is fierily fabulous.
Alison x
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A lovely page Jo, the seahorse is gorgeous! Thanks for joining us at Country View Challenges! x
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A gorgeous tribute to the mosaics. Fresh and great designs. Thanks for playing along with us at Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge.
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Great inpiration from a seahorse mosaic.
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A beautiful entry to our under the sea challenge over at country view. Love those mosaics too..so inspiring xx
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The page is beautiful and so is the sentiment, Jo. The seahorse you used is just perfect! Those mosaics are quite special. Eileen xx
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This is beautiful! Just gorgeous! Thanks for joining us at Countryview Challenges and good luck! Hugs rachel xx
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Absolutely fabulous ! Thank you so much for joining in our September Challenge over at Country View Challenges ! Corrie xxx
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