Arundel Treasures

Today we are launching our March challenge over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog, and as always the theme is:

Anything Mixed Media Goes.

I hope you’ll join us, please check out the rules here.

My art journal page was inspired by Arundel which we visit every winter whilst staying with family. My grungy background showcases the golden crown fountain located at Arundel Castle as well as some beautiful postage stamps from my hubby’s childhood stamp collection that I thought matched the design beautifully (grin!).

To create my grungy background, I started by covering a Sea Green inky background with a thick layer of white gesso and then collaging some odd bits of paper that were on my craft desk to add texture. Then I applied some Pébéo modelling paste to the page and scored it using a small ice scraper to create the waves and lines of texture. Next I added some drywall tape and then I covered everything with another layer of white gesso. When dry, I rubbed on some Midnight Sparkle and Amber lustre wax with my finger to emphasise the textures that I’d created. I added some ripped pieces of black and white washi tape and some postage stamps that I had stamped using gold acrylic; they were leftover from another page. Then I applied lots of gold leaf using gold size to adhere it to the page; applying it so it gave a grungy look.

Next I stamped some Adornment shapes from Papermania onto some tissue paper using black Archival Ink and stuck them in place using Liquitex matte gel medium. When dry I framed each of them with a gold circle using Glitterations stickers. I fussy cut the image of the crown fountain from a leaflet about Arundel castle, mounted it onto some recycled card and stuck it to the page using double-sided tape.

To finish the page, I added two beautiful postage stamps which are from Hungary dated 1970 and picture Gold Artefacts; my hubby kindly gave me his childhood stamp collection to use for my art journaling (grin!).

I hope that you are inspired to join our Anything Mixed Media Goes Challenge too! For more inspiration please check out the amazing creations from my fellow Design Team members over at Creative Artiste too.

Here’s the crown fountain which is part of the gardens of Arundel Castle and as you can see from this video the crown revolves being supported by a jet of water; it was based on a 17th century classical design by English architect Inigo Jones.

As we visit Arundel during the winter months the castle and gardens aren’t open so I’ve never seen this magical fountain but we always admire the view of the castle whilst on our walk around Arundel.

We walk by the castle walls and then into woodland.

Then down by the river, as you can see we had lovely blue skies too.

Which leads us back to the castle again, as you can see the river water levels are really high from all the rain we’ve been having here. From the castle we head into the town to look around the pretty shops and have a spot of lunch (grin!).

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

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Eileen from The Artful Crafter and her Green challenge over at Art Journal Journey this month with the pop of green on my neutral background from the green postage stamp on this page.

I’m also happy to join the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my page too.

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

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Leftover bits of paper
• UHU Stic
• Pébéo Modeling Paste
• Drywall Tape
• Craf-T Products Lustre Rub-ons (Set # – Midnight Sparkle, Amber)
• Washi tape
• Gold Leaf
• Annie Sloane (Water Based Gold Size)
• Leftover gold acrylic stamped postage stamps
• Recycled white tissue paper
• Papermania Hallmark Cards wood mounted stamp (Adornment – G PMA9062904)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Anita’s Glitterations (Gold Frame Circle ANT8181028)
• Arundel Castle leaflet
• Postage Stamps – Hungary Magyar Posta Gold Art 1970
• Recycled card
• X-press It! double-sided tape