Fall or Fly

Hello lovely people! It's that time of the week again when we unveil a new challenge for mixed media over at Splitcoast Stampers! This time it's inspiration-driven. This week, Dina is asking us to be inspired by Kintsukuroi. What is that? I'm glad you asked!

Kintsukuroi or Kintsugi is a method of repairing pottery 

that is done by filling the cracks with a sticky resin,

then covering the resin with gold or silver dust.

This week, use this Japanese art form as an inspiration.

Here is the lovely example:

I really love that - more beautiful for having been broken. Isn't that a summation of our lives? We strive to grow, we make mistakes, we get knocked down, beat up, embarrassed, but God is there to fill the cracks and put those pieces back together. He mends us in His way, and we are MORE BEAUTIFUL!

Here I've represented the golden mending on a heart that has been broken, but manages to be mended and ready to take a chance on relationships, again. I've used texture paste, Dylusions sprays and stencil, Tim Holtz Winged Heart die, crepe paper, recycled bits from other gelli-plate printing, acrylic paint, gesso, Creative Memories alphabet stickers, Copic markers, Bic white-out, Copic markers, and 8B graphite pencil. Whew!

I made my heart out of mulberry paper, tore it up, then glued it back down. I filled the cracks with gold embossing paste, then stitched over that with gold embroidery thread. It really looks more rugged, and I love that!

I had a blast making this page for my art journal, and I hope you get a chance to play along. It's really fun, and you can make anything using this prompt - card, scrapbook page, art journal, even 3D items. Share your work with us!

Ta for now,

~ky

Albert via Sunny Carvalho

Hello peoples! I've been very busy lately, but managed some time to make things while sitting with my Dad as he recovers from lung surgery.

Please Do Not Feed the Fears!

I made this spread in my Strathmore mixed media journal (5.5 x 8.5 inches) using a whole smorgasbord of supplies. I started with some Distress stains, then put some acrylic paint over it. I glued down lots of text pages, journaled over that with Copic markers, added more paint, more bits and pieces of torn paper, scraps from butcher paper that I sprayed with Dylusions inks during another project, and then added some pen details and letters. I used charcoal pencils for shading, and a white Souffle pen by Gelly Roll.

This whole business of nursing my Dad through this medical nightmare has stirred up a lot of fears in me, resulting in panic attacks, stress reactions, and exhaustion. He's on the mend and home now, but this page reflects a very dark place I was in. God saw me through. God held my hand. I know it's but the grace of God that we made it this far.

I have an artist-crush on Sunny Carvalho. Her whimsical style and cast of characters is so fantastic and amusing. She makes them in a variety of media which amazes me. So that little guy down in the bottom left corner? Yeah, that's Albert standing in for me on a very bad no good day. Hope you like it, Sunny!

This is for the 6th challenge week of The Documented Life Project to honor the work done by an artist we love.

I hope you have a blessed day - and feel free to leave a comment if you have questions or like what you see. Videos will happen when Dad's a bit stronger.

Ta for now,
~ky