Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Making It Mine

Last week, I came across a tutorial by Jill Berry to make geo-papers.  I am a sucker for maps and map-like things, so I had to give it a try.

I ended up only using what I had on hand: watercolor paper, watercolors, India ink, and a spray bottle with water inside.  My final outcome was with the image below.  I tried to keep with more natural looking colors to make it seem more map-like.



I really liked both the process and the outcome.  The problem with the outcome was that it didn't feel like it was my work.  So I decided to play with the process a little more and make it mine.  I used colors that I normally enjoy using and included my love of hearts and arrays.  The song, "All you need is love," popped into my head as I was finishing this off.  I like the use of we instead of you, so I wrote in "All we need is love."


It definitely felt more like me and I wanted to continue.  This time I knew I wanted to play with blue and orange.  Rays of sunshine felt so appropriate and I immediately had "I Can See Clearly Now" stuck in my head.  I had to go with it!


This one was so much fun!  The only issue I had was that I made all the lines uniformly thick.  Oh well, lesson learned!  Next time I just need to reach for something that would vary the line thickness.  On to another one!


Now we're getting somewhere!

What have you done to make something you have learned into something that is yours?

I chose to giveaway the heart and first sunshiny ones for a couple of mail art swaps, but the final one is now in my shop.

3 comments:

Gwen said...

These are all brilliant. I love how you have a head full of music!!! Music and songs can be such a huge inspiration, as you have just proved :)
xx

pauline said...

Verna, these are SO much fun... love the colors and especially the lettering! oh, and did i mention i also love the songs? :-) By the time i was looking at your last one, i was already singing along... "I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW... THE RAIN IS GONE"... :-)
I must try this india ink & spray bottle thing. i really love the effect. Thanks for sharing! xoxo

Cowgirl Red said...

These are lyrical and fun. I love the vibrant colors. Terah