Show us your MEdia, Why do YOU create?

Hey, everyone! Does it get old to hear that I am wicked excited to share with you my blog post today?! I hope not because today is no different! When I was invited to be part of Dina Wakley’s new art journey it was exactly what I needed (how did she know?).  I LOVE making cards, and I LOVE teaching cardmaking and papercrafting but I also LOVE art journaling and that often takes a back burner for me. I think this monthly challenge is going to encourage me to make art again, just for me 🙂

I have been friends with Dina for a LONG time now. I first saw her art in Somerset Studios possibly as far back as 2006 and then immediately started stalking her online. She started offering online Art Journal classes and I took them all! When she started to travel and teach in person classes I took any and all of them in my area- I just love Dina’s style. I learn so much in her classes and she’s pretty much da bomb!!

So let me tell you some more details about this really fun challenge!

Dina wants to put the “me” back in mixed media. All art is personal, whether it be a card or an art journal page or a painting. Join her as we begin a series of monthly challenges and prompts that will fuel your creative spirit and help you delve into the ME of MEdia.

A little message from Dina:

“Are you ready to go on a personal art journey with me?

I started keeping a journal in 1979. My first entry was the day of my grandmother’s funeral. I wrote it in pencil, and later my dad told me I should write in pen, so my thoughts would have more permanence. That day was the start of my life-long belief in journaling, in writing yourself down, in making your mark on the world.

When I discovered mixed-media and art journaling in 2004, it was a natural fit. I love art. I love journaling. The marriage of those things is pure joy.”

• Ranger and Dina will announce monthly challenges on the Ranger blog on the third Thursday of each month.
• Use at least one Dina Wakley Media product in your project. If your product is not obvious (like paint), please list the colors you used.
• You can make anything you like—a card, an art journal page, a tag, a canvas, anything!
• Interpret each challenge any way you like. You can be literal or you can use it as a springboard and see where it takes you. Let the challenge inspire you and stretch you.
• Try to journal on your piece. Write your thoughts about each prompt. You can write a little or you can write a lot, but do your best to incorporate your thoughts and feelings into the piece.
• When you complete a challenge, please share it on your blog and social media (Instagram/Facebook) with the tags #showusyourMEdia and #rangerink.
• Ranger will do two random drawings each month for a prize. We will search the hashtag #showusyourMEdia on Instagram for one winner, and then on Facebook for the second winner. To be clear, you must use the hashtag #showusyourMEdia on either Instagram or Facebook in order to show up in the search and to be eligible to win. If your account is private then we won’t be able to see your art. You have until the third Wednesday of each month to complete the previous month’s challenge.
• Ranger will announce the previous month’s winner AND the new challenge on the third Thursday of each month.

June’s Show us your MEdia Challenge:

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. ~Aristotle
Create a piece of art that shares with us your “why.” Why do you create? What compels you?

This was a perfect challenge to jumpstart my creative juices after not art journaling for awhile. I decided I wanted to keep my page simple and really let the words come through. I even had fun hand doodling my own letters!

I am working in Dina’s Media Journal. I love this journal and created some pages for CHA this past winter that you can see here. Also if you click on the image above you can see a larger version of the picture so that you can really see the detail!

(click on the image above you can see a larger version of the picture so that you can really see the detail!)

I gessoed the page. If you ever have taken a class with Dina you will know that gesso is like underwear… you need to put it on first 😉 I then added some soupy piles of Turquoise and Ocean Dina Wakley Media Paint at the top of the page. Using a Distress Sprayer I added, even more, water and held the journal up to let the drips go down the page. I then heat set this so I could move onto the next step. Dina rarely uses a heat tool in her journals because the acrylic paint has plastic in it and it’s not the best practice, but in my defense, she lives in AZ and things dry MUCH faster than in humid Cape Cod 😉 PLUS I’m always impatient LOL.

Once my drips were done I spread some Magenta paint and then did the baby wipes method through a stencil. When you have gesso on a page and you spread a thin layer of paint before it dries lay a stencil over it and wipe a baby wipe through it. You will get some fun layers and I always love how this looks.  I shared a tutorial on how to do this here: Laying the Foundation

Once that was done I added some Dina Wakley stamps and dry-brushed paint through stencils here and there. I was leaving the right-hand side fairly open for my journaling. For the journaling, I used the “magic pencil” aka Stabilo All. I doodled and handwrote my journaling and then went over it with a water brush.

I had a lot of fun with this page. I did some tried and true techniques but also explored some new to me ones as well! I can’t wait to follow along with the hashtag #showusyourMEdia and see what everyone creates!

If you are interested you can see all the things I have created over the years with Dina’s products as well as sharing the classes I have taken with her here

Supplies Used

Supplies I used are linked throughout the post. Click on the picture and you will be taken to the product. I use affiliate links when available which means if you make a purchase I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for your support!