Magical Forest - WOYWW #289

Hello Friends :)

I am back from my trip to the mountains of Arizona. The place I vacationed was at the base of the Mogollon Rim...a fascinating and beautiful natural structure. I visited so many interesting and inspiring natural places...like the biggest known travertine natural bridge! There was so much to inspire my art in the coming days :)
As I came home on Tuesday afternoon...I thought what I really wanted to do was take a nap in my own bed. So, I headed upstairs to do so. But, my studio called me instead! I had been thinking while I was driving in the magical ponderosa pine forests about the challenge of the month for art journaling over at Creating and Sharing Mixed Media Art. The theme was 'Magic' and I just had to journal it!
So, What is on my Workdesk Wednesday? This page in my art journal :)

So how did I do it?  It all started with a page in my art journal that was collaged left over stamped tissue paper. This was leftover from the lighted Christmas tree canvases I had done, and I knew I wanted to something mildly 'Christmasy' in my journal. 

I thought the patterns were too distracting and colorful for what I had in mind...so I toned it down with some watery white gesso. Then I made a pencil drawing of my idea.

Next, I wanted to fill in the background with the idea of a pine forest. I used an Exacto knife on a piece of scrap cardstock to make a imporvised stencil. I 'pounced' acrylic paint through the stencil using a large stencil brush, I started with a light green and worked my way darker as I went down the page.

For the big tree in the foreground, I wanted a bumpy rough looking texture, so I used scraps torn paper in browns and rusts and collaged those on using matte gel medium.

Once that was done, I started painting the shadows and highlights on the fairy figure, I added this photo to show you just how silly it looks before the skin tone is put on over it.  So if you have been trying to paint faces or figures lately, don't stress at this part of the process. It will all turn out OK eventually :) (Disclaimer: I am not an expert at faces)

When I was finished with all the painting, I added some stamped pine boughs and cones in the background. I added outlines and highlights using a Micron fine tip pen and a Sakura white gel pen. I also added Stickles glitter glue on the fairy and the wand. Then the final touch was small beads and a gold punched star on the baby Christmas tree. The last thing I did was add in the saying which I printed off my computer. 

I hope you enjoyed my project. What is on your workdesk today? Share with Julia and the rest of us over at Stamping Ground every Wednesday.

<3 Shel

P.S: I finished the tag for the swap that was partially done on my desk last Wednesday (for those of you who follow along :) The theme for the month was 'red'.