Operation Salvage... and a double challenge entry

Good day friends! How has your weekend been so far? We're having a great time as the weather seemed to have mellowed a little and it was wonderful to be outdoors.

So today I bring to you something different. Instead of showing you the reveal at the beginning, I'm gonna leave it at the end just to explain how unbelievable frustrating the process of creating can be. It started out with a bad cold, which means I'm not thinking straight and that sometimes mean that my mojo gets as blocked as my nose.

So after some false starts, I ended up with this:

This was a photo I posted on my Instagram feed. The first attempt comprised of some doily stenciled designs and lilac mist, which I thought looked blah. So I made my own tissue paper collage and sealed it with some Ayeeda gel medium. Looking good so far.... 

And this happened. Nice try, lifting the color orange from the butterflies but IT. WAS. DISASTROUS. I know some of you may say this looks fine, but it was the exact opposite of what I had in mind. So this is one manifestation of two different syndromes that I currently suffer from: (1) the "Let's try this color and see how it goes. Oh SHIT..." syndrome and (2) the head-eye-hand-mis-coordination syndrome. At some point, we all face frustrations in translating the image we visualize in our head to reality. Sometimes it has to do with a mental block, sometimes it's a matter of finding the right techniques to help us express ourselves. 

And so Operation Salvage kicked in. I love it that many of my talented friends dabbling in mixed media find it fun when something goes wrong. It's that attitude of being able to restore something and transform it into something else; turning a mistake into a miracle. It's wonderful what some gesso can do. That's why it's my BFF. Now it doesn't look that loud anymore, but I still have to think of a way to add in texture and colors to create the look I had in mind. 

So repeat tissue paper collage.

Dab gesso randomly for a softened and whitewashed look and some gold glitter. Now we're talking!

Instead of using mists and paints, I whipped out something I've neglected to use for about 2 years - my stash of Pan Pastels. These are the Pastel tints which I bought but never found the chance to use. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to exhibit them now because of the soft cast they give.

Love that look! Now it's looking even closer to what I'm seeing in my mind.

Here is the sketch from Prima BAP and mood board at Scrap Around the World which I was trying to create this entry for:

And the final product of Operation Salvage:

I flipped the sketch and borrowed some elements from the mood board. The butterflies are my main inspiration and the picture I used was from one of my trips to the Butterfly Park in Penang. There are actually two of them on the stem and because it was such a delicate moment, I used the softer version of the colors Rachael had on the ring and also sprinkled bits of gold glitter around to show the classiness of these winged dancers. You can also see a bird cage, and I tucked resist canvas butterflies in the garden I created out of Prima flowers (there was fabric in the mood board as well). And don't forget the giant butterflies on my tissue paper in the background!

Some closeups:

So that's the story behind this page, and it was a fun one for me to share with you. Yes we have all at some point lost our mojo and end up staring blankly at our papers, determined never ever to touch this stuff again. Yet time and time again it's the journey we take every time we pick up our scissors, pen, brush (whatever it is you use to create) that moves us so deeply, and draws us back to this thing we call creating. To my friends who feel discouraged sometimes or are new to this, don't be afraid to make mistakes because there's always a beautiful lesson hidden inside.

Have a great week ahead!

love,