Hi everyone. It’s Bonnie here today with the Art Journal Adventure Prompt for Week 12. My prompt for this week is Opening which I’ve interpreted both literally and metaphorically, showing a couple of the many directions this word could take you. Sometimes when I get overloaded with being an adult, with checking things off the To-Do list, and meeting deadlines, I forget to enjoy the moment and feel like I have lost touch with some of the parts of me I like the best. That was the thought behind this particular page. I really felt that I needed to uncover some layers, take a step back, and re-discover what brings me joy. I thought of making a hole in the facade and excavating to get back to the real ME and what makes me unique.

I wanted a brick wall for my background and, while I had many choices (stencilling, die cuts, stamping…to name a few) I decided to use a piece of designer paper and alter it to suit. It was first cut to a 7.5 x 9.5 inch rectangle. A cutting blade was used to create the “opening” and remove the bricks from the wall.

The wall was a little too clean and perfect for me so I used white gesso dry brushed onto some bricks and then splattered with a fan brush. Other bricks were shaded and discoloured using Inktense pencils and a waterbrush or Gelatos spread with a finger. Black gesso was also splattered over the bricks, again with a fan brush. Faber Castell Black Big Brush Pen was used to darken the white edges inside the opening and around the outside edges of the wall.

The wall was certainly looking more grungy and like it had been around for a while (like somebody else we know :)), however, I wanted graffiti, too. The word Bon, my nickname, and the peace sign were painted in with white gesso and, once dry. outlined with black pen. Stamps were used for “Break Through” and “Hidden Depths”, inked with Jet Black Archival. This End Up and Found were Idea-ology Remnant Rubs outlined with a white Sharpie paint pen.

Inside the wall opening, I definitely wanted more texture and something that looked like an exposed construction layer so I roughly tore the top paper off corrugated cardboard, inked it with Coffee Archival Ink, and used two layers of foam tape to adhere it behind the opening. Texture Sand was applied with a palette knife and my fingers to the cardboard and also the edges of the bricks so it could be seen from the front. The letters for ME were black foam stickers to which I added Black Diamond Stickles and then black German Glass Glitter. The brick wall layer was then inked on the edges with Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Inks and adhered to the black background which is common to all of my pages.

Some tools were needed to show how those bricks were removed from the wall so using some internet images as reference, a pick axe and sledge hammer were drawn on white card stock and coloured with pencils. They were then fussy cut and foam tape was applied to the back of each.

The pick axe was adhered to the right side and some of the bricks which had been removed from the wall were stacked in the corner.

The sledge hammer was “leaned” against the left wall edge and more bricks were stacked on the black background. Foam tape was used to pop up one of the bricks on each side. I love little details like that 🙂

The final addition to the page was the title which was created with burlap letter stickers. Excavate seemed like a good way to sum up the work that needs to be done.

And now, it’s your turn to see where the prompt Opening takes you. It’s another of those words that can mean so many different things. I am excited to see where everyone goes with it …so many ideas.  🙂