Thursday, September 20, 2018

The elephant in the room


Today I'm sharing another page at Art Journal Journey.  For this, I'm once again joining Yvonne from Meggy's Way with her theme A World of Fantasy.  

I have some art friends who like to see wonky pages in their altered books or art journals.  The fact the pages don't lie flat seems to appeal to some.  For me, not so much.  I try hard to get my pages flat so they aren't so wonky.  However, after days and days of trying to get this page to lie flat, I have given up.  I just hope it straightens out a bit when I add it to my large art journal.

I went for a bit of humor today with this piece I call The Elephant in the Room.

In fact, "let's talk about the elephant in the room"

while I share a few close-up photos.









Of course, this is the real elephant in the room!


For this page, I began by fussy cutting five elephants, then began coloring one using my metallic gel pens.  It took me nearly two hours to fill in that one, so the other four were colored using watercolor crayons.  Next, I adhered three napkins to 110 lb. card stock.  To those napkins, I stamped swirls and snowflakes, which I thought would add to the fantasy.  Then I adhered the colored elephants to the page and wrote the sentiment using a blue felt pen.  I hadn't adhered one of the napkins as well as I should have, so my pen caught on it when I wrote the words "talk" and "the." 

Thank you for dropping by today.  The incredibly lovable Bleubeard and I are delighted you chose to spend some time here and hope to also see you at Art Journal Journey.

24 thoughtful remarks:

Helen said...

your elephants are lovely and bright! fab page

Valerie-Jael said...

What a delightfully bright page, such fun! Enjoy your day, Valerie

froebelsternchen said...

This is such a fancy and fun page and I love the vibrancy of the lovely elephants on the super background! If nothings helps I put my wonky pages in a heavy book to flatten it or if in a book I iron the page under backing paper. Lay the page face down on the backing paper - give a super light spritz with water on the still unprocesses backside - and iron it from the back- that always works for me.
What a happy entry to Yvonne's theme! Gorgeous!
Happy day Elizabeth!
Have got a fantastic October hostess piece and text already, will schedule and prepaire the next days !
Hugs and LOVE

Susi

My name is Erika. said...

The page that won't lie flat is the worst but, if you add a lot of media to it, it just won't. I use a big stack of books and slightly bend the page with my hands, but if it sits under the books it takes several days sometimes to flatten out. I love the elephants. They look like happy elephants and even though they aren't smiling they look like they should be. Are those snowflakes I notice on the background? Happy Thursday. Hugs-Erika

aussie aNNie said...

I love elephants and I just adore this magnificent post and the gorgeous colours...xxx

CJ Kennedy said...

To try to get your paper to lie a little flatter, you can try to iron it from the back. Either spritz water lightly on the back and iron or use a damp, clean, cloth as a pressing cloth on the back. You can then put a dry piece of cloth on the back and using heavy books as weights for a few days to flatten. Good luck. Btw, I loved the elephants.

Sami said...

I love elephants and these are just the cutest Elizabeth.
Hope the page straightens under some weight.

Jackie PNeal said...

What a beautiful page! (even if won't lie flat!)
I love your elephants and the lines to the left are very appealing to me! Well done you!
hugs,Jackie

Divers and Sundry said...

I love elephants! So I find this page wonderful, and I love how you've colored each one to be a stand-out. I hope it flattens for you, but maybe it wants to stand out in more ways than one ;)

Sandra Cox said...

This is soooo cute.

Meggymay said...

I adore your colourful elephants. It would be an interesting conversation to have if they could pass an opinion.
So I will happily answer for them and say they love the colours they are painted it makes them feel bright and cheerful when all their friends look so grey.
You may have said it is a wonky page, but I am thrilled you created this for the AJJ theme.
Yvonne xx

Darla said...

This page is calling my name. I have a thing for elephants. You did a terrific job with the colors.

Elizabeth Varadan, Author said...

I absolutely love this! I love elephants anyway. But I love the colors, the patterns, the idea of it all. It's just great! Thanks for sharing such a lovely piece of art/

da tabbies o trout towne said...

Elizabeth; what a cheerful and great piece !!! great job with this one !! :) ♥♥♥☺☺☺

Lowcarb team member said...

Just love your colourful elephants, they made me smile :)

All the best Jan

Rita said...

I prefer flat pages, too!
Love this one. :)

Marfi-topia said...

your work makes me happy..
love this creation so much..so clever.
I like wonky, noisy pages, lol
When I was a little girl, I had an old story book & I would lightly sprinkle the pages with water so they would crinkle..or paint sections with my watercolors...or put scotch tape on different areas, just to give it texture.
boy did I get in trouble for that when my mom found out:0
but it was fun and I still enjoy altering old books:)
hugs!

RO said...

I really enjoy the colorful whimsy of this page, and to have the patience to color them in so neatly is pretty amazing. I have a friend who collects Elephant pieces, and she would really love this one a lot. I like metallic pens when I can find the right ones, and thinking of signing Christmas cards with one this year. Happy Friday! Hugs...RO

kaybee said...

Just love all those colourful elephants who seem to be on a mission!

Let's Art Journal said...

Wow, what an amazing page! I love all the detail especially the beautiful background that you created with the napkin and stamps 😁. Then there are those fabulous elephants, they make me smile with their wondrous colours and that they seem to be marching across the page (grin!). Happy Friday and wishing you a lovely weekend! J 😊 x

Jeanie said...

This is so happy! Love all the colors and the fun look of the elephants. They remind me of the Laurel Burch cats, all bright and happy!

Cindy McMath said...

Love these elephants and the way you’ve used them. The background is also lovely. I like the way you’ve tied it together with the words too.!

pearshapedcrafting said...

Love this colourful page and I am still smiling - I wasn't in a bad mood but this has really brightened me up! Hugs, Chrisx

WendyK said...

Fabulous, just love those colourful elephants