Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Sao Luis and Natal in my 7 Continents Altered Book

I'm really enamored with the architecture of Brazilian cities, so I'm once again joining Art Journal Journey and Sheila, this month's host.

For Side 1, I focused on the only image I found of Sao Luis.

It seems the Portuguese were constantly running the French out of South America in general, and Brazil in particular.  No wonder Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.

The decorative scissors were from a kit my friend Julie gave me for Christmas years ago.  They have no name and no brand, but they remind me of pinking shears.  Thankfully, I'll never confuse them with my real pinking shears.  As an aside, I counted my decorative scissors and I own 27!  How in the world does anyone accumulate 27 different decorative scissor designs?

First I found the picture (in a travel magazine), then I found the quote.   I don't have a die cutter that makes that shape I matted the picture on, but have a template I used to cut it by hand.  I spritzed the mat with my handmade shimmering mists before I centered the photo on it.

I think you can see why I decided to create this spread in my 7 Continents AB so I could include it in this month's Art Journal Journey.

For side 2, I "visited" Natal.  Although I found two pictures from there,

only one showed the gorgeous architecture.   I matted this and the second picture with index cards left over from this summer.  I had already spritzed one with my handmade shimmering mists, but I started from scratch on this one.

Seems we can't get away from the beaches which is why I can now believe there are over 300 miles of coastline in Brazil.

One final look at side1

and side 2, where my substrate was a gelli printed used file folder, three pictures from various travel brochures, one hand cut mat, two index cards, handmade shimmering mists, black sharpie used as an outline, and information from various internet sites I edited, printed, and cut using decorative scissors.

Thanks for joining me once again on this imaginary journey to Brazil and Art Journal Journey (which is NOT imaginary because there are some fabulous artists who post their art and journal pages there).  

11 thoughtful remarks:

Valerie-Jael said...

Hi Elisabeth, thanks for joining us again at Art Journal Journey. Your pages are beautiful, love the colourful backgrounds to the photos, and the architecture in Brasil really is very special. And to top it all, they have good weather and marvelous beaches! Have a lovely day, hugs, Valerie

froebelsternchen said...

Amazing pages Elizabeth - I love the colors you used in them - fantastic buildings there indeed! So glad you have linked another entry to Art Journal Journey ARCHITECTURE!
Thanks a lot! Congrats on you large collection of decorative scissors...lol!
Have a nice day, hope your shoulder feels better meanwhile!

oxo Susi

My name is Erika. said...

Really enjoy this armchair journey. How beautiful is Natal. I also noticed how pretty your backgrounds are-just perfect for your photos and info! Enjoy your day!

Anonymous said...

I am learning so much from your around the world tours, thanks! xox

Caterina Giglio said...

wonderful Brazilian tour, and I had to pop down for your tea post which I missed yesterday... so busy.. hate to miss tea, and I liked the same piece, very interesting assemblage.. makes my mind work... always a good thing..x

Darla said...

Great info filled post. I'm especially enjoying the Brazil posts because our neighbors are from there.

Meggymay said...

Awesome pages, I have realy enjoyed my visit to Brazil by looking at your detailed pages and reading all the information.
Yvonne xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Phew! It's taken me ages to get here to comment! I had visitors this morning and then we had arranged to meet son no. 3 for a late lunch(forgot to take photos again and it was a place that specialised in tea - 3 pages of different teas so hubby and son were in heaven!!) He lives the closest to us but we seem to see him less than the other two! I love the colours you have used for these pages Elizabeth! That beach looks so inviting! You find such interesting facts and wonderful photos! Off to bed!! Hugs, Chrisx

sheila 77 said...

Lots of interesting information in your current series, and I like the way you have presented it. One image that really caught my attention was the view in the third last photo where you have matted the photo inside a painted mount then edged with black, that's very effective.

Halle said...

Brasil looks like it is such a beautiful place! And so rich in history. I'm so glad you are continuing to plug away at this book!

Karla B said...

My grandfather is from Natal.The north/northeast of Brazil is like paradise: beautiful sunny beaches, dunes,fabulous cuisine, coconut trees, colonial architecture and I love their accent which is very different from ours.What a feast for my eyes your post is my friend!