/* */ Beulah Bee

January 28, 2016

Moulin Rouge

Click to Enlarge

The challenge at Simon was simple: "Love is in the air" + red. So ... Paris is known as the city of love and the ladies of the Moulin Rouge (that's French for red mill) are doing did their best to promote it.

 
 I began with an image of a medieval map of Paris and a silhouette of the skyline. And I couldn't resist the Can-Can girls so I looked for an image of the Moulin Rouge to accompany them.
 
As far as technique goes, I thought I'd explain the background. The map was busy and most often, artists will use a wash of gesso or white paint to blend back an image creating subtlety. But I wanted to try something different.

So I used white and red paint pens to draw lines over the surface of the map and I rather like the effect.

 
I always try to create the illusion of depth and the vertical and horizontal lines help to achieve this along with using lighter brighter colors in the foreground and darker colors in the back.

The scale of the objects also helps create some perspective since the ladies are larger than the buildings.

In case you are wondering, this is a two-page spread in my large Dylusions journal which is 9" x 11".

January 21, 2016

Got Friends?


Aunt Butch (or Butch)--that's what everyone called her. It was the nickname given to her by my Dad. She's the one on the right and her real name was Olive Lee.

The photo was taken in my Grandmother's backyard and because of the hats, I suspect it might have been her birthday. I don't know why she looked so sour with that "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" expression but in truth, it was her nature to never smile that much.

But I digress. This post isn't meant to be a sharing of family history, rather, it's a chance to talk about a photo tinting theory that played out rather well.

In a previous post, I mentioned using clear gesso over black paper to create a chalkboard effect using pastel pencils and that made me wonder, would this technique work for tinting black and white photos?

The answer is yes and rather well, I might add.

After stamping and tinting the background and pasting on the girls, I covered the tag with a layer of clear gesso then used pastel pencils to tint their clothing and put a little color in their cheeks. The trick is not to apply too much since pastels are generally not very transparent and you could lose some of the photo's detail if you did.

Would I use this technique again? Definitely.

I chose this photo and made this tag so I could link to Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is Best Friend.

Stamp credit: Tim Holtz Dots & Florals

January 19, 2016

Grateful and Happy


Grateful and Happy, the names given to the last two projects I completed for CHA 2016, describe perfectly just how I felt about being asked to contribute. They were assembled on the new Idea-ology Mini Clipboards which are a great size and so much fun to decorate.


The first one features a Watch Cameo that comes with it's own glossy epoxy sticker cover for mounting an image (I used a Found Relative). Other new elements include Plain Tissue Wrap, Mirrored Hearts and Gilded Accents Remnant Rubs along with some old favorites like Chit Chat stickers, Crinkle Ribbon, a Nature Adornment and paper from the Wallflower stash.

I used tiny drops of Liquid Pearls (Ranger) around the edge of the clipboard for some extra bling.



The second clipboard was made by covering it with Wallflower paper (the clip has screws that allow for easy removal) and then attaching a new Vignette Panel on top which served as a support for my assemblage.


The panel is made from wood so I used some whiting to distress and lighten it then sanded it down to expose the grain.


A Flash Card, an image from the Photobooth collection, a Nature Adornment, some Remnant Rubs and paper from the Wallflower stash all went together so easily to complete it.


I hope I've inspired you with my projects, I sure had fun making them! If you missed my other CHA 2016 posts and would like to see them, here's a link.