Wednesday sketchbook page

So, I find myself home alone on Wednesday evening - home alone (well, not quite!  The dog is here!) and all geared up for a bit of sketchbooking. 

And why am I so enthused?

Because I have found yet another You Tube source of inspiration!  This time a lady called Donna Downey.

She has a series of 'Inspiration Wednesday' - so, it being Wednesday, I was inspired.

I started with this, a blank spread in my sketch book. 

So I sprayed it with pale blue ink (using Brusho powder) and darker ink using Procion Dye.  I would also have used a sand Brusho ink, but the nozzle was blocked (don't you just hate that!)

The Procion ink was very dark, so I blotted it with paper towel (and got a bit mucky to boot!)

Then I selected two acrylic paints, watered them down a tad and applied them with makeup sponges.  I sort of followed the 'corner, corner, side' technique to make a nice blended background.

Then I got some blue heavy body acrylic and mixed that with the pinks, to make an almost purplish blue.

I'm liking this.

I rummaged around in my collection of handmade print blocks.  These are the arches used in last years Horizons quilt.

 And then a bit more rummaging through the print block tins, and low, I came upon this gem!  A piece of polystyrene cut from a pizza base (I think).

And this is what the page looked like after the two stamp blocks had been pressed into service.

Another stamp block!  This one was a real fiddle to make.

And then I found these letter stamps.  I think I bought these in Hobbycraft.  They were pristine and new.

I used an ink stamp to load up the letters and print on the page.

And finally, I added some gold ink. (it had gone a bit congealed, but still worked).

Jewel like colours!

 The finished page.

And here is the super sophisticated Procion Dye spray ink bottle. (obviously I washed it out thoroughly first!)

And then, because there was a good play on the radio, which hadn't finished, I gessoed some old Christmas cards.  I am thinking small handmake book with these.

Definitely a very productive Wednesday.

Tomorrow I have to decide how much of the studio to pack and take South to Portsmouth for a long weekend.  Difficult, I always want to take it all!