Art Journal Sweets

Week 4 - Sweets

Two posts in one day - I keep thinking I should spread things out so it was more even but it's done now. I blogged about this earlier this week here and showed you my sweet paper (the inked bag). This is how I did the page and it did not turn out like I originally thought but that is the nature of this kind of thing I think. I was trying to stick to the sweet colours of red, purple/black, citrus green/yellow which is a very in your face colour combination. My five sweets were: cinnamon balls, sherbet fountains, rhubarb and custard, sherbet lemons and pear drops (I can't count!)

I began with a soft yellow watercolour wash and whilst this was drying I found copyright free images of sixpence and thru'pence and turned them into digital looking stamps.

Images made to look like digital stamps

 These were stuck onto the page and I added some pearl dabber to them. I also printed some of the journalling from the earlier blog and cut it up and stuck it on. I then put yellow acrylic paint on but it was a bit yikes so washed white water colour over the top. At this point it went a little green in places as the ink from the ink jet prints bled blue.

Evening light as well which makes things such a strange colour

 I stamped Sweets onto the paper bag and coloured it in and then tore the bag to make a border and some vaguely sweet like shapes. I then added another layer of journaling between the typed one using sakura glitter gel pens. It's very in your face but then so are sweets.

2 levels of journalling

Purple for journalling, red for the sweet names

Sweets, Memories and senses

This weeks Journal Challenge on UKStampers is Sweets:
List 5 sweets you remember from your childhood.(Did you call them sweets?.. candies? or something else?)
2 Where did you buy them and what did they cost?
3 Include some kind of sweetie wrappers on your page

In a village close to us there is an old fashioned sweet shop so thinking that some fresh air might help banish my flu (it didn't) and to treat DD who is sitting exams at school whilst still also fighting off after effects of flu, we took a short trip. I had done my homework beforehand and knew that I had to ask for 100 grammes and not a quarter. We bought shiny round spicy cinnamon balls, rhubarb rock and old fashioned liquorice. I had been looking for sherbet fountains as I wanted to use that packaging but the shop had none and the lady told me that due to health and safety the packaging is now plastic not paper. 

Paper bags were essential to the buying a quarter experience

I took this photo to remind me that most of the sweets I like have sweet and sour flavours

I think I am going to use these colours on the page

Thinking about sweets I had in my childhood reminded me of the time we lived in the West End of Glasgow and I was given thruppence pocket money which was then increased to sixpence - not sure if that was due to rampaging inflation. I was about six and my brother would have been four and we would walk with my father and mother to the local shop and choose some sweets and another treat. I can imagine that walk vividly: past the bowling green where there were lots of old people dressed in white standing around; down the hill past the terraced houses and then along the main road to the safe place to cross beside the bank. On very special occasions we would visit a cafe and have a Danish pastry - other times we were heading to the launderette. 

Memories are precious and we should record them whether it is in a journal, scrapbook page, blog, diary or in a pile of photos stuffed in a box. After all sometimes all we have left is the memories. Certainly that is true for me as sadly both my father and brother are dead - but I will hold onto their memories and more and more I am trying to capture the happy ones and the everyday mundane parts of our lives.

This post seems to have digressed all over the place but that is life and I do think our memories are triggered by our five senses so back to the senses.

I like the contrast of the sweets in the jar with the jagged cactus which are up high so the puppy does not get stung

I've kept the paper backs and the chocolate is to remind me that nowadays I prefer a bit of dark chocolate when I want to indulge my sweet tooth.