Inspiration jar.

Most of the time I have tons of ideas going through my head, my brain never stops thinking about what I can create (sometimes too much thinking).  Then every once in a while my brain freezes and I get stuck.  I know I should really carry a note book around with me so I can write down all my ideas so when I do get stuck I can refer back to the note book.   Then again that would require me to remember to bring the note book with me!  The other day I was sitting there looking at a blank page very stuck.   I couldn't think of one thing.   I decided to look up words that describe, people, feelings or moods and write them all out. Words like brave, elegant, compassionate were some for the over 50 words I wrote down. I then cut out the words and put them into a large glass jar. My inspiration jar as I called it was now ready for me to use.  All I have to do when I get stuck is reach my hand in and  pull out a word to use as a jumping off point.

I used the jar the other night and the word I pulled out was"elegant".  Elegant makes me think of a fancy dining room or elegant dress so I decided to create the background with the word elegant in mind.

I first used washi tape, tissue paper with music notes, and dictionary pages to cover my background. Then I used water color crayons in, beige, salmon and yellow to cover the page. Next came a layer of titan buff and titan white rolled on with a roller.  After the paint dried I used a tear drop stencil and molding paste to create some texture.  When the molding paste dried I used some tan and brown water colors to wash over the tear drops.  I then started on the drawing of the girl.  I decided I wanted her to have a side profile and a long dress. One of the stencils marks came through on her arm and I thought it looked like a tattoo so I went with it.  I choose to color her hair lavender and used neo colors, pencil, pro markers and titan buff to color in her face and body.  I used a water color crayon in aqua and twinkling H20's for her eyes along with pencil and pro markers to complete them.
I finished up the piece by adding some stamping with a butterfly stamp and words then used distress inks in Vintage Photo by Tim Holtz for the corners and on the tear drops.   I used a rub on of the words, " stand boldly" in small writing next her.  

I really like how she turned out and I look forward to my new word that I will jump from.

She stands boldly in her elegant world.