Texture, Wine and Other Studio Work

I've been working on a few different things this week.

Not many "big" things,

little things here and there.

I've spent some time just resting...

taking it easy.

A good thing to do in the winter, huh?

I am participating in the "Sketchbook Challenge"

(which begins in TWO DAYS!)

I was trying to decide which book to use as my sketchbook for that

and just couldn't make my mind up...

So I finally just started making a new one!

Here are a few photos of what was going to be the front and back cover

(until I changed my mind).

I did want to share the awesome texture that is on the pages.

I put a layer of soft gel down on the page and created the texture with different

items from my studio - pencils, combs, pill bottle top, etc...

Then I added different watered down acrylic paints,

some inks and a tad of watercolor paint.

You can really see the marks that the pill bottle made

when you add the darker ink to the page.

Oh, I had a glass of  the Washington Riesling wine we made last month-

that was bottled in a Yellow Tail Sparkling Wine bottle...

I removed the sticker from the bottle.

See it below.

I let this dry overnight and then coated the pages

with another layer of soft gel.

I added a few marks to this layer as well.

This thing below is what could be the new sketchbook cover...

maybe...

It's still wet at this point.

I don't know if it's the weather or what

but I can't seem to make my mind up about anything this week...