Winter Garden art journal page
Posted: July 14, 2021 Filed under: Art Journal, bookworm, Correspondence, Darkroom Door, gel press, little swirls, nomad, Paper Rose, snowflakes, Trees, Wildflowers Vol 1 | Tags: Art Journal, Darkroom Door stamps, Fabriano art journal, gel press, Paper Rose 12 Comments
It’s been a while since I worked in my book themed art journal. As I looked over a table covered in gel prints I settled on two blue ones filled with pattern and paint. Both were on rice paper and sized 6″x6″ which is not big enough to cover the whole journal page. I decided to tear a rough edge on the bottom and glue the panels with space above and below.
The inspiration for the page is Kristin Hannah’s novel ‘Winter Garden’. I used Darkroom Door floral stamps to decorated the gel prints with blue flowers then added more stamping to the blue area and the white space at the bottom of the page.
Picking from a few themes in the book I stamped trees to represent the orchard, a suitcase to represent the escape from Leningrad, books from the library where the main character worked. I also used number, correspondence and snowflake stamps to complete the collage.
I am always in two minds about adding words to my pages and this time was no exception. Rather than a quote I just added the name of the novel and author. I used pigment and archival inks for all the stamping, white gesso around the edges and white ink and embossing powder to add the snowflake borders.
Have you read any Kristin Hannah? My book club considers ‘The Nightingale’ our best choice so far! We are always searching for good book club reads; if you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments.
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Heather Telford 
Beautiful. I love the colours and the wintersphere. Good book: Victoria Hislop The island.
Thank you. I haven’t read any Victoria Hislop; I will search my library.
I love the blues of your journal pages. I like Kristin Hannah and will have to look for Winter Garden. I recommend Jenny Colgan- the bakeshop and bookshop books. I just read the latest Sunrise by the Sea – community, nice people.
Thank you Jo Ann. I have enjoyed quite a few Jenny Colgan books and I am waiting for my reserve of Sunrise by the Sea from the library. I enjoyed Bookshop on the Corner and Bookshop on the Shore as well.
Hi Heather, I really enjoy your work, thanks for sharing your journey and teaching as you go along. The book I would recommend is by a Canadian author from Thunder Bay, Jean Pendziwol, The Lightkeeper’s Daughters. I love reading historical fiction and really enjoyed this one. Let us know what you chose. I have read Kristin Hannah and I think Nightingale was excellent.
Hi Jackie, thank you for your encouraging note. I hadn’t heard of Jean Pendziwol but I checked my library’s audio books and have started listening to The Lightkeeper’s Daughters this afternoon! Thank you for the recommendation.
I love your pages Heather and so pretty in shades of blue using the gelli prints as a starting point and the elements of the book with the beautiful trees and also the suitcase and books, and love that you finished it with the book title and the author. I haven’t read any Kristin Hannah, but have looked her up to see she is a prolific writer so will certainly look out for her books in the future. I am listening to an audiobook at the moment called Those Who Are Loved by Victoria Hislop taking place in World War Two Greece, and am also reading a book called The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton which is set in Holland based around a rich merchant and his family in the late 1600s both well written and interesting reads. x
Thank you so much, Pat. I have enjoyed Kristin Hannah’s recent books more than the older ones but she is a great storyteller for sure. You are the second person to recommend Victoria Hislop so I look forward to reading some of her books. I have read The Miniaturist and enjoyed it.
What an amazing and creative work of mixed media! What rich texture you achieved with your gelli prints and I love how you adapted the panels for your journal. I love the collection of elements on this and wondered how you found a stamp for the title of that book. My favorite book of all time is “Beneath a Scarlet Sky” by Mark Sullivan who just released an equally compelling book “The Last Green Valley” both set during WWII.
Thanks so much Nancy, you are very kind. I wrote the book title myself, not a stamp! Thanks for recommending Mark Sullivan; I haven’t read anything by him so I will do a library search.
What a great representative of this book, Heather! It’s an awesome book and so is The Nightingale. I really enjoyed Kristin Hannah’s new book The Four Winds. My favorite book is Where the Crawdads Sing.
Thank you, Bonnie. Our book club just read The Four Winds and also enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing a while back.