We entered the world of scary creativity this month – Michelle Ward, over at GPP Street Team, wanted us to TEAR paper!?!!? Can you believe it? No neat cutting, limited straight lines…. moving from neat, orderly grids to freestyle tearing, without a month in between. Hence it has taken me until the end of the month to find the courage to face this Crusade.
But guess what? It wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be; I managed to tear paper into strips and stick them down, without too much fuss at all! And the funny thing is, Michelle also reveals to us her concerns when first faced with the prospect of tearing paper and how overcoming her paper tearing fears helped her to loosen up. It is a liberating experience!
Here is what I did:
I had the facing page after last months Grid Lock Crusade, so I thought it would make a nice juxtaposition to put the tearing next to the grids. It was a gesso’d and painted over altered book layout.
Then I collected some left over pages from the last challenge and added a few others that fitted in with the blue colouring. I tore some up and down, and others side ways, and laid them out as I went.
Next I needed to stick them down. I liked the arrangement and needed a way to get the bottom layer stuck down first but didn’t want to try to move it all over or play pick up sticks with all of the pieces. As I was in a book, I closed the book without moving my arranged strips, then turned the whole book over and opened it again. Then I had all of the strips facing the wrong way, perfect for pulling off the “top” piece, adding glue and then sticking it down. I kept adding pieces until I had a good coverage of the background.
I am pleased with the final piece, although still tempted to cover it with a little gesso to tone down the bright blue and bring all of the elements together. But I will leave this layout as it is, hopefully true to the Crusade’s vision.
Thanks again to Michelle Ward, for assisting me to overcome my paper tearing worries!
Happy creating, fellow Crusaders!
Michelle's Art Adventures 
Posted by belinda on August 1, 2010 at 10:15 pm
love the blue shades, fabulous pages!
Posted by quinncreative on August 2, 2010 at 12:12 am
Not that you asked, but leave the gesso off. There is great unity in the weaving and the color scheme has nice depth. Brilliant idea to turn the journal over for gluing!
Posted by Michelle Ward on August 2, 2010 at 12:55 am
Wow Michelle! Terrific page. I scrolled down to remind myself what your grid page looked like and this is a fabulous compliment and contrast to that one. Super fun that you had the same background, and used the same papers. Thanks for admitting that ripping was scary – as you know I was of the same mind. I love how you explained your trick for getting the strips placed and glued with the flip action. I agree with Quinn – keep AS IS. Thanks for sharing with the team!
Posted by lenna young andrews on August 2, 2010 at 5:13 am
love your colors and patterns. Really nice mix!
Posted by TJ on August 2, 2010 at 5:47 am
Ooh I love how your intertwined your strips… this is just beautiful! Happy creations from germany, tj
Posted by Susan King on August 2, 2010 at 11:42 am
I love this! Beautiful job.
Posted by Mary on August 2, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I love this almost woven look…and the blues really work with the neutral strips!
Posted by Cath Sheard on August 2, 2010 at 7:34 pm
I really like your solution for getting it all stuck down – creative thinking at its best. Fantastic colours too.
Posted by GPP Crusade No. 44 – In a Scrape « Michelle’s Art Adventures on September 10, 2010 at 10:54 pm
[…] a bit like this before, so it isn’t as scary as some of Michelle’s past challenges (see Strip Ease and Pulling Prints, not to mention the ones I didn’t […]