It Took Me 3 1/2 Months To Do This Journal Page

Back with another Documented Life post. Yup 3 1/2 months to make this art journal page. Undaunted by the fact I have actually gone backwards on this project I forge ahead. This is week # 14. I have done future weeks in conjunction with Dteam stuff etc. This page to be honest stumped me!! I had for some reason decided to do a big transfer using a photo I took of a bridge over the water. I usually am great at transfers. I have even taught an art journal class on this very subject. However for whatever reason my usual foolproof method did not work so I started out with a hot mess of a transfer. Of a bridge over water which got stuck in my head apparently. Here is the Documented Life prompt.

April Theme
Color Safari (Exploring Inks and Paints)
April 4
Art Challenge:  Watercolors
Journal Prompt:  It's Water Under the Bridge

OK so for social media sake here is my finished page. Can you think of a song that somehow got stuck in my head as being the journal prompt?

Maybe you can see where my brain over a period of many months went with this. I started this page on Oct. 15th 2015 which is just simply insane how fast time has been going by. Here is the hot mess of a start.

 

 Is that not one of the worst transfers you have ever seen???? It was a color copy that did not want to go! At this point I added the art challenge "watercolors" I pulled out my art bars by Derwent. I got them ages ago and have been meaning to play more,so this was the perfect opportunity. Here is me adding the destroyed transfer colors back in.

At this point I decided the original photo had to be on the page so I drew a box where it would go. I realize now the photo is not square but again I had already lost my mind on this page so this was par for the course. The page sat, & sat & sat. I kept looking at it but I had no idea where it was going. I did wk#15 and # 17 while this page sat in a time out. Then inspiration struck!!! I knew I wanted the photo on there and suddenly (or not so suddenly) on November 21st I literally took the stuff off my desk and layered it and sewed it under the photo. Now I had this...

The silver piece was from a class I taught using a Tim Holtz die cut & foil. Add some distressed spray misted paper, a piece of those bags that oranges come from, that I hoard at all times and a messy tag. Here's the close up.

Now we are getting somewhere! The end is nigh. Or is it? All I needed was my title.  I remembered that the prompt was "A Bridge Over Troubled water". Right???  Ya I got nothin. I did write on the tag how I was troubled & my heart heavy because we had dropped my son off at college. Without me. So even though the scenery was pretty, I was very sad & troubled just like the prompt. ANNNNND it sat, & sat & sat. I went on & finished week # 16 and #19, #20 and started # 18, 21, 22, 23. All the while I would go back to this page and stare at it for awhile. Nothing.

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my journal, I sat down, and I finished this page. (quoted & slightly changed from Moulin Rouge, did I mention I love quoting movies?). I simply stamped my quote on beige tissue paper & adhered. Bam finished. Phew! Now all I have to do is blog this. Imagine my surprise when I see the journal prompt is... come join in the fun!!!