The Bee Singer Queen - chapter 19

Hello Friends,

As promised, here is chapter 19 of my novel, The Bee Singer Queen. I hope you are enjoying it. If you have missed some of my chapters, you can catch up by listening on my You Tube channel.

Blessing hugs,
Teresa

The Bee Singer Queen - Chapter 18

Hello Friends,

Today I have chapter 18 for you. I also wrote and recorded Chapter 19. It will appear here next Tuesday or, if you can't wait, you can always view it on my You Tube channel.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying my novel.

Blessing hugs,
Teresa

Faux Encaustic Junk Journal Page

Hello Friends,

Lately I have been playing with crayons, an old pancake griddle and a heat gun for a faux encaustic technique. It is only faux because I am using wax crayons rather than true encaustic paint, which is definitely on my art supply wish list.

This page was inspired by a poem I wrote a couple of months ago called, "Kaleidoscope". Once I was satisfied with my faux encaustic painting, I added three different glitters, gold wire and resin butterflies. I also used a tracing wheel to add some interesting texture. Unfortunately, the shine and sparkle does not show up in the photo.

Here is the poem which inspired my painting. I started with acrylic paints for my background. After collaging the printed poem on, I sponged lightly with gold acrylic paint and a bit of black around the edges. I finished it off with pouring medium so it would be as glossy as the flip side. Again, my camera did not do the glossy finish justice.

I am linking this to Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #33, Sweet Inspirations.
 

Since you probably cannot read the poem from my photo, here it is:

KALEIDOSCOPE

Teresa Arsenault ©2016

The colours of life: the greens, golds, blues, yellows; all hold no pattern of their own

Man tries to make sense of them, tries to gather them to his breast

His heart leaps at their beauty;

his mind grasps for understanding, as at a feather in the wind

The heart finds peace but for a moment

The mind exalts itself as being wise

Greys and browns come; clouds blot out the sunny days

Whispering winds that eased the mind with lies

turn into gales and icy winds speed down descents

To valleys of discontent, confusion and pain

Where is your lightness now, oh heart?

Where is your understanding, vain-laden mind?

This earth-bound life has beauty, yet it has ugliness and scars

My heart is deceptive and my mind all agog

I can trust neither; I can depend on not one, nor the other

I put my trust in you God; I surrender to you each aspect of my life

You weave through it your scarlet thread

You splash it with your wondrous colours and infuse it with your light

The scarlet thread forms the pattern, ever changing,

but ever consistent to your loving and holy nature

New mercies each day delight me

Without, there would be no form

Only a chaos of colours; no meaning, no sense

A painter gone amuck

Oh God, my God, my beautiful God

Your designs hold true; they do not fall apart

Sweet nuances of colour and pattern

Amaze me each time you alter my perspective

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Blessing hugs,
Teresa

Melted Crayon Art

Hello Friends,

I have not done much faith art journaling in quite a while, and what I have managed to do, I haven't posted. I wish I could say that is going to change, but I am not going to make any promises at this point.

What I do have for you today is something I have been longing to try for a long time - encaustic painting. Actually this is more of a faux encaustic treatment since I only had a box of Crayola Crayons with which to work. I started the bigger piece using only a heat gun, but this weekend a friend gave me her old, scratched-up pancake griddle and I really got to have some fun. I bought some cheap hog bristle brushes and melted my crayons in mini pie tins on the griddle. It is slow work because the wax dries so fast and not very exact since the wax moves whenever you fuse the layers with your heat gun. Here are my first two pieces.

This is a junk journal page, made with box board:

 I used a tracing wheel (for sewing patterns) to make some interesting texture in the wax here, while it was still somewhat warm.

For the wood-grain texture, I simply pressed corrugated cardboard into the hot wax. The book part was cool so it did not receive the texture.

The back is just the scripture written out over my original melted crayon play, which I did with only my heat gun, before I got my pancake griddle. I used permanent marker, but its permanence on the waxy surface is questionable.

This one is a page in my "Identity - I am Statements" tag journal. I embedded seed beads into the warm wax. It took quite a few tries to set the beads before the wax dried. I started by engraving (with a stylus tool) around a stencil. I pushed graphite powder (from a soft graphite crayon) into the engraved parts (gloves on) and wiped the excess off with a baby wipe. Maybe 2 baby wipes; that stuff is messy. Then I kept building layers, with the beads being the last layer.

Tag Journal Page

The Back just has the scripture written out on a painted background; nothing fancy.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope I have inspired you to try something new and fun in your crafting.

Blessing hugs,
Teresa

The Bee Singer Queen - chapter 17

Dear Friends,

At long last, here is chapter 17 of my audio book, The Bee Singer Queen. I hope it was worth the wait.

Blessing hugs,
Teresa