What are you feeling? {vol. 3}

It's our very favorite time here on Mixed Media Place when we gather our whole Design Team in one place, listen to their voices and admire their amazing talents.
It's time for our new Emotional Challenge. :)

This time we would like to present a feeling that might perhaps be a little difficult for some of you.
But as we all know, life is not just about pretty roses and smiles but it's filled with all sorts of emotions.
That's why we'd like you to find inspiration in ... Sadness.

As you will see in a moment, Sadness can be a source of truly amazing art!
We'd like to invite you to participate in our challenge. You may treat the subject from any angle - express Sadness on paper or tell us what your remedies are.
Just take a look at our DT's works, we are sure they will spark your imagination.....

Sadness for me, is closely linked to parting, separation, leaving.
It makes me think of a lack of something or someone who used to be present in my life, who used to be an important part of it and who disappeared suddenly.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

Sadness is an emotion which has always been close to me.
This time I won't tell you what to see, what to think, what to feel.
I'll leave some room for your own interpretations.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

I think sadness may be a difficult subject to work with. But you can also consider it a therapy. You can leave all the negativity of this feeling on paper.

Create and forget - that is my idea for most of the things that are bothering me.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

Whenever sadness about a passed time kicks in, I try to remember these words by Dr. Suess:

‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’

The words are hidden under the structure, but the gentle reminder is visible ;)

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

For this month's challenge of "sadness" I have taken a light hearted approach (there is already way too much "serious" sadness in the world).
I saw this coffee quote and thought I had to use it, so I made a mixed media journal page.

I started with a piece of Domestic Goddess "Kitchen Wallpaper" paper, added some paper strips and tape, gessoed it, used the Sunrise Sunset stencil with some mist, stamped with Finnabair Clear Stamp doily and embossed it with black.

I played with more stamping and added pattern and texture with another stencil and some highlights of colour with the beautiful Silks Acrylic glaze.

I am a coffee girl and yes, I am sad when my cup is empty, but in life, it doesn't really rate very high on the sadness scale.

Materials from Mimxed Media Place:

This was a hard challenge for me, I wasn't sure how to approach it, but then I found this beautiful word Hypophrenia meaning a feeling of sadness seemingly without a cause. I then decided to create an art journal page with this word.

My art journal page is how I think what Hypophrenia could look like.

I had to make it over and over again but finally, I achieved the expression I was looking for and the page actually made me sad so I guess I nailed it.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

I was looking on the Internet to find a quote to illustrate a photo I wanted to scrap. And I found this beautiful quote from Bill Blass: "Red is the ultimate cure for Sadness."
Everyone experiences sadness but it's not really easy to capture it on paper.

Well, I think that it's obvious I love flowers..... These poppies growing in my garden, are so big but so fragile, so delicate and so red ...

I used Cameo to cut the title. I covered my background with a thin layer of gesso, then I did some embossing through a mask with clrea embossing powder. Then I used Twinkling H2Os watercolors to "expand" my photo onto the background and to make the embossing show.

I followed Natalia's tutorial to make the poppies. I used Mulberry paper - its texture is perfect for this kind of flower and I colored it with Red Cherry Gelato.
The leaves were colored with green and butterscotch Gelatos.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

I thought to take another go with the lady canvas. As the previous one was happy and bright, the theme "sadness" was a great challenge.

 As I wanted to express a sad feeling on the canvas, this time I arranged the flowers and other ephemera as her head piece not her hair. That way I could arrange her hair falling straight down.

I used blues and turquoises to get a watery feeling and then added some yellow, brown and black to the mix as she is sad that the flowers in her hair have faded.

The tears are made with Glossy Accents.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:

Sorrow - an emotion which I feel very often. But every time it touches me, I try to find as much positive energy as I possibly can and start to smile. And it works!

There is always hope. And even the tiniest smile can be the beginning of something new, something better, something leading to joy and happiness.

Materials from Mixed Media Place:



We are so very curious to see your interpretations of Sadness!!!

Share your art and inspirations adding a link below - we'll be waiting until March 18th and one work chosen by our DT will be awarded a prize (a coupon to be used in Mixed Media Place store).

We also have a very important announcement about our previous Emotional Challenge which was Courage. We were truly impressed that so many of you decided not to simply express the feeling on paper or canvas but you also tried new techniques, products and ideas, overcoming your own doubts and fears! Well done to all of you!!!

It was a tough choice as you sent us so many amazing artworks but our DT decided to single out...

... Marina ...

{see her ATCs here!}

Congratulations! We are waiting to hear from you at store(at)mixedmediaplace.com