Sunday 23 January 2011

John Barleycorn must die

Talk about "from the sublime to the ridiculous" - I think I've gone the other way!

After the somewhat "odd" previous post, here's something a little more restrained :)

This was another serendipity moment. I created these backgrounds sometime last year at one of the journal workshops with either Sarah or Sue, and they've been sitting in my art journal ever since. I was flicking through looking for inspiration, when this song* came on and I realised that the stencil reminded me of a wheat/barley stalk.

The backgrounds came about by accident. We'd been using wet-wipes to move paint around on a gesso'd page. I'd put my book down on top of a couple of them and when I picked it up I liked the effect, so grabbed all the ink stained wet wipes (that weren't a muddy grey/brown) and inked the page.

There's another double page spread made with the same effect, but it's so good that I'll probably never ever do anything with it (and it might upset some of the ladies at the Cubby Hole if I did).

*Bother! I'm not allowed to embed the song, so you'll need to follow the link to Youtube.

16 comments:

  1. Lovely Nigel.....!
    Yes ... the Laura Ashley pages are fine just as they are PLEASE!

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  2. LOL. Maybe I should post them up and see what everybody else thinks :p

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  3. My favourite colours.... gorgeous pages. I agree with Suze about the LA pages (didn't know about the name tho :D but it fits) post em every one will love em!!

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  4. Gorgeous pages, you have me intrigued about the other 2... get them posted!

    Sarah

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  5. Love it....but the song is not available in my country.. I kid you not...that's what it said when i clicked on the link...
    "not available in your country"

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  6. Beautiful background and ummm... very weird lyrics to the song, but I like it! LOL. I want to see the other (Laura Ashley?) page now too!

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  7. Lol love the lyrics and great work on the journal page, love the effect
    take care and have a great week
    June

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  8. Very intersting, like the pages design and colors.
    Hugs Anja from germany

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  9. Thanks, Nigel.
    I love the art work and I listened to the song which I found throughly enjoyable too and then I even 'Googled' the words; so now I know exactly what they were singing about.

    Thanks for a different and interesting post!!
    Sue xx

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  10. I love that stencil and your page is very nice indeed. I like that song and I was even happier to understand the comments on YT ;)

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  11. Gorgeous backgrounds, remind me of summer... And that stencil looks really striking! Love it! ;))) x

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  12. Ps. I really like your new profile picture ;)))

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  13. Fabulous pages, Nigel! Looks like you had a good time doing these. Love the lyrics.

    Enjoy the day,
    Gaby

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  14. Am so loving your pages Nigel. Annette

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  15. What handsome stencils against your wonderful backgrounds Nigel- just stunning and yes symbolic looking. The Youtube video is not available here in the US. I do remember a song by Steve Winwood in the 1970's that had to do with John Barleycorn. Brings back memories.
    P.S.- great new photo in your festive vest!

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  16. LOVE the main image, very stylized and almost "tribal" looking. Where did the stencil come from, is it your design or did you purchase it somewhere? I really enjoyed reading about poor old John Barleycorn. I had forgotten this tale and thoroughly enjoyed seeing bits next to this wonderful image. I am more familiar with the Burns version so it was fun to read the different bits!

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