Wanderlust 2026 - weeks fourteen to twenty-six - Paper Alchemy (part two)

Here are the other pages I particularly enjoyed making from the Paper Alchemy theme of the art journaling course.  Above is a collage of printed vellum, magazine transfers onto sticky tape, material, and photos. It was all about our past. 

We made 'paper leather' for this lesson, using packaging paper and coating it with a mixture of acrylic paint and glue. For some pieces, we added oil and scrunched it up and flattened it out many times which gave it a very 'leathery' feeling.  We also encased thread and sequins in tissue paper, which was rather messy, but fun!

As I make cards, making these cards was right up my street.  Abstract painting, painting an animal (our much missed cat, Scruffy) and then painting the background for one and finally using packaging to make a collage card.  

I used a matcha chocolate wrapper.

Watercolour flowers with added tissue paper foliage and gold accents worked really well.  Painting in the background made the flowers pop.

I did another version in watered down acrylics which worked well, but seems to have lost a bit of expression/spontaneity along the way.  I still like it though!

Making bunting using paper and material was a really enjoyable week.  I chose to make a single piece so that it could go in my journal. Alcohol inks on the gel plate made some lovely papers.

Finally for this theme was looking at the Japanese art of Kintsugi - taking something (usually a ceramic) which has got broken and then mending it, highlighting the cracks with gold.  Crackle paste came out to play here.  The photo in the centre is of Tupholme Abbey.

The crackle paste worked really well.  Our next theme is 'Stories Unfolded' - I think this may be another good one for me!

Blossom from Tupholme

How could I resist putting these lovely Spring blossoms onto my Blog? I saw these at Tupholme Abbey (it means Ram's Island, apparently, and was originally surrounded by marshy, swampy ground) and thought they would make a lovely image.

The pussy willow also made a nice image, with the contrast between fully open flowers, slightly open and gone over flowers. It just shouts "Spring!" at you, doesn't it?

Visit to Tupholme Abbey (2)

We last visited Tupholme Abbey (http://www.lincsheritage.org/) in September 2009 and I added it as a blog post on 8th September 2009. Last Saturday we decided, on a bit of a whim, to head off to Horncastle for the afternoon and on the way back, we stopped off at the Abbey again. Originally it was a huge place, with an Abbey Church, Cloisters, and all the other accoutrements required for a monastic complex. However, it fell foul of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries (he has a lot to answer for) and the buildings were sold off and made into a Tudor mansion, subsequently demolished. The only part of the Abbey that remains is the refectory wall. At one end are the remains of a Victorian house and at the other, a Georgian house. Around the area, there are many pieces of beautifully worked stones, just randomly left on the ground. Even though there is not that much left, there is a strong feeling of peace and tranquility and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

This willow sculpture of an eel catcher with a string of fish in his hand was a new addition to the pond areas.

Looking through the Victorian house down the range of the remaining building.

Looking out through the Georgian window frame onto the quiet Lincolnshire fields.

Inspiration

I always take my camera with me whenever we visit anywhere. I am fascinated by the way that the skies over Lincolnshire are constantly changing and the pictures that I take provide a great inspiration for my felt making. My husband (Chris) and I are both interested in old buildings, especially ruins, and found a perfect example recently at Tupholme Abbey just outside Bardney in Lincolnshire. http://www.lincsheritage.org/ We found this place by accident when we decided to take a different route to Horncastle. It helped that it was a sunny day and apart from a few ramblers we had the place to ourselves. I love taking photos through doorways, windows, gates etc because there is a sense of mystery as to where the path leads or what is beyond the frame. The shuttered window in the picture above is from the derelict Georgian farmhouse attached to the Abbey wall (obviously no planning permission needed then!).