January Challenge - In Gratitude

The main challenge set by Sandra for all the members of the Creativity Venture group for this month is called 'In Gratitude'.  Sandra has set up all these challenges to make us think outside the box.  The main brief, once I had had it explained to me, was to basically think back over last year and choose a word which covered around 6 events.  Take that word and create a project.

There are 3 levels to choose from to work with.  The visual output areas (number of surfaces) determine which level to do.  So there were 4, 5 or 6 surfaces and each one carried a number of techniques you have to include and you also have to incorporate the mandatory ones on the list too, again level dependant.  

So as you can see, I chose the middle one with 5 visual outputs, which Sandra calls, 'enjoying the moment level'.  The project had to include 7 techniques including 5 from the list.  I chose journalling, die cuts, something new, layering and inking.  Now for those of you that know me you'll know journalling doesn't feature very high on my list, so I wrote on a piece of tissue paper first and used mod podge to glue it onto the canvas.  It says 'not under the control or in the power of another; able to act or be done as one wishes, know no boundaries, take flight, release, relinquish'.  The die cuts are the arrows decorated with rub ons.  The something new is the background technique as I have just bought Kate Cranes new box set of dvds.  The layering is the paint and the inking is the stamped images.  Other techniques include stencilling, bumping, doodling, using gesso, using artbars and blending and I'm sure there are a few more in there too!!!

And this is a snippet of the other 4 sides.  The canvas is a deep edged one and the overall size is 9" x 12".

So can you guess what my chosen word was?

Over at ABAC this week they have the theme of 'things with wings' and this just happens to fit in perfectly.

This weeks PanPastelUK challenge is 'new technique' so again, a perfect fit.

***Edited***

I made top 3 over at ABAC with this canvas