Art Journal: Tudor Girls

This past weekend, I finally took photos to show work-in-progress on a journal spread (and you'll see that my progress each day is pretty minimal). I started out on January 28 realizing that it was nearly time for bed and I needed to do something in my art journal. (This happens a lot.) I had a large image of Queen Elizabeth I from an old magazine that I couldn't bring myself to throw it out. So I slapped on a background wash in acrylic and glued her Majesty in place. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I've been watching the first season of The Tudors, now that it's airing on BBC America. So the next day, I found portraits of the six wives of Henry VIII and printed them out on my black & white laser printer. (Poor Kathryn Howard's portrait may not even be her.) I added a bit of gesso around them to soften the edges a bit.

Despite having studied British history, taken a class in Tudor history in college and seen numerous costume dramas, the only way I keep track them is by the mnemonic "Divorced, Beheaded, Dead, Divorced, Beheaded, Lived." After I added color with Letraset & Permapaque markers and a bit of acrylic paint, I wrote these words down to remind me who's who.

The next day, I added their names and the page title. (Sorry, I couldn't think of anything suitably punny.) Thanks to the Strathmore Visual Journal workshop, I had rediscovered my oil pastels, so I used those to add more color, framing each portrait in red.

On what may or may not be the last day, I stamped and embossed some designs in gold to give it a bit of royal flair.

Is it done? Well, for now it is! And I'd better figure out what the heck I'm doing in my journal TODAY!

UPDATE: This spread has a folding flap so I finally did something with that, adding Henry VIII to the side: