The Art Society - February - patchwork

Hi all.  I am taking a class with Christy Tomlinson (The Art Society), which is really good - very different to what I would usually do, and this month - no paint!  Withdrawal symptoms commencing!

Christy's canvases (she did three) were based around the look of a patchwork quilt.  I think there is probably another version in me, but this is the one I am starting with.  I had a papier mache frame already gesso'd up (I think I got distracted!!) so decided I would use that as my base.  It's 9" square on the outside, with a 6" square recess.

The covering is from a napkin, stripped back to one layer, and chopped into strips, broadly the same sort of depth. I wish I had taken a photo before I 'aquarelled' (another new verb) around the edges of each of the patches.  It made so much difference.  I managed to salvage a little bit of paper clay (most of it had unfortunately set into a pillow shape that didn't really fit with what I wanted to do.  But I got enough to make 3 stars.

I found some silver 'Gold Finger' in my cupboard, and some black shimmer DecoArt metallic lustre.  I rubbed them both on around the inside and outside edges of the frame, and also around the outside of the plaque in the centre, and on the paper clay stars.

I doodled some stitches (and on the basis it would have to be a miracle for me to sew anything, this was pretty good!) on top of the aquarelle shading

This class is about using what you've got, perhaps in different ways to how you have used it before.  I have a whole load of Thickers sticky letters, but these black glittery ones worked really well, with my word of the moment 'Soar'.

Hope you like!

Resources

Substrate: Papier Mache Frame
Napkin

Paint and ink
erm...no...

Stamps
ah...no

Bling and other stuff
Aquarelle pencil: Black
Staedtler fine liner: Black
Thickers letters:  Boho black
DecoArt: Decopage glue
Paper clay
Star mould
Daler Rowney Gold Finger: Silver
DecoArt Metallic Lustre: Black Shimmer

February - Calendar Challenge

I'm a little late on this - where has this month gone??  February's page is a bit of a mish-mash, in that I thought - ooh February, spring, green shoots etc.  But actually, it's not, it's dark, and grey and wet.  But there has been the Olympics to provide a bit of colour...  So thanks, Kate Crane for challenging me to get on and do this!

I cut all my discs out of some Edwardian Country Diary paper I have had hanging around for way too long.  They have been sat on my workbench for a few weeks... ho hum... They are all a bit bright, but I will fix that over the month...

In my lovely book (Paperchase, 10" square), I reused Kate's gesso method for painting, using black paint with a fair amount of gesso.  Whilst it was still damp, I used some tiny amounts of red - thinking of Valentine's day, I suppose, subconsciously (I'd never think of it CONSCIOUSLY!), dragging through it with the end of a paintbrush, and also with an old bottle lid to make the Olympic rings.

I used one of Andy Skinner's stencils and my beloved Stewart Gill glittery paint, to provide some interest, and a little tippex and a big fat gold marker.

I started a little zentangling, which I will probably finish by the end of the month...maybe...

Hope you like!

Resources

Substrate: Paperchase book
Edwardian Country Diary 6x6 pad

Paint and ink
Pebeo: White Gesso
Liquitex Basics: Titanium White, Mars Black, Naphthol Crimson
Stewart Gill: Galactica Flamenco, Alchemy White hot
Edding calligraphy paint marker: Gold

Bling and other stuff
Sakura pens, various colours
Tipp-ex
Andy Skinner Mask - Sunburst

Q&L - Miss

Hi there!  This fortnight's Quotes and Lyrics from the Craft Barn challenge is 'Miss'.  I have loved Elton John's music for ever, and one of his earliest hits just came rushing at me for this:

I miss the earth so much, I miss my wife, it's lonely out in space on such a timeless flight

and of course, it gave me a change to go mad on the bling front!

This year, my book is A3, so I do have masses of space to go large.  I used as my base the shiny side of centura pearl, and painted it with water, before spraying it with several colours of Dylusions.

I cut a circle out for my earth, using the hole as a stencil to rub some iridescent blue luminarte powder through, extending it slightly larger, to give my 'earth' a corona.  The earth was painted up with fresco finish paints, and then sprayed with goosebumps, to make it a bit bobbly.

I stamped that lovely Tim Holtz lady in archival, and then smooshed her through some watered down distress ink, doing the same sort of thing for the words, only in this case, the DI was watered down with cosmic shimmers.



















It's hard to believe that this single was released in 1972 - OMG...

Hope you like!



Resources

Paint and ink
Archival ink: Cobalt, Cornflower Blue
Distress Ink: Dusty Concord, Stormy Sky
Dylusions: London Blue, Vibrant Turquoise, Black Marble, After Midnight
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish: Pea Coat, Toad Hall, Hyde Park, Nougat

Stamps
Stampers Anonymous, Tim Holtz: Classics no 5 SCF005

Bling and other stuff
Goosebumps
Luminarte: Iridescent blue
Cosmic Shimmer Mist: Pearl, Astral Mystery

Q&L - Silence

This fortnight's challenge from the Craft Barn is Silence or Dazzle.  I went for silence (not my usual approach!) as my first thought was The Sound of Silence, but I am creating a bit more difficulty for myself this year, by trying to keep to my real core favourite music...so I went for I Can Hear Your Heart Beat, one of my favourite Chris Rea songs, another old song, from Water Sign.  I suspect most of my lyrics will come from 70's and 80's.

I'm using this massive A3 sketch book, so I have plenty of space to work in.  I found a set of old map prints and knew this was going to be my base.  I trimmed it up, and gave it a really good sanding, because it had a high gloss finish.  I chose a map as a back drop, because of a line in the song 'I'm in a European disco, and it's thumping up the beat' - so welcome to Marseilles!  I also distressed the  edges, and ripped into it to age it.

 Before.........  and after!

Then I set to with ink and stamps!

I wrote out the first few lines on card, which I then coloured using promarkers. I added a doodle of a heart monitor output on that lyric (it's NOT my heart beat, it's not fast enough!), and then glued it all together.

Hope you like!

 

 

 

 

 

Resources

 

Substrate: - Endeavour City Maps Print Set, Marseilles

 

Paint and Ink

Archival: Watering Can, Orange Blossom, Venetian Orange, Potting Soil, Red Geranium

Distress Ink: Tea Dye

Promarkers: Vanilla, Satin, Spice, Cinnamon

 

Stamps

Prima clear stamps: Finnabair Brickwork, Distress dots

KaiserCraft: Film Edges

 

Bling and other stuff

hmmm, no bling?

Jewellery making - the start of ANOTHER obsession??

It's no secret I am a bit of a magpie.  In the 'bright, shiny, sparkly' sense, and 'The Toon' sense, and also in the hoarding sense.  I buy or acquire stuff, and put it to one side for the right moment. 

I now have a stash of gemstones, mainly from Jewellery Maker, but elsewhere too.  Today is when I start showing what I am making.  I know I will get better (not entirely sure I am using the right things with the right things yet, but hey!  It's only wire, so I can always take them apart again.

Over Christmas, I spent ages stringing up some chips from a gem scoop, so not exactly sure what they are. There are five strands, three from the gem scoop, one from a bead scoop, I think mainly moonstone, and one strand of glass beads, sort of like labradorite.  I made some earrings to match.  They have silver findings, which I think finishes them off.















A couple of weeks back I got some GORGEOUS agate faceted beads. Oh my.  Wonderful.  I stroked 

them for a while, and then had an idea of fancy chain - which I don't have.  So I used some black .8mm wire and created loops at either end.  It was a bit fiddly linking them together, but I got there.

The necklace is approx. 40 inches around - so it sits very low - almost belly button level.  The colours are orangey, sage, mustard, all held together with black wire, ooh, lovely.  Now I have to decorate that display hand I have had on the shelf for a while!

Hope you like!

Resources

Gems, findings and wire: Jewellery Maker

Glass beads - Gutterman

Squeeze - Q&L Challenge

The Craft Barn's challenge this year is around Quotes and Lyrics, and the first one is 'Smile' and/or 'Up'. 

One of my favourite bands is Squeeze - Difford and Tilbrook write the most amazing lyrics, and Up the Junction is brilliant, for so many reasons.  It's all in the present tense, but tells a story over several years.  And it is really poignant.  I used to live around the corner from Clapham, and I used to catch one of the old routemasters (the ones you could hop on the back of, you didn't have to wait for the doors to open).  I put all of this together, and came up with:

I found a fantastic artist's sketchbook, A3 size, so this is really going to give me space to play!  I watered the page, and smooshed on quite well watered brusho pigments.  They are still quite vibrant colours!

Then I did some stamping, using archival inks, and a little bit of stencilling - musical notes!


 
 






I stamped the words and the bus in Archival.  I added a little more watered down brusho to the bus, and then some white enamel accents - the old no 11 was this cream and red livery, back in the day.

I doodled around the edge of the words (this is the last line of the song), added a little shading underneath and, hey presto!

It is amazing how much difference that little bit of shadow makes - this is the page BEFORE shading.



On the facing page, when it has dried a little, I am going to write out the full lyric.  But it is still a little damp at the moment!!

Hope you like!

Resources

Paint and ink
Brusho pigments: Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Black, Sea Green, Leaf Green
Archival Ink: Jet Black, Watering Can, Red Geranium, Sap Green, Fern Green, Manganese Blue
PaperArtsy: Nougat
Stampin' Up: Whisper White Pigment ink
Aquash watercolour crayons: Black

Stamps and Stencils
IndigoBlu: Square Peg Round Hole, Harlelquin
PaperArtsy: London Plate HP1208EZ
Artemio: capital letters
Hero Arts: Printers type lower case
Tando Creative: Music Mask

Bling and other stuff
Micron Fineliners
Sakura Gelly roll stardust pens
Enamel Accents: White

Back to class... The Art Society - Soar

Hi there.  I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions, but I have been thinking that I would like to do more different things, learn more, try more, and most of all, use some of the stash!! 

I have always been interested in Christy Tomlinson's style, and when I saw she was doing an online class this year, I thought 'Aha, that's for me!'  So, along with Kate Crane's calendar challenge, and The Craft Barn Quote's and Lyrics challenge...hmm...we shall see, and a few classes with Kate and Andy Skinner, and I have to fit Just Scrapbooking in...Aaaargh!  But such fun...  I wonder, will I be able to fit work in?

It's not appropriate for me to do a step by step on this, but I will add a few photos.  It isn't a copy of Christy's but it is in the same style, but perhaps a little more blingy - of course!!



Just checking everything fits.



Painted book pages



Spellbinders dies cuts, sprayed, of course, with cosmic shimmers



Butterflies and peacock feathers!  Match made in heaven



 

Normally, pink would be my colour of choice, but...



...cream looked so much better!  Still needed some bling, tho

Just a touch of Alchemy on the butterflies, and on the letters...

Hope you like!

Resources

Substrate: Liquitex 10 x 8 canvas, book pages,  Stampin' Up papers: Springtime Vintage

Paint and Ink
DecoArt Traditions: Prussian Blue
PaperArtsy: Pea Coat, Nougat
Archival Ink: Cobalt
Stewart Gill Alchemy: White Opal

Stamps and Dies
Stampotique: Amy Wilson Alphabet
Spellbinders: Peacock Feathers S4-429

Bling and other stuff
That special touch Mask: Butterfly
DecoArt Americana: Decoupage Matte
Daler Rowney: Glaze Medium
Cosmic Shimmers: Pearl, Twilight black

Twilight Framed!

Following on from my post last week, I have now joined the two parts together, canvas and frame.  I am really pleased with this.

 Standard wooden box frame from The Range, just what I needed!  Removed the glass, and painted - with just a little bling, and it's perfect!

I mixed up black acrylic with my favourite glittery paint, Galactica, and smoothed it on, with a piece of cut & dry. I like this method of application for three reasons - 1) I am really not very good with a brush, 2) it's nice and even, 3) no brush marks, and 4) I am way too impatient.  OK, that's 4 reasons!! Then I stamped dandelion clocks lightly around the edge in black, silver and gold.

Having painted up the frame, I saw that the mdf pieces needed a similar treatment.

While I had some paint left over, I also dabbed it on my fantastic gold leaf braid I had bought.  As gold I knew it was the right shape (it matched the stamping and stencilling on the canvas) but it was just too bright.  Taken down a bit with black paint, it was so much better!

Then, it was just a case of adding the canvas to the frame, and adding the leaves.  Another creation that needs to be in light to get the full effect of the shimmer, but it does look really good!


Hope you like!

Resources
Substrate: Box Frame
Paint and Ink
Liquitex Basics: Mars Black
Stewart Gill Galactica: Rainbow
Brilliance: Starlight Black, Starlight Silver, Galaxy Gold

Stamps
IndigoBlu: Wild Meadow WM1

Bling and other stuff
Gold leaf braid
Silicon Glue

Twilight Canvas

I have had this post sat sitting in draft for a month or so.  I have had the canvas sat sitting on the side for a month too!  It needs a frame, and I think I may have found one, but I'll get this posted as is for now, and follow up with the frame...at some point...!

I picked up a 'paint your own canvas kit' recently in a sale.  I ummed and ahhhed for a bit, but thought that the mdf cutouts were probably worth the price on their own.  So I bought it, knowing I would do something with it at some point.  I also bought a magnolia version, which is still in the cupboard.







So, as you may know from elsewhere on this blog, a few months back, I attended a Kate Crane workshop, and I have her DVDs.  In Bold Backgrounds she uses Dylusions to create some pages, and I really liked the effect.  So...  the canvas was already primed, so I used three colours fairly close on the colour wheel, and sprayed liberally.  Then I cleaned up the work surface!  I had a tiny bit of two colours of Primary Elements left over in spray bottles, so they went on as well.


I used two stencils and sprayed water through, and a touch more ink.  I wanted to create a frame, so used the leaves stencil (also Dylusions) as I knew I had the matching stamps.  I scraped gesso through the stencil. Two things here.  One: the gesso was a little runny, so the edges aren't as sharp as they might have been.  Two: I suspect the base wasn't entirely dry (nothing new there!).  This meant that some of the dye got pulled up into the gesso, so it isn't bright white.  At the top, where it was on the African Midnight colour, it looks like I stamped with bleach!  A happy accident!

Then (and I did wait for the gesso to dry!) I stamped with the matching stamps around the edge.

Meanwhile, the dandelion clocks needed to be painted, so I mixed a dark green acrylic with black and slathered it on, making sure I got in between the petals.
















So far, so good.  Next step, the frame and joining the two things together!  Watch this space (but don't hold your breath...!)

Hope you like!

Resources

Substrate: 12 x12 canvas
MDF flowers and leaf

Paint and Ink
Dylusions Ink Sprays: African Midnight, London Blue, Fresh Lime
Primary elements (in spray): Black Emerald, Wisteria (probably!)
Liquitex basics: Phthalo Green, Mars Black
Archival Ink: Jet Black, Olive, Fern Green,

Stamps
Dylusions: Around The Edge DYR34421, Doodle Parts DYR34582

Bling and other stuff
Pebeo white gesso
Dylusions Mask: Leaf Flourish small DYS38382
Tando Creative Mask: Harlequin MSKHRLQUIN
Tim Holtz Layering Stencil: Bubble THS002