Dance

Hello there

 I've had the Music Hall set of stamps by Indigo Blu for a while and I bought them with the purpose of making my daughter a canvas using the sentiment stamp. I also bought the canvas ages ago. It was only on Thursday night that I finally set to making a sketch of what I wanted basically to go on there. That night, I also made a Stampendous butterfly with blended inks onto photo paper. That was it - I had my colours decided and an element.

Last night I set to starting on it. I just sprayed some blue ink and that was it; I was off. My fingers and lovely new nails were also blue but that's by the by; I really do need to wear gloves or get some strong hand cleaning stuff for when I'm spraying or just not buy that particular brand again, as it's lethal. My lovely nails now look as if there's dirt sitting in them - grose! 

The skirt idea came from pinterest - Junelle Jacobsen did that one. I stamped some pattern paper with the musical score stamp from the set to make the 'material'. I also embossed with that stamp, behind the girl and the doily.
The large notes were cut from the Lyrical letters Cricut cartridge,
as ever, I used the negative as a stencil as well as
the positive to be glued on.

I loved making the pattern go from the edge around to the front

I decided to keep the frame around my girl as it helps her stand out more -
I inked the edges though to blur that edge a bit

I got help from another pinterest post of Andreal Designs of she art dancing. I couldn't find any other she art dancing, so that helped me with the legs, feet and arms and fan.The flower on the belt is fussy cut from a paper pad, as is the fan. 

The original finished version still wasn't looking right in my opinion, so since taking that photo,I've added some thin black lines which follow the outline on the right hand side and they get shorter and shorter. I thought this would help with the idea of motion on my girl.

I had primed the canvas first before starting but I had trouble sealing the finished background. I tried Claudine Hellmuth's glossy medium but it started to make the paint/ink blue. If you have any suggestions as to what I could use, please do let me know. For now, I'm just going to leave it.

I had great fun with this, trying to add loads of layers and details and messing about with paint colours, just as the inspiration took me (so much for doing a sketch!) and my daughter really likes it, which makes it all worth while, so I'm off to put it on her wall. 

Take care out there

A technique in progress

Hello there

This'll be fun as I'm using the new format of Blogger today but at least I've actually managed to find out how to write a new post by clicking on the pen image of the first screen I was presented with.

A few weeks ago, I shared the beginnings of a canvas I was going to do - go here to look at that first posting. I've now finally finished it. I could give you a load of excuses as to why it's taken me so long but basically I think alot of it has been down to lack of confidence. This is definitely not a comfort zone activity for me at all and because I didn't really know where it was going, I subconsciously avoided going to it. A bit like my daughter treats her maths homework! I've now decided to call it a day with it. What do you think?

There are loads of things I can see that I'm not mad keen on, such as the blue paint slap bang in the middle; it's not a smudge, it was just created when I did the paint layer. I'm nervous of getting a brush and watering it down to move the colour a)incase I make the border between ground and sky too distinct or b) make an even bigger mess. The sun isn't anywhere near as good as one I saw online in that style and...and...and. I've considered loads of other things, such as book print/newspaper stems coloured with ink or doodling somewhere but no.




It is time to call this finished.

I'm happy with the idea of the clouds. I'm pleased with my actually owning a flower stamp and Temptin' turqoise Stampin' Up stamp pad to use. I like that the occasional flower has been coloured in with watered down ink from my craft mat. I'm also quite keen on the turqoise string I used as a centre piece on a flower to add even more interest and to balance off the mosaic tiles.

I'll keep on practising as I think they make dinky little home decor items.








Take care out there

Heart canvas

Hello there
You may not believe this. You may think I'm hallucinating. You'll probably think I've pinched somebody elses. But you're all wrong!
Last night I was invited to my friend Jackie's opening workshop in her brand spanking new studio. It's gorgeous and yet practical too. It was Jackie's very first session as a teacher and she did remarkably well considering her students were rather naughty!

I was too wrapped up in what I was doing to start with, so I forgot to take photos of the first couple of stages but here you can basically see, the first layer of book pages which we mod podged on (yes, I've now actually used the stuff). I must remember to make those pieces slighter more overlapping the edges next time, as it was a bit of a struggle to get my narrow edges to stay down.

We then used old pattern tissue paper to create some texture. I added a few sections of 3 gypsies patterned paper in one corner. I then added some Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Speckled egg paint and brushed it around. I wasn't happy that I couldn't see the patterned paper, so Jackie just rubbed some off with her fingers and hey presto! It's visible.

Then loads of things happened. Jackie gave us some bubble wrap to stamp with which is great fun. I did those flowers with a blue stazon ink pad as it's a permanent ink, which is better for any project which may get water on it at a later stage in the process.

One of my favourite bits was using a doiley which I just dabbed over the patterned edge. The little brown flecks match perfectly with the patterned paper underneath.

The sections which may appear white are actually a Martha Stewart paint called Pearl and it's GORGEOUS!! It's a very little bluey colour. These are a  multi-purpose paint too, so painting on metal here I come as that's one of the many things we've been looking at this week in BPC class.Jackie let me use that and it was perfect with the speckled egg paint to give a... well... a pearly finish, which is rather obvious considering the name of the paint but I feel it really helped the canvas come to life. I used those with some wire mesh and drainpipe cover, as either stamps or stencils.

That's the final shot of it, although I think I went round the edges of the canvas with the brown sugar dabber after this photo. The heart is done with more of the book paper and I painted the pearl paint on it and stuffed it with cotton wool. I stamped it with the spotty stamp which you should see on the canvas too; put a rub-on on (my first one ever) and inked the edges with both base colours. The heart is only glued on at the base so it stands out really well.
I ummed and ahhed about whether it needed more but there comes a time when you have to just walk away. There's always tweeks you could make; embellishments you could add, affects you could try but it was late, so time was up. That's fine. The little extra tiny flower stamping Jackie showed me to do on the canvas, did tie it all up and help it look more balanced.
I went to bed a happy girl.

Take care out there

I'm thinking of using this

Hello there

I'm thinking of using this yo-yo on my canvas. Which way round should I put it on?

Front

back

I think I'll put about three on there, as they're only about 3cm wide, so perhaps I could do some back, some front. I might just put a coloured brad in the middle too of a different colour. Or I might chose a flowery material to make it out of instead.

Too many choices :-)

Take care out there and please do let me know which one you prefer. I'm asking on BPC message board too.

Canvas

Hello there

Each journey has to start with one small step and this is the step I first took with the new canvas I'm doing.

I just rubbed a broken china ink distress pad over the top area and a shabby shutters pad for the grassed area. The intention with this canvas is to follow along with May in the BPC class. I'm not doing a step by step as basically, I can't, as I don't have all the stuff she has. May started hers by just rubbing distress stain over the canvas in a similiar random way and then she rubbed most of it off with a tissue.



That was in last week's video and this week, as she goes through the selection and decision process about what to do (she basically thinks things through as she's working), she ends up covering over her initial background with book pages. She used PPA glue but suggested that a matt art medium would work. I used that for attaching my clouds; I mixed it in with the white paint, as well as rubbing it onto the canvas area where the cloud was going to go. I don't get it. What's the deal with this art medium? I can't see how it's any different to pva glue - which is alot cheaper! I have a little sample bottle, along with 4 others -
At £10 (don't know why it says £11.99 on the box, as that's not the price I paid for it) it's a very expensive kit, so I can only hope I'll be able to see the point of the gesso etc

As you can see, I messed around more with things. I tried some paint on the sky; trying my best to make it look patchy as the sky does look. I just did little flecks of paint really for the grass. The long vertical strips were just me messing around with an ink pad and I just pressed an edge onto the canvas and flicked it quickly - it doesn't really work - unless I make them into stems for flowers, a little later on in this project.

This is the first time I've used print on anything - this is a bit of Chris's newspaper, so I had to check there wasn't a crossword on the section I ripped out; although he's been away for nearly two weeks, so it would've been tough luck if I'd ruined his crossword :-) I like the cloud on the right but I think I added too much water to the paint for the other cloud but I can always deal with that once it's dried overnight. I've also sprayed some Perfect Pearls mist all over and it does look sparkly as I turn to look at it now, whilst it's under the light.

I got inspiration for the sun style from a blog of course - http://janiescardsetc.blogspot.com/. Whilst I looked at her She Art pieces, I saw some mosaic effect work on her #10. I've seen a few people do that on their work displayed on the gallery in the BPC 'classroom'. I like it. I think I might try some of that on this piece.

But that's all for another day. I'm off to bed, as Chris will be arriving home around 5/6a.m tomorrow and it's 11p.m now.

Take care out there

I feel bad

Hello there

Today I messed up. I put pva over the top of Maggie's painting and bits of it smudged; especially the face of the lion. I even did a test run last night of the acrylic paint and all was fine but what I had forgotten was that we had done the sketch drawings with a black felt pen and that is what smudged. It's not ruined but it's not great. I feel so bad for Maggie. I've just printed a photo of it as it was last night, so she can take that to show her teacher. She can explain it was all my stupid fault. I should've done it on my painting first. I'm just so annoyed with myself. I'm not going to show it but like I said, it's not ruined by any means and perhaps we can touch up his face over the top of the pva varnish. The main character is absolutely fine. The teacher isn't expecting anything else from Maggie anyway, so hopefully she'll allow for my lack of experience and just revel in the fact that Maggie tried so hard with this.

I'll go to Hobbycraft tomorrow to see if they've got any Golden Acrylic Polymer Varnishes which I read about this evening on www.art-is-fun.com . If they have, I'll cover mine with it and Maggie could perhaps take that into school as well. I have got some Claudine Hellmuth multi-mediums which I got in preparation for my BPC class but I'm nervous of using those as they weren't cheap and this is quite a large project and I've only got the sample size bottles. Not sure, maybe I will just try that.

Poor Maggie coping with my hairbrained ideas. At least I try for her though and try to inspire her to do different things.

Take care out there

Who'd have thought?

Hello there

Small things can make such a difference. Alot of people buy these all the time yet for me, it feels quite unusual for me to actually own them.

What am I on about?

I'm on about canvases and tubed acrylic paint! Look, look!

They're just really cheap ones from Wilkinsons but I don't see the point in me spending a fortune on them right now. I'll wait to see how I get on but they are only canvases. I can just use it as a surface to decorate - it doesn't have to mean painting a masterpiece on. Nowadays with mixed media work being so popular, I'm sure I'll figure out how to use them. As long as I do use them, then it's well worth while. Just letting them sit in a box, afraid to use them; not seeing the light of day, isn't any use for them or me.

Take care