Wednesday, January 31, 2018

From My Garbage Can to My Art Table

As a Design Team Member for The Crafters Workshop, I get really excited when the design team box arrives with all the new stencils.  Once I open the box my first project is to take pictures of all the new stencils so I have a picture for blog posts.  Next, I put the stencils in 12x12 scrapbook sleeves and label them. 
 
The Crafters Workshop provided me with stencils and mediums to create this project.
The opinions I share are solely my own because I do love to use them.
 
I usually take a day and just play with the stencils. Many times I keep all the scraps of samples and save them for a raining day.  This time around I threw lots of them away because I have so many scraps that I can't keep many until I do a purge.
 
This time around I was playing with the new 12x12 stencil called TCW761 Solemn Branch designed by Julie Fei-Fan Balzer on some scrap paper.



By the end of the day, I noticed the paper in my garbage and decided to save it. As you can see it already had paint on it and I just flipped over the stencil to add it to the paper.



I then decided to add color.



and more


and more.  Now the paper is sitting on my drying table and I still don't know what I'm going to do with it.  But I love the way it turned out. I may cut it up for cards, collage or add more to paper.  Time will tell.



Have you ever pulled something out of the garbage and created something with it?  I may be looking at my garbage again before I throw it out. There may be some more I can use!!!
 
To see all the new 2018 Winter Release of stencils and mixed medial metallic pastes for The Crafters Workshop go the SCRAPBOOK.COM.  Don't for get to go to the TCW Blog and check out what the rest of the design team is creating with the new stencils!!!
 
 
Thank you so much so stopping by!
 

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

A New Mixed Media Painting with Monoprints

Hello!
Do you have routine when you create a painting? I paint 98% of all my substrates with black gesso. I like the peak through of the black (if it shows) and the way it makes the colors pop.


 
 
95% of the time I cover the black with a color and scribble in the wet paint.



Love to scribble!
 


 
Then I start adding more texture. These lines were created with black paint on cardboard.




After that its whatever my muse wants me to do. This time I chose from my stash some leftover monoprints to add to it. I usually keep to a favorite color combination.



Of course, I had to add more scribbles and it's done!



Thanks so much for stopping by!



Monday, January 1, 2018

Cold Wax and the New Year

Happy New Year!!
 
Last year I started playing with cold wax. I bought a few brands and I'm just seeing where it takes me. For this piece I used Dorland's Cold Wax.
 
I also use this wax on my art journal pages so they don't stick together.
 
I started with using a 6x6 cradled wood board and covered it with a couple of layers of acrylic paint.




As you can see below I added pieces of scrap paper to the back and added a wash of white paint on the top. I found all the pieces I wanted to use from the stash and auditioned where I wanted them to go.


I added a thin layer of wax to the top. This time I tried heating it up a little with my heat gun.  When it cooled I wanted to see what would happen if I added some gold paint through a stencil.




As you can see only some of the paint showed up. Acrylic paint and wax don't mixed. But there were places where there was no wax so it dried nicely. Then I added another layer of wax and attached the piece of napkin to the piece.
 


What I tried to do is add wax, heat it up and then add more pieces; layer after layer. I also like to scratch into the wax to add more texture.





Here is my finished piece. I really don't know what is right or wrong on how to use cold wax.
 
But art doesn't have any rules, right???




Thanks so much for stopping by!
 
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year!