on my mind, out of my mind, oh no my mind

Welcome to another post when I'm feeling out of my mind. I have a hard time transitioning to fall. I love summer even the hot and humid days. The only thing I do like are the colorful leaves. They are just starting to show themselves.

I work for a tax accountant and I start prepping for that horrid tax season in November. I think that's why I have so much anxiety for fall. I'll be busy from November through to April 15th. Also, I hate the cold.

In the fall my art is sort of a mess. I look at it and wonder where my head is at. So out of my mind is correct. To keep my mind focused I work like to work in mixed media collage. It keeps my mind and hands busy with little pieces of paper trying to make it work. I don't know why it's calming for me but it works.

This piece is called Many Moons. Here is a picture of my auditioned papers. I spend quite a lot of time auditioning pieces and sometimes they just don't work and I'm diving into my box of scraps looking for something else.

The long strips are dried wet wipes. I keep them and use them in collage all the time. I have quite a stack.  Some are a form of polyester plastic so I figure with gel medium they will last quite while and not disintegrate.

Here is the finished piece. Its hard to photograph because of all the metallic on it. What you think is white is silver.  I also added Seth Apter's Cling Rubber Stamps by Impression Obsession called Border Lines.  I'm obsessed with this stamp!

Another thing I've been doing to keep my mind focus is color. Every time I use a stencil I spray it with water and put it down on paper. I keep going on one piece of paper until I like the way it looks. When it's all dry I put it away to use another day.  Fall is here so now I'm pulling them out and coloring them in with watercolors. I'm not a fan of watercolors so in an effort to change my mind about them I try to use them.

Fall makes me feel like I have to squirrel away all my nuts for the winter and get everything in order so working on collage and coloring in a page like a coloring book keeps my mind at peace. Well, maybe for a short time!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Where to Find Cheap Wood Substrates

Hi Everyone!

I love to paint on wood. It's my favorite substrate but expensive.

 

 

Where do I find my wood?

 

T.J. Max, Marshals, Target, and any other place that sells wooden signs. You know the ones that say Welcome, Be Happy, Family, or have little quotes on them. They go on sale. I've bought them for $1.99 (regular price $6.99) and sometimes less. They come in all shapes and sizes. I bought 25 sized between 10"x10" to 2"x2".  Guess the cost? ........... $12.00!!! YES!!!

 

Go to the stores after every holiday and you'll find some. Before you paint them make sure all the price tags are off and sand them. I don't try to take all the paint off just the surface layer. Use gesso or gel medium on them before you start.

 

Here is one I created using when of my finds. This is a Crafter's Workshop Design Team Project. I used TCW Big Wreath 6x6 on this project.

 

The Crafter’s 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.

On top of this piece I added gel medium with a sponge and then added Seth Apter's Baked Texture Vintage Bees Wax. Because I didn't use embossing ink, the gel medium bubbles.

You can see how I created this on The Crafters Workshop Shop Blog.

 

 Head to your nearest shop to buy wood for your paintings!!!!

You won't regret it.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!



Words, words, words

I'm loving large font words on my art lately.

For this piece I used printed tissue paper I made with paint and stamps and attached it with gel medium. I used my alpha stamps to add the work Listen. I don't know why I used that work. It just came to me so I went with it.

 

I used a black Uni-Posca Paint pen to darken the word after I stamped it with Archival Ink. Then used Seth Apter's Borderlines stamps set by Impression Obsession on the word plus in a few places here and there on the canvas.  The blue stars were something I found in my stash drawer. I believe they are chipboard painted, wired and beads added.  Once I attached the stars I used some watered down blue paint to the canvas.

 

Finished.

 

 

I'm definitely going to create more with words. I think I love the idea of one word instead of a quote.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

 

BEGIN, You Just Have to Start

Today's mixed media painting I completed a while ago. I remember in the beginning I didn't know what I was going to do. I felt completely lost and uninspired.

It started by painting a wood panel with TCW Black Gesso. Let it dry and that's where it stopped for the day.

The next day I came back and added leftover scrap papers and monoprints in blues and blacks. I pulled out all my metallic paints and then inspiration hit.

Searching through the sale racks in my local arts and crafts store, I found these metal wings. To add texture to them I added a layer of metallic embossing powder and while the embossing powder was still hot I added a few tiny metallic beads.

To add more texture to the background I used a stencil from The Crafters Workshop called Geo Landscape (TCW673) with TCW Black Modeling Paste. When it dried I added more metallic paints.

I auditioned the wings to see where I wanted them and adhered them with E6000.

I used Seth Apter's Word Circles1 stamp and die set by Spellbinders to create the center. Around the "begin" circle I used wire, beads, stars and in the what glue I added tiny metallic beads.

I also added a few pearls glued on top of tiny washers.

On the Geo Landscape stencil there are circles and I used one for behind the wings.

I always try to make sure my sides are finished too.

Here is the center piece showing you the wings and stencil.

 

The finished piece was very hard to photograph with all the metallic paints and embellishments.

The Crafter’s 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 have two more wood panels to finish using Seth Apter's Circle 1 stamps and die. Hopefully, I'll finish them in 2018!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

 

 



Destiny: Playing with Wire

Hi Everyone!

I have tons of wire and I never use it. It just sits in box.  Do you have lonely unused supplies? I bet I'm not the only one. 

I don't use wire very often but I see so many mixed media creations using wire so I had to try it. I looked through Pinterest for ideas but then I was overwhelmed. I decided to just go for it by first choosing the colors. I chose black and gold. Here are all the supplies I used.

8x8 cradled wood panel

TCW Black Gesso

TCW Black Modeling Paste

TCW Heavy Body Acrylic Paint - Iridescent Gold

Dr.Ph.Martin's Ink - Iridescent Copper Plate Gold

TCW Stencil #661 - Many Textures

Seth Apter's Word Circles 1 Stamp & Die Set

Ultra Thick Gold Embossing Power 

Gold Wire

Beads

Gold Glass Beads

Beacon Power-Tac Industrial Grade Adhesive

I painted the wood panel with black gesso, let it dry, using my finger and a little water I added the heavy body acrylic paint. To add a little texture I scratched in some marks.

Using the black modeling paste I added the Many Textures stencil and let it dry. I made sure I added the stencil on top of the marks. I let the iridescent copper plate gold ink move down the panel with a little help of water.  I let it dry on it's own.

While it was drying I used the destiny stamp and gold embossed it on 100 lbs. black card stock. The hardest part was getting the wire to do what I wanted. It was auditioned in many different positions and shapes but in the end it stayed round.  I added lots of beads plus tiny glass beads to the piece.

I add the Destiny right in the middle of the wire design.

The little gold circles are the black card stock painted with the heavy body acrylic paint that I marked up.

Here is the finished piece. It's so hard to take pictures of metallics. You can see more of the iridescent gold in person.

My thoughts......

I like using the wire and beads.

I'm not a gold person but I'm loving the black and gold combination.

I really love mark making and don't do it often so that will definitely change.

I'm looking forward to using the wire again in a group of mixed media paintings.

Thanks so much for stopping by!