Charming Treasure

Hi there Dear Readers!

Time for another exciting meeting with a new Finnabair Creative Team member - today it's talented Juliya! I'm sure many of you know her name and art already but if you don't, go to our little interview in which you'll learn more about this beautiful artist and find all the social media links to keep an eye on Juliya's art world.

And today - be prepared - I was really surprised when I first read Juliya's write up and wasn't sure if I got one of the materials right... :) See for yourselves how creative this girl is!

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Hello everyone!
Today I'm here with the first project for the Team. Worried? Very little. Now it's mostly butterflies (and moths!) tickling my stomach with their wings. ;)

I wanted to create something really special as my first piece and also share my mood with you.
I'll show you how to make a canvas with broken glass.

When I was little, me and my friend always felt very fortunate when we came across a cracked piece of glass. It was a real treasure for us. I remember that moments like that were such a delight and gave me butterflies in the stomach - and that's the feeling I wanted to convey in this project...

I must admit that I didn't use the actual found glass (but you could certainly try that too!) but I bought a special glass mosaic for decors and DIY. I made it one of the focus points of my canvas.

In the beginning I applied Jade Impasto Paint on the upper part of the canvas. And below I pasted a piece of tissue wrap with the help of Clear Gesso. I really like to use this product with tissue. It does not cover the pattern and perfectly glues the delicate paper to any surface.

Then I applied 3D Matte Gel and glued the glass mosaic on it - you'll see how exactly I did it and how easy it is in my video tutorial below. You will also see how beautifully the Jade color sees through the glass pieces.

In order to tighten, better identify the cracks and make sure the pieces are properly fixed, I applied Opaque Matte Modeling Paste. I needed a transparent surface, so I simply wiped the excess paste from the mosaic.

Then I collected all the elements I wanted in my composition. This is where my favorite part of  the work begins - adhering the embellishments to the background with the help of different kinds of pastes, paints and toppings!

The first step is  Black Sand Texture Paste around the composition. Then we play with an amazing product - Rust Effect Pastes - also around the composition and a little on the embellishments.

The third step is to color the decorations and glass with alcohol inks. The pieces of glass from my childhood were colored, this is probably what attracted us to them so much. ;)

Then I needed a touch of time. And this is perfectly handled by Heavy White Gesso! Just apply it with a dry brush and remove the excess with a piece of cardboard.

In the end I added Glass Glitter (Gold Rush) and Micro Beads (Bronze). These Art Ingredients seemed a bit too clear and too neat for this particular piece. Making them a little bit "dirty" with Gesso helped me merge them into one harmonious whole.

  

The last step was to add touches with the beautiful Art Alchemy Waxes.

Here is my video where you can watch my creative process and see all the products I used.
Enjoy and have fun!

I had enormous fun recreating my childhood feeling of sudden discovery and playing with textures and colors.

That's what we all love so much about mixed media, isn't it? :)

Have fun!
xx
Juliya









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