Art Recipe Wednesday: New Life of the Old Brush

Hi again folks!
Finally home - and planning to stay here for couple of weeks to get ready for Christmas, create some new projects, think about new adventures in 2015... and try to breathe a bit! (It's easier to say than to do: I LOVE my job, creating and teaching is my passion and it is hard not to push myself to do more and more...but a good reset is also important, they say! I'll be struggling to find some balance - but wish me luck...)

Today I'm back with Art Recipe Wednesday - collage inspiration based on the idea I love the most: giving new life to the old, unwanted objects. They surround us, but we rarely pay attention to them - they wait forgotten and underestimated, sometimes as close as our own craft table. The only thing we need to do is to look at them and see the beauty, potential and the story they can tell, if only we will give them a chance.
And who can tell better artistic stories than an old, well used brush?

I made this canvas as a sample during one of the summer shows in USA - and I liked the idea so much that I already decided to come back to it as soon as possible - in couple of variations, maybe?
Surely there are many more interesting stories to be told...

Texture in the background of the canvas is made with Art Basics Modeling Paste - and one of my all-time-favorites: "Bubbles" stencil. There is a lot of white space left so the composition is not overloaded and the background  texture has it chance to show off a bit!

Brush itself got a little face-lift and is now presented in a great company of different bits and bobs which I found on the table on that day: selection of Mechanicals, paper flowers, resin elements and plain "ugly buttons" (I'm sure my students now exactly what I mean ;)!) To add extra sparkle to some of my elements I used Art Ingredients Glass Glitter - I filled the bottle cps with 3D Gloss Gel and sprinkled Glass Glitter over it. Later I pressed it a bit into gel to make sure it will stay in place...and voila! (More about possibilities of combining Art Ingredients with Art Basics in the video below!)

Finally the color came from the nice coat of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso and combination of Color Bloom Sprays from Prima, a bit of Primary Elements and touches of Silks and soft pencil...I'm quite pleased with the final effect!

Here is the full Art Recipe and some step-by-step info for you! Enjoy!

1. First layer was Art Basics Modeling Paste applied with a palette knife through the Elementals  "Bubbles" stencil - to cover the whole stretched canvas I used ( 28x35 cm or 11x14''). I dried it a bit with heating tool and I was ready to continue.

2. I added a piece of string to y old faithful brush and using a generous amount of Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel I glued it in the middle of the composition. Then I started to surround it with other elements: Mechanicals, paper flowers, caps, buttons - every time using 3D Gel as a glue. In the same time I filled my caps with 3D Gel and sprinkled a mixture of 2 Glass Glitters on the top: Sterling and Gold Rush. I pressed the glitter into 3D Gel a bit to make sure it will stay better in place and used the decorated caps as elements of my compostion.

3. I finished the composition with some random buttons "floating" on the outsides of the composition and adding 2 metal plates on the top of the brush.  I left the project for couple of hours for natural drying.

4. When the project was dry I covered the whole composition with a coat of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso - I repeated the step in the places where it was needed. I dried the collage again with heating tool.

5. I sprayed my brush and embellishments with Prima Color Bloom Sprays ( Gold Foil, Soft Teal) and Primary Elements Pigments mixed with water (Bolivian Blue, Ginger Peach). I tried to make the colors drip to get more interesting effect. Of course - before adding the final touches I had to dry the project again.

6. In the last stage I added a bit of extra color and sparkle to the brush and some of the elements using Silks Acrylic Glazes and adding some shadows with a very soft graphite pencil. Collage was ready!

I hope it helps a bit!

Here is a list of the products to check  - all from our Mixed media Place Store!

And to give you more inspiration about using Art Ingredients together with Art Basics (this is what they were born for, really! - so much fun!!!) and to tell you more a bit Art Extravagance line we've made  a short video for you. Check it out!

(To watch in higher resolution switch to my YT!)

Now I'm off to create some Christmas projects... high time to think about wrapping the gifts, decorating the house and some proper Polish cooking ;)
Sending you the love