Welcome To The Circus!

How are you, Dear Friends?

Are you ready for another amazing project and tutorial from my Creative Team?

Today it's Irina's turn and she's handing us the most beautiful ticket to the ever inspiring world of Circus... :)

Circus? Yes, Circus! :)

I decided to devote my April project to the circus. It is such an unusual, magical place that makes me think of sparkles, vivid colors and mystery. It's a place where miracles happen. So here's my circus themed litlle installation:

If you're feeling tempted to create a minature world of circus in your own home, here's my step by step tutorial:

1. First, I prepared a circus tent pattern cut out of paper. I also cut out small strips that would later go on top of it.

2. I applied some Modeling Paste through a stencil. When the paste was dry, I painted some of the strips using Red Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint. Then, I added a bit of Gold paint accents.

3. The second part of my paper strips I painted with White Crackle Texture Paste. I think the effect is really beautiful!

4. I painted the folds of my tent with Gold paint.

5. Then I glued all the parts together to create my little tent.

Some strips were sewn on the sewing machine. I think this trick added some interesting volume and variety.

6. I glued the red and white strips on my base, added some stars and voilà: It's a circus! :)

7. I made the roof of the tent also alternating red and white stripes.

I decided not to glue the roof to the rest of my paper tent beacuse I had this idea that my little instalation could serve as a great hiding place for candy. ;)

I thought I'd add some sparkle and shine and some yummy textures using beautiful Finnabair Art Ingredients. Here you can see the different effects I got and below you will find the list of links to the products I used.

8. Besides the tent, my minature world installation includes trees that I made out of dry twigs and sisal. There are also paper clouds and real moss that makes the grass. And of course there's no circus without tiny flags!

I had so much fun creating this magical world that can fit on my desk. Doesn't it stir your imagination?
I hope you will feel inspired!
Irina

Materials used:

Verdigris - Texture Addiction with a Pinch of Patina

Hi again my dear ones.
I've just got back home after another amazing travel to USA - I was lucky to be part of 4 wonderful events  - very single one different and exciting! I'm sure many of you know already - all my photos I take during my travels are later uploaded here, to my Instagram account - so if you'd like what I was doing, when and where - I highly recommend!

Today my time and energy are a bit limited - travels and jet lag are taking their tolls - but I've got something for you,which was waiting on my plate for quite a while: project I've made for my "Verdigris" collage class, one of newly released class proposals which I hope will be successful and inspiring!

I'm addicted to texture - so this is not a surprise I just had to use TONS of fabric and  lace to create one of-a-kind, deep and layered background. my new Art Extravagance Sculpture Medium was so helpful here! I had the best time creating this composition and working on details: lace, cotton, Mechanicals, wire, flowers... and finally the altered spoon! Perfect combination, isn't it?

I was truly inspired wy the beautiful palette of the copper patina - and I was focusing on creating a colour and texture combination to create the effect which will be great imitation of it. After some experiments I think I succeeded and now I'm ready to share these ideas with you in this really cool mixed-media collage class... who is in? :)

If you would like to check where my creative travels are taking me this year - and perhaps book this or other classes - check this section of my website.  It's the best place to check for all the class updates!
The grand première of "Verdigris" is planned for beginning of June - I'll be teaching this and other inspiring classes at Art from the Heart store in Harrogate, UK and later the same month at Create with Kate, Co. Mayo in Ireland!
Check them out as there aren't many seats left!

I hope I left you a bit inspired today...
I'll be back soon!

Special Fairy Guests

Dear Friends,

I'm sure many of you remember the time when Riikka Kovasin was part of my Creative Team.

Her breathtaking artworks and endless creativity never stopped to amaze us...

Today I have the pleasure to present Riikka's talent once more as she kindly agreed to Guest Post on my blog this month.

And - as always with Riikka - you will simply fall in love with her new project... Enjoy!

I’m not sure if it shows, but I simply adore the Sculpture Medium! It really opened a new door for me and added something fresh to my choice of mediums. The medium just invites to play and try out your limits – so I did something I’ve not done before!

When thinking about a project to do, I had a vision of an elf-like creature holding an alarm clock. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any old alarm clocks in my stash nor did the drift stores have a proper one so I altered my original idea a little. This fairy got a spoon next to her so she can spread joy with it.

She was the first one I made and the second creation following the same idea was her opposite in many ways. She was black and sad and dark. Then some time went by and I really wanted to do another doll-like creation. The first two canvases were about 9” tall so I went with a larger scale this time. This piece stands 20” tall.

You can use the medium to any material that absorbs it – like for fabric as I have used in these canvases but also to paper flowers for example. The clear medium turns them almost like porcelain, hardening the otherwise soft and delicate material but still remaining light and beautiful.

When my daughter saw me working on the third piece, she immediately reserved it for herself. That made me so honored! I titled the piece “Angel of Music” as I included some music elements in there and even more because the whole time I was constructing the piece, a song of that title was playing in my head!

The key to success is to really soak the material that you want to harden but little by little. If you flood the project in one go, you might end up with medium spilling over and going to waste, but little by little add it to the fabric or other material and you’ll have a success.

 

I urge you to have a go with the Sculpture Medium as it’s so much fun and so easy to use! Just let your imagination soar!

And if you'd like to know more about my creations, {HERE} you will find a detailed step-by-step tutorial.

Happy creating!
Riikka

Materials used: