Wild at Heart

Hi again, my friends!
The Summer is almost over, but we were lucky enough o catch a couple of beautiful days here - exploring breathtaking Irish West Coast and trying to get some quiet time for ourselves. If only you knew how much I needed the break and giving myself the chance just to breathe, think and listen to myself for a few moments. We didn't have any downtime for a long time - especially after last year's house hunting and this year renovating and decorating mode + my usual travels, projects and ideas!
I managed to visit my studio once or twice - and here is one of the results, which I hope will give you a proper dose of inspiration... with the deepest pleasure I was able to finally cut the "Fortune-teller" collection from 7 Dots Studio - and I'm sure I want more now!

I don't have to mention the great quality of 7DS papers - they are great for any mixed-media techniques - but I have to admit I loved the colour palette of this collection. Muted, dirty shades of greens, grays, browns and turquoise were just perfect for me...

I decided to go back to the idea of tearing and ripping - and of course I couldn't stop myself and I just had to fill these spaces with my beloved lace, pearls and Art Ingredients Art Stones. With Art Basics Soft Gel gluing them all down was so easy! For the larger elements and heavy embellishments I've used Art Basics Heavy Body Gel. Works miracles, as always.

I've played with stamping, and adding some colour with sprays and splatters - a bit of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso helped with removing the gold and brown shades of pearls and some of the embellishments. After adding tones of  blue and green I decided to add finishing touches with Art Extravagance Rust Paste - I picked only the red colour from the set and added some water to make it more similar to a paint than paste. I LOVE the effects you can get this way!

I have to say I feel really comfortable with the set of the techniques I used here - and I really feel these elements and colours go with my current mood - so you may expect more of the projects including these. There is certainly more in them than meets the eye! I hope you won't get bored before I will ;)

Here is the list of the supplies I used for this page - all listed from Mixed Media Place Store.

Btw - do you know 7 Dots Studio has just announced the new designs for the October release? I can't wait to put my hands on them and play - especially after the great time I had with "Fortune-teller". Just look at these beauties!

sending warm hugs

Here And Now ~ Art Journal Therapy

Hello, Dear Friends!

Last Monday in August belongs to Irina who's sharing one of her Denim Journal art journaling pages.

Her work is so expressive and has this special kind of vibe that will make you want to run to your desk and pour your emotions on paper too. :)

Hello! It's Irina Нoncharyk with you here and today I'd like to share my art journal page that I called: "Now Is The Right Time".

I love art journals as they are such a great way to express all kinds of toughts and emotions. This is a great feeling to be able to leave your emotions on paper and start a new day with a clean sheet.

The Denim Journal is a wonderful tool to do just that. You can use the pages already there but also add your own, in any shape and size to suit your mood.

The idea behind my journal page that I'm showing today is my expression of the need to live here and now. There will never be a better time. Just now!

For me, working with an art journal page or spread usually consists of three main steps. I thought I'd sum it up like this:

It's really simple, don't you think? ;)

First, I prepare my surface. For today's page I used Clear Gesso to prime the paper. When it dried, I used Modeling Paste through a Cut & Paste stencil. In my opinion, textured surfaces always look more interesting and make a great starting point for any artwork that follows.

Step 2 is working with colors. I chose several shades of Art Alchemy Opal Magic acrylic paints. I applied the paints with my fingers and I think creating this way has a kind of therapeutic effect.
You can also play with different colors of crayons, inks or sprays, whatever your heart desires, just remember to relax and simply have fun with it.

Then I created a pattern with stamps from 'Now Is The Right Time' (yes! :) ) set. You will see in my step by step video below that I didn't try to be precise with my stamping, I just created a certain composition multiplicating chosen images. I added some more color with alcohol inks.

I wanted even more expression so I took some black markers and freehand drew some loose lines.

Then I wrote my title and added a touch of color here and there.

Step 3 is about the final details that create more texture and interesting little accents that make every work unique.

This time I went for Art Ingredients like Art Sugar and Mika Flakes. I glued them with 3D Matte Gel.

I had so much fun with the process and I hope you'll enjoy watching this short video I made for you.



Wishing you a lot of creative art journal adventures. It's good for the soul! ;)
xx
Irina

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Color Your World

Dear Friends...

We have an extra special treat for you today - a breathtaking work of art from Athanasia. Your mouths will drop when you see how beautiful it is and how incredibly creative Athanasia is being able to come up with such an out of the box use for resist canvas...

No more talking - read ahead and be amazed! :)

Hello dear friends!
I was keeping for a long time these two amazing resist canvases to make something special.
The time came when I found incidentally on Pinterest some ideas with world map art like wallpapers, digital collages and art pieces. I was very excited so I decided to make my own piece of art in my own way.
The whole project measures 1 meter (5 canvases 20x60cm. each), it took me many many days to finish it and now I'm very proud it's hanging on my wall :)

Here is how I started:

1. First I secured the 5 canvases together with masking tape. This made my work much easier in the next steps.

2. Then I cut out very carefully with scissors the land pieces of a map that was the same size as my canvases and this way I created a large stencil. I didn't throw away the cut out pieces...

3. I used them as masks to create the land for my project. I placed all the pieces one by one on the resist canvases and I drew the outline with a pencil. Then I cut them with scissors and put them aside.

4. When I was done with cutting the land, I placed my handmade stencil on the canvases and put each one of the cut resist canvas pieces in the right place. This was a little tricky as there were too many small pieces especially for the islands, but it helped me to learn some geography lol ! :)

5. Before I glued down the lands,  I used the Silicone Brush to give the whole surface a thick layer of Heavy White Gesso and let it dry.
To glue the resist canvas pieces I used the Clear Sculpture Medium - it was really the perfect glue for this work! I let it dry outside for a couple of hours.

6. After it was dry, I started working with the sea sections. I used the Clear Sculpture Medium again with napkins. I glued them randomly and wrinkled to create texture. This also gave depth and interest to the finished project. I left it overnight to dry.
(Unfortunately, from this point onward I haven't any more photos of the process to share as I was so captivated with the painting part that I didn't think to take some)

 

7. The painting part was so much fun, it was really worth waiting for...
I made custom paints with the Soft Matte Gel and Mica Powders and started painting all over the canvases, here and there, without much thinking. I mostly used Rust Mica Powder (I love this color), as well as Gold and blue shades of Frozen Lake and Deep Water. I also used some similar shades of Primary Elements.

When the first layer of paints was dry, I used a couple of warm colors of Art Alchemy acrylic paints - Pure Sunshine and Fresh Orange, as well some white acrylic paint to lighten the project.

I love how all these colors blend together, highlight the texture of paper napkins and contrast the beautiful lands of the resist canvas pieces!

I hope you got inspired with my project.
Thank you for visiting,
have a lovely crafty day!
xxx
Athanasia

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