Connected Love

Happy Friday Everyone!
We're here with another art inspiration - we hope this post will make you grab your paintbrushes and a bit of color and spend your weekend creatively!
When you'll see Gayle's new artwork and read her tutorial, you'll be amazed that actually you don't need a lot of supplies to create something really special - a piece of wooden board (or a canvas), some ephemera and embellishments and your favorite color or two. And then - the magic happens... :)

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Hey lovely Finnabair friends.

I’ve created a little 6”x6” piece using a cradled wooden board; it's nice and strong and can easily support lots of wet medium and metal embellishments. It’s probably my favourite surface to work on.

I have used lots of Finnabair Mechanicals for this project and coloured them using the new Opal Magic Royal Robes Wax.

I am sure by now you know why these waxes have the word “magic” applied to them... What appears to be a very neutral, whitish coloured wax in the tin, changes magically to a colour (in this case purple) once it’s rubbed onto a black or very dark surface.

The metal takes on a warm, subtle coloured glow. Just beautiful to work with...

Here's my step by step tutorial -

No.1 Cradled wooden board, some Finnabair Ephemera to collage as a background and some Vintage Trinkets and Mechanicals.

No.2 Using 3D Matte Gel as your adhesive, stick random pieces of ephemera onto the board.

No.3 Once the top and all 4 sides have ephemera covering them, they were given a coat of Clear Gesso, just to aid with the application of other wet mediums onto the paper. 

No.4 Adding some surface texture with a Prima Lace Sticker, White Crackle Texture Paste through a 'Checker' stencil and some stamps.

No.5 Apply Black Gesso to all the metal embellishments.

No.6 As well as Finnabair metal Trinkets and Mechanicals, I also used some sequinned and beaded lace taken from an old costume. This too was given a coat of Black Gesso to prep it for all the paints and mediums to come.

No.7 Using 3D Matte Gel, stick down the face image and the Typewriter letters.

No.8 Using my finger as well as a short bristled, stiff brush to get into some tight little nooks and crannies, I applied a thin layer of Art Alchemy Royal Robes Opal Magic Wax to all the black gessoed metal and lace embellishments.

The colour appears before your very eyes... from black to glowing purple... amazing !

No.9 I glued all the metal pieces down with Heavy Body Gel.

Once that had dried and everything was secure, I used a soft brush with Old Silver Metallique Wax and lightly brushed over the surface of all the metal to highlight the textures.

No.10 Using Sparks Acrylic Paint in Iris Potion I painted around the edges of the face and the embellishments and also the edges of the board to add some darker highlights.

The final touch was some gold wire to connect the word 'Love' to the rest of the elements on the page - it's symbolic of how important it is to stay connected to those things and those people that bring joy into your life.

To give any dimensional elements used in your projects a softly coloured, warm glow you do not need a lot of products - Black Gesso and a little tin of Opal Magic Wax will do it.

You could add one more tin of Metallique Wax to add some highlights if you want.

It is a very simple and beautiful process applying the waxes (and they smell so nice...).
If you are not a ”messy” creator and like to work “cleanly”, then Art Alchemy Waxes are for you.
I like to apply them with my finger but you can use a short bristled, stiff brush or small sponge (you only need a tiny amount) to apply the wax.

Creating magic doesn’t have to be complicated, sometimes it can be really simple - just use your heart and imagination. ;)

Happy creating!
Gayle xx

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