Book Altering - Endless Possibilities

Hi again my dears!
Not long ago I was sharing the happy news about my brand new ONLINE CLASS - "Book of Possibilities". 
It was a very happy and very important moment for me - you can name it my next milestone in my career as a mixed-media teacher! Last year I was thinking creating online class in the shape and size I was thinking of will be simply impossible for me - but then my friends stepped up and all the impossible turned into possible!
You can read more about the class here - check it out  and learn more details!

Today I'd like to show you some shots of the book covers which are done during the online class - yes, you will get detailed instruction how to create altered book covers in 2 ways - not bad, huh?

This cover was created using Art Extravagance Crackle Texture Paste, Art Basics Black Gesso and Heavy Body Gel, Art Alchemy Waxes and more! I absolutely love the effect...

Don't you just love the colours and textures on this book? I was so inspired by natural colours of the vintage book cover I was trying to find the closest possible colours of Art Alchemy Metallique Paints to match it!

I didn't use so many elements to decorate it  - but the rich colours, pretty textures and lovely stencil details are doing the trick here! And can you see  these cool crackle effects? Or the beauty of the original title of the book, revealed by Art Alchemy Metallique Paints and Waxes?
It is rich, detailed, it is beautifully shiny and it really catches the eye - I hope you like it too!

You can have a look at what happened inside of the book in a separate post here - I'm sharing some of these techniques during the online class, some of the pages were done once the book was finished, just for my own pleasure! Enjoy!

If you'd like to take the class - don't wait and register now, the course is already open and running! You will find all the details and information you need here, in the link below!

I can't wait to see your beautiful creations - I hope to see you in the virtual classroom!
huge hugs

My Rebel Song

Hi there Friends!
I'll bet many of you are holding your fingers crossed today. :)
But before I announce the winner of big Social Media Hop blog giveaway, I'd like to thank you for all the sweetest comments you left here - both for myself and my Creative Team!
The person winning Finnabair goodies is...

... Amy Martin26 !!! ...

Amy, congratulations and thank you so much for your lovely words! :) Please contact us via email (missmoth1@gmail.com) and send your mailing address to claim your prize!

And now it's time for brand new art inspiration - enters John with his mindblowing mixed media music inspired art feast! Enjoy! :)

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Artists find inspiration from many different places. For myself, a song fills my head full of ideas brought on from the lyrics and the music itself.

While going through some of my vinyls while listening to some music, this project began to materialize – to use an old record as the base of my project!

As I began thinking about the layout of the project, the idea of My Song started to emerge…

I then tried to focus on what MY song would be when "Rebel Heart" was the next tune that randomly played and I smiled knowing that REBEL would be my perfect title!

Join me in how I created my interpretation of My Song while I share some of my assemblage tips with you.

As with most of my projects, I made a rough layout of where I wanted to place all of my embellishments and then took a picture to refer to later when I started assembling all of the pieces.

This serves as my roadmap for my project as I progress, although many times it changes along the way as I decide to move things around and add more embellishments.

To create the background, I used the Harlequin Stencil for the pattern using Sparks Raven Black as the base coat.

Next I randomly applied Graphite Paste with a palette knife, leaving some of Raven Black to show through.

Without removing the stencil, I used some of my favorite inclusions to apply to the wet paste – Glass Glitter in Pitch Black and Midnight Blue, along with Micro Beads in Black and Splash.

Only after I’ve applied the inclusions do I remove the stencil to reveal the perfect placement of inclusions that otherwise could stick everywhere (you know what I mean!). Just be sure to clean your stencil immediately after removing it. :)

My 'go to' paste that I absolutely LOVE to use is Graphite Paste, and for this project I used it for both texture/color and as an adhesive for holding down almost all of the embellishments.

And what project isn’t complete without Art Stones?! Once I placed the frame into place, I filled the background with Graphite Paste and then added the Art Stones and gently pushed them into the paste. Once dried, I painted the Art Stones with Metallique Midnight Sky.

The embellishments used in the project all had a base coat of Black Gesso applied, followed with a coat of Sparks Raven Black and then highlights of Metallique Deep Waters and Midnight Sky.

Once all of my embellishments were in place, I used Metallique Wax in Brushed Iron for highlights.

Beneath My Song, I used a piece of burlap from the Fabric Pack which I colored in the same manner as my other embellishments used in the project.

I love the look that you can create by painting the burlap – it makes burlap so versatile for many different projects especially after fraying the edges.

Since I used a record as the base of my project, I thought that it would be fun to also incorporate an old cassette tape to place REBEL onto.

Once I had adhered the cassette into place, I placed some glue onto the record and then pulled out some of the tape from the cassette and glued down onto the record to add some more dimension – and to bring back some bad memories from the 80’s! :)

I hope that this project has inspired you to find YOUR SONG – whatever it may be….

Listen to the lyrics, let the music move you to create a masterpiece that expresses your creative self!

xx

John

Materials used:

Finnabair and Prima Inspirational Media Hop!

Hi again my dear ones!
As you maybe noticed, we've been having a Finnabair week on Prima Blog - we are sharing some of our favorite tutorials, product information and so much more on Prima website and all our social media.
It's a great chance to learn more about my products and get tons of inspirations - so make sure you will check this post about Art Basic Gesso and this blogpost with amazing tutorials by my Creative Team.
If you would like to learn more about one of my most popular products, Art Basics Soft Gels - you should check this blogpost for sure!

Yes, there is a lot going on - and we are happy to celebrate this time with YOU! 

I always keep repeating how important you all are - my blog readers, students, supporters, friends in creativity and art - huge thanks to you all for letting this whole adventure happen and

making it possible for me to follow my dreams, share my art, inspire and encourage you

to discover and explore your own creativity with me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart...

There is one more reason to celebrate -

just a few days ago, our Finnabair and Friends Open Studio Facebook Group has reached the amazing number of 10 000 followers - can you believe it?!

I'm so thrilled to see this group of people who love mixed-media grow so fast  - this really makes my heart sing. Huge thanks to each and every one of you!

As you can see, there's so much to celebrate! :) So here we go:

Join Finnabair and Prima for a prize-filled,
inspirational social media hop! 

You will find give-aways + inspirational projects on our different social media, so check out Facebook, our blogs, and Instagram accounts to have the chance to win delicious prizes! 

HAVE FUN!

Here are the places where you can find inspiring projects which will make your creative juices flowing and where you will find instructions to follow and win some really great products!

Instagram: 

@prima_mixedmedia

@finnabair 

Blog: www.prima.typepad.com 

Facebook: 

Prima Facebook Page

Finnabair And Friends Open Studio FB Group 

And here is my special Finnabair Blog Giveaway:

I like to keep things simple so the rules will be sweet & easy! ;)

It's just enough to leave a comment and answer this question:

Which art piece / tutorial / blog post / video / project particularly stayed

in your heart and memory?

It could be a work by me or any artist from my beautiful Team.

It would be wonderful if you could share the news about this giveaway on your favorite social media and invite your best art friends to do the same! :)
You have time till Sunday night, August 27th and the results will be announced on this blog on Monday.

Don't forget that you can also find tons of inspirations from myself and my super talented Creative Team on our You Tube channel and Pinterest boards - mine and the Team's.

Thank you again for everything and good luck with all the giveaways! :)

All About Soft Gels!

Hi again my dear friends!
It is a really exciting time indeed! Do you know that we are featuring my products on Prima blog this week? And there are many inspiring tips posted on Prima blog? If not you have to check it now - starting with THIS amazing post telling you all you've always wanted to know about Art Basics Gesso... and don't forget to check Prima FB page too - you can find printable product information and much more!

Today I wanted  to remind - or maybe - show you for the first time? - 3 videos I made a while ago when we were introducing Art Basics products to the market... When I'm teaching classes many times I'm asked what is the difference between my art mediums: gels, pastes, special effect pastes. My job  (and pleasure!) is to explain it all to you - but in case if I'm not around to help, the videos which I keep doing here, to Video Tutorials section of the website may help! Check them out!

Art Basics Soft Gels are one of the most versatile mediums on the market: they are glues, varnishes, sealers, neutral bases for custom mixes - it is almost impossible to go wrong here! Well, maybe you can just check and decide yourselves, but I think they are a real "must-have!"

To give you extra inspiration and push you one step further using you Soft Gloss Gel and Soft Matte Gel I've made 2 more short videos with super simple - but fun - techniques you can include into your journaling, scrapbooking and mixed-media projects. I hope you will enjoy!
I Art Basics Soft Gels are also great transfer mediums - this beautiful, exciting technique is a great add-on to any mixed-media project. It  adds character and a lot of visual interest... you have to try this for sure!


I hope that helps! And what are your favourite Soft Gel bass techniques? Let me know so I can share this info with  our friends in Art! Looking forward reading your comments!
Sending hugs

P.S. Don't miss our blogpost on Friday... and make sure you will check my FB Group and Instagram account too - something is telling me you may regret if you won't!
 :)

Touch of the Ocean

Hello my Friends!

I hope you're ready for another art-filled Monday with my Creative Team! Today it's Karolina with her beautiful altered art inspiration - a brilliant idea to end summer with and capture all your special holiday memories... Enjoy!

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Hi my dear friends! It's Karolina here today with my latest summertime inspired project.

In my country the holidays are coming to an end and I wanted to capture this mood for a little while longer. With the sound of the sea still resounding in my imagination and with pockets filled with seashells, I decided to alter a box to hold my summer memories.

I just love textures in my works so I couldn't do without Art Extravagance line Texture Paste.

This time I used Black Sand I mixed it with three colors of Art Alchemy Impasto paints - Azure, Jade and Snow White - all this to create the background for my composition.

By adding a bit of water these paints are still very efficient without losing on their quality. They are ideal for special tasks thanks to their density, opacity and the high amount of pigments.

To build the background layers I used paints, pastes and Art Stones and it's always such a great fun!

I really love the dimensional effect I got, especially filling in the free spaces with different sizes of Art Stones. You will see exactly how I did that in a video tutorial below.

I also love to play with the crackles effect and this time I the best (and the easiest!) way to create it is to use Art Extravagance Clear Crackle Texture Paste. Adding Art Stones helps to make the texture even richer and more interesting.

Another great trick to create fabulous textures is to use gauze or any other delicate material. It can be easily shaped when soaked with any kind of gel medium.

I like to separate layers of paint with gesso, thanks to this the project becomes really rich, but you have to keep in mind that the more paint you put on your decorations, this pattern will be less visible.

You can also use gesso to regulate the intensity of light, color and shine of the paints you use.

I myself, really like the shine in my projects and that is why I added beautiful colors of Art Alchemy Metallique paints.

And now please enjoy my video tutorial and feel free to leave any questions you have in the comments sections - I will be happy to answer!

I love artistic recycling so I collect all sorts of things that might come in handy when creating a new project - nets you buy garlic in (work great imitating fishing nets!), old keys, metal nails, broken twigs - all these seemingly useless objects present so many creative possibilities...

Sending you all my warmest hugs and wishes of great creative week!

xx

Karolina

Products used: