Authentic - Vintage, Rust and my Creative Gear...

Hi again my dear ones!
It's been a while since I was showing my project on the blog - those of you who follow me on social media could notice I've had some health issues I had to take care of in the last weeks and I'm not only far away from home but also simply not able to be up-to-date with everything. I'm sorry for this, but I'm sure you can understand!

This project I've made a few weeks ago, just when I got new 7 Dots Studio collection - "Nothern Lights" in my hands. I loved everything about it: colour palette, design, details. When I took a closer look at one of the papers I noticed that the pattern on it resembled the background of one of my family photos... that was it: perfect inspiration for a heavy, grungy and masculine project - with a touch of creative madness!

If you will take a closer look at the details here you may notice I didn't really use many "branded" embellishments here. All the layers are made with broken or torn leftovers, strips, found elements and      "junk" I could find on my table. There are rusty nails, Christmas tree candle-holder, an old watch, wire, broken frame, some metal mesh and many many more... can you see scraps of lace and cotton thread too?

I found a tiny piece of ephemera - mini-calendar page dated 1937 - and I had to use it of course! It is another great "personal touch" on this project. It goes perfectly with my rusty paper clip, pieces of old paper, strips of canvas and cotton band-aid. Seriously - I had so much fun putting it all toghether!

My colour palette is not very rich this time - I focused mostly on following the tones of background paper and shades of rust. I used my favourite brown stain - very strong tea infuse I make at home myself and added a bit of Lindy's Moon Shadow Mists in corresponding colours. There is a coat of Art Basics Clear Gesso on the entire background paper - it was important to "impregnate" it a bit when I was planning to pour so much te and spray on it, right?
I've also added some Art Basics White Heavy Gesso to lighten up the pattern of the paper in the place I was planning to put my composition - that helped me work on the rich and dimensional composition without losing the focal point.
The final look is heavily inspired by the rusty elements of my project - and I used Art Extravagance Rust Effect Paste to add the final touches. I simply love how beautifully it is diluted by water, creating natural, vintage-industrial look! Perfect match!

My point here is you DON'T NEED tons of expensive supplies and materials to create art. Just look at my choice here - only 2 elements here are "branded embellishments" (well 2 and a bit - a small piece of resin frame had to be an embellishment too - sometime in the past). What really counts is the design, idea, imagination - and finding a way to make it all work. This is my creative drive, my biggest joy - using elements and pieces which are usually thrown away and putting them together, painting, decorating - until I'm happy with the result. With proper adhesives, a bit of primers (Gesso), good paints and special effects you can create amazing, beautiful work - on a budget. Let yourself be inspired by the things around you - and create!

Here are the supplies I was using for my project - all linked to Mixed Media Place Store:

Sending you hugs and all my love