Spring Is Coming

Hi there, Dear Readers!

In many places of the world spring is just behind the corner but whatever season you're entering, we hope you'll feel inspired by the vibrant energy that's filling Karolina's gorgeous new project!
Karolina's also sharing her video tutorial and lots of helpful hints and ideas how to invite beautiful mixed media butterflies into your house. :) Enjoy!

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Spring has finally arrived in my garden. The plants are coming to life and I'm waiting for the butterflies. :)

In spring and summer my garden is always filled with butterflies. I love them so much and I admire their beauty and how delicate and fragile they are.

My mixed media version of a butterfly is a composition of colors, textures and embellishments that are making this delicate creature even more romantic with an added vintage touch.

This time I decided to use a very subtle color palette.
I started by priming the butterfly with Heavy White Gesso to make sure the chipboard base wouldn't soak in all the paints and mediums.

First, I mixed two colors - Snow White and Dark Chocolate - and created the background for my composition. Thick Impasto paints seem perfect for this technique.

I added a little water which made it easier to spread the colors. Because the first layer of Snow White paint was wet, when I added the Dark Chocolate color, I obtained a delicate mix of these two colors.

Then, on my background I applied Modeling Paste through a stencil. I chose the pattern of the "Bubbles" because I love how it corresponds with the round shapes of my chipboard embellishments.

All the embellishments were glued with 3D Gloss Gel - this medium will secure them in place and you won't have to worry anything will ever fall off.

I added some paper flowers, little pieces of delicate gauze, wonderful Art Stones that always enrich every compopsition and make it even more multi-dimensional.

I especially like the Mechanicals Leaves that I think added a special extra charm to this whole piece.

I also stamped some butterflies from the Don't Forget To Fly set - they are just perfect for this project, don't you think? :) I wanted them to be more 3D so I used hot embossing and fussy cut the shapes.

To make my background look richer, I added some amazing and the ever-glamorous Metallique and Spark acrylic paints. I added a little water to the paints to make the color transitions harmonious and delicate.

In the end, I sprinkled a bit of Pale Silver Mica Powder to add more shine and some splashes with Black Gesso as the final touch.

You will be able to watch how I did it in my video below - you will see how easy it was and maybe you'll feel tempted to create your own butterfly this spring. :) Enjoy!

 

Apart from matching the round shapes of chipboards and stencil patterns, I also repeated the color palette of the photo when painting my butterfly.

It's a really easy way to make your project look harmonious.

The precious little girl in the photo is my sweet goddaughter and I think her charm and innocence are just perfect for my spring butterfly.

 
xx 

Karolina

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