This time I made a challenge myself. I decided to decorate a paper box, but I will use the first three colors I draw from the entire range of metallic and sparks paints that I have.
Fortunately, I chose a shade of metallic brown, but also a deep, shiny violet. It's a color that maybe just a few times appeared in my projects over the years, but I caught it - so it had to stay that way.
I decorated the lid of the box with a 1mm thick cardboard, beautiful Finnabair metal accessories, mould elements, some wire and art stones.
I glued everything on with soft matte gel and covered it with white gesso. Then, after drying, I painted with three shades of metallic and sparks paints. I really like the whitening effect in my mixed media projects, so I did it this time. I invite you to a video tutorial where you can see everything carefully.
Hi my dear ones!
I'm on the point of leaving for the CreativeWorld in Frankfurt where I will have time chance to see some of you in person and demo my latest art products which I've released together with Prima Marketing! It has been a very exciting weekend and you can see the full reveal in the two posts we've pulled together for you - here and here, check them out!
In the meantime let me show you one of the first samples I've made with my new products - and I even managed to put a bit of everything on it!
My newest Art Daily Chipboard Journal is just perfect size to fit into my Art Daily Folder and the thick and sturdy cover makes so easy to alter. I've started with a coat of Art Basics White Heavy Gesso and my new Tissue Paper. On the top, you can see two of my new Stencils - "Mind Games" and "Gothic" used with Art Extravagance White Crackle Paste and Art Basics Modeling Paste.
The initial colours I've made with my Art Alchemy Liquid Acrylics - great quality, concentrated acrylic paints which I watered down a bit and let them flow on the Journal cover. My next step was adding my new and - oh so exciting - Art Alchemy Matte Waxes: Rusty Brown, Rusty Red and Charcoal Black.
The antiquing, matte and permanent finish of the Matte Waxes is just a perfect solution for the book cover! They added so much depth and grunginess to the journal and if you want you can easily use them with my Metallique Waxes too! How cool!
There are so many inspiring possibilities of using my new products - I so want to play more, but what I really want to see is you all playing with them and discovering new ways of putting them into good use! Soon they will be available in the stores - Prima will start shipping soon!
If you'd like to learn more, here is recorded and edited FB Live Show from last Friday, where I'm showing all the new products and ways of using them... for example you can see how to make cool canvas like this one!
So - ready to watch?
Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and sharing the video with your friends!
Hi there my Creative Souls!
New Year.
New beginning.
Also - a new mood board created for our Art Daily Cafe project.
Last week I was showing you my first official make of 2020 - it was all happening on Art Daily Cafe Blog, here, and I was explaining how maps are an important element of my life is no many ways, both literal and metaphorical.
I don't want to repeat all this information here, especially I'm talking about my inspiration during the video I added below - but let me tell you: this project is very personal and meaningful to me and I'm so happy I pushed myself towards creating it.
There are so many nuances in it and pieces I've added into this collage which are showing my personality, my story and my dreams. You can say this spread speaks my language and on so many levels - in fact it is full of things you can call my "creative vocabulary".
I'm blessed I could take the time and creating something for "myself". This is the essence of "Art Daily" project to me and I'm so happy I have this little oasis of creativity in my life, without any pressure to show the techniques, new products or latest designs. These are so exciting - by all means, I love doing it - but creating for the sake of creating is a totally different animal. I'm sure you get it.
So here it is - my little gift to you this month - my step-by-step video, explaining the process the best way I could. I was trying to add a little of the background info to it, so there is a lot of talking, but if you don't like this kind of videos, just switch the sound off!
Here is the list of the supplies I've used - I hope it is useful! All of them are liked
Hi my dear ones!
I know I wasn't so present on the blog with my own posts recently - it was mainly because I'm trying to work on expanding on my other social media - Instagram accounts (personal and official brand) and my own You Tube Channel. This is where I show my day-to-day life, adventures and creativity and if you didn't check them out yet, maybe you can do it now and subscribe, to make sure you won't miss anything?
The project I'm sharing today I've made for the Art Daily Cafe Blog - and it is inspired by the topic of the month - "Poetry of Decay" and both rust and recycling... couldn't it be a better combination for me? I don't think so!
If you know me a bit you know I'm more of an old soul, finding pleasure in exploring architecture, monuments, remains of the castles or villages - and Ireland is a perfect place for these activities.
I enjoy going to the flea markets or car boot sales looking for old books, photos and mysterious objects, which were part of everyday life in the past. Simple touching them, wondering who were their owners and how they were used makes me happy... but there is so much more! Now my imagination is kicking in:
all these old, forgotten toys, tools, books and photos have so many stories to tell. I love them with all their imperfections as they are showing clearly how old and how special they are. They are precious pieces of the past - and I can help them shine again!
I think there is real poetry in these rusty, woodworm eaten frames. I can see so much value and mystery in each object, which was cherished by people in the past, even if its condition is far from perfect... in fact, this worn out looks s a proof these items were once loved, used or displayed. Can you imagine the hands holding these before? I wish I could know all the story!
Maybe they were an important part of somebody's life? Maybe they were putting a smile on somebody's face? I can't know that, but I can give them their second chance - new life and new meaning, a brand new story to tell. You don't need to much to show their natural beauty - and the whole process of putting them together is pure pleasure.
Do you want to know how I did it? Here is the video for you!
From now on they will be cherished as a keepsake on my shelf, sparkling happiness in my heart and giving me a chance to honour the people who are close to me or tales which I'd like to tell myself. There is so much beauty in the decay and imperfection, you just need to look at them closer, with not only the eyes but with your soul.
I hope I was able to inspire you a bit.
Sending love
Hi again my friends!
I'm slowly going into my usual "teaching mode" which will start in September and I'm going through my spreadsheets, orders and class samples... and look what I've found! It's a class-made sample, so it is full of imperfections, but this also will give t you the idea what are we REALLY doing during the workshop.
I don't think I was showing you this project on the blog before, and it is really one of my favourite ones to teach! Why?
Angellica Collage is a big canvas which is also a full-day class.
This means we can focus on one project for longer than just four hours! It's great to go deeper in details, techniques and options working at a bit slower pace. In my classes I'm doing my best to use the time to maximum, trying to guide the students through the whole process smoothly and as fast as possible, so they can take home a finished project as a future reference... its also true that if you won't finish in the class, most probably you will never come back to this project again, and this would be such a shame, right? I have to add from myself that most of my mixed-media artworks without the final touches look much worse than you could expect... so adding last bits and pieces is crucial!
Angelica is full of textures, details and metallic colours - it is a real mixed-media collage in my signature style and with the size reaching 60 cm it really is a statement piece you can put on display - but it needs a bit of time and love!
At first, I was a bit unsure if such a long class will be well seen by my students, but after talking to many of you I felt encouraged to try longer, full-day projects as well and now I'm happy I did!
The benefit of working on one project longer is not only making something bigger in size but also getting more time to think on the placement of the elements, choosing colours, adding those" perfect touches". Just imagine putting every layer with love, adding next elements and seeing it all coming together in the end - it is really rewarding, empowering process!
If you are one of those independent and artistic souls you won't be disappointed - during the class you can also add your personal elements if you wish and there is always a choice of patterns and colours, so each and every project is really unique.
"Angelica" is based on techniques which are easily adaptable and transferable to other surfaces - and this is, in fact, the case with all of my classes. during the creating process, you can try a range of art mediums, starting with Art Basics: gels, gessos and then moving to various embellishments and Art Ingredients to finally work on the colour palette using my Art Alchemy range of products: paints and waxes. Sounds fun? It is!
For me longer class means more time to share not only product and technique information but also some more personal tips and tricks or just get in touch with my students, making this class a bit more special for both sides. Teaching is truly my element and as much as I don't like the paperwork and the time I have to spend on all the preparations the moment I'm stepping into the room is just turning into pure magic... so double treat for me!
If you were wondering if this kind of class is for you - I hope I could help!
You can check the schedule of my classes for the next months here, in "In-person classes" section of the blog.
I hope to see you in the classroom!
