Art - Inch By Inch

Hello Friends!

I've always admired people who are able to create some amazing art on really small surfaces... ;)
Today we have Rebecca with her new super creative project. It's a true feast and I'm more than certain you'll feel inspired!

Hi Everyone,

Rebecca here with you today to share a special canvas project.

I call this one 'special' as it contains 12 mini 1" square works of art within the canvas.

When I began this project I initially thought 12 x 1" squares would be a good challenge for myself and hoped in my head that I would be able to think of enough mini arts to fill all the squares.

Well, let me tell you once I began, the ideas kept flowing and I think I could have filled an extra 12 squares. I truly loved making this project and am very happy with how it has turned out. Plans are being formulated as I type to make a new creation with squares very very soon. If you have never tried something like this before I can certainly recommend giving it a go. 

To begin my project I painted a 8" x 10" white canvas with Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso and allowed this to dry.

Step 2 for my background was to apply Art Extravagance Graphite Texture Paste to the face and sides of the canvas through the Grungy Grid Stencil. Once the texture paste had completely dried I spritzed my canvas with a mist created with water and Gold Mica Powder, allowing to dry slightly and dabbing off with a baby wipe.

At this stage I thought the background just needed a little something else so I grabbed some blue metallic thread and wrapped it around and around the canvas. It ended up creating exactly the look I was hoping to achieve. 

I took some heavyweight cardstock and cut 12 x 1" squares. With a palette knife I gently applied a thickish layer of Art Basics Modeling Paste. As I did not want a smooth finish with the back of the palette knife I gentle dabbed over the entire surface of the square to create some peaks.

To complete I sprinkled on some Copper Micro Beads and then allowed my squares to completely dry (overnight, do NOT use a heat gun, I did try the heat gun approach, patience is the answer). 

After patiently waiting for my squares to dry overnight it was time to paint them. To paint them I made two mixes of colour, combining Art Basics Soft Gloss Gel with Art Ingredients Rust Mica Powder and also separately Blue Mica Powder. My first coat was with the rust followed by light dabs of the blue just for a little contrast. 

I created 8 squares using modelling paste and you will note there are 4 squares with stamped embossed mica images. This coming Monday the 27th July there will be an additional tutorial by me within the Spreads Your Wings Academy Volume 3 to fully explain how the stamped embossing technique is carried out. 

Please let me explain each squares contents in a little more detail for you. 

1) Prima Mechanicals Leaves 2 , bronze cogs (stash), Prima Mechanicals Typewriter Numbers, rosette ribbon. 

2) Gold metallic thread, watch parts (stash), Art Ingredients Bronze Micro Beads, Prima Collect Moments Stamp. 

3) Bronze key, Prima Resist Canvas - Music, Art Ingredients Bronze Micro Beads, Prima Mechanicals Bottle Caps. 

4) Art Ingredients Bronze Micro Beads, gold metallic thread, bronze heart (stash), Prima Mechanicals Plated Labels, Prima Now is the Right Time Stamp. 

 

5) Prima Resin Bird, rusty nail, Prima Mechanicals Leaves 1.

6) Bronze cog (stash), watch parts (stash), Prima Mechanicals Gears. 

7) Gold metallic thread, Prima Butterfly 3 Stamp, Prima Junkyard Findings Screw. 

8) Bronze cogs (stash), Prima Mechanicals Plated Labels, Prima Mechanicals Tassels. 

9) Prima Mechanicals Flowers, watch parts (stash), Prima Mechanicals Vintage Centers.

10) Gold metallic thread, Prima Canvas Resist Newspaper, Prima Mechanicals Leaves 2, watch parts (stash).

11) Rosette ribbon (stash), bronze cog (stash) watch parts (stash), Prima Mechanicals Leaves 2. 

12) Prima Canvas Resist Newspaper , Chinese coin (stash), Plastic egg (stash), Art Ingredients Glass Beads Zinc. 

Thank you for your time today my creative friends, please if you have any questions at all do not be afraid to ask.

I wish you all a very happy and creative day.

~ Rebecca ~

Products Used:

Lighthouse Emotions

Hello, my lovely Friends!

I have some new art journal pages for you today. Why the post title?

Well, this journal is a round robin one and it belongs to my friend Latarnia Morska whose nick means A Lighthouse in Polish.

There was no particular theme in this journal so I decided to simply go with the flow, take the emotions I was feeling at that time and express them on paper.

I'm really curious whether you will be able to guess how I was feeling. ;)

I thought I'd share with you the technique I used to create my background.

First, I took a stencil with some nice lettering, applied Modeling Paste through it and - not lifting my stencil - I left it to dry.

Still leaving my stencil in place, I took some nice Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays...

... and when they dried, this is the effect I got:

Pretty cool, don't you think?

Then it was time for some embelishments and this time I decided to go for some chipboard elements that I covered with White Gesso.

Then I reached for the same sprays I used for my background and sprayed my decorations - this layer was a bit more subtle.

And again - some gentle brushing of White Gesso to make all the colors even more delicate and light.

Then I added some more colors with watercolor pencils to create nice contrast, a bit of stamping for depth and some splashes with watered down gesso. And voila:

And here are the materials I used to create my pages:


I hope I tempted you to try my background technique.
Have a great creative day!
Hugs,

Assemblage Art Shrine

Hello, my Friends!

I know I've probably told you that a thousand times but there I go one more time - I love my job! :)

You may follow all my creating art and teaching adventures on my instagram and facebook page - and you'll get the idea of how blessed I'm feeling.

Not so long ago I had the chance to finally meet in person one very special Lady - super talented - my Creative Team member - my Friend in Art - Linda Cain ! And here's the proof. :) Am I lucky or what?!

And today we have Linda presenting a new one among her stunning artworks. Enjoy!

Hi everyone! Linda here, and I’m back to share a vintage project with you that I loved making.

It’s small, but packed with ephemera that will have you looking closely to see the details.

1. I’m using a small shrine for this, but you can apply this idea to many different objects.

I like to lay things out and get some idea of the project. The Mechanical flower at the top is trimmed with shears removing 2 sections. The other pieces will be the bottom section.

2. I painted the shrine and several Mechanicals with Heavy White Gesso so they will take paints and inks. I left the leaves and top section unpainted for contrast.

3. These pieces were painted and put together with 3 tiny brads. Sand off and polish the “CREATE” plate to expose the word.

4. This laser-cut shrine comes flat, so I added vintage German-English dictionary pages to the inside sections with Soft Matte Gel. Then I sponged on Archival Inks to age even more and sealed with the same Gel.

5. The outsides were painted with acrylic paints using either a sponge paint dabber or foam square.

6. The text clearstamp “Messy” is used with black Archival Ink. Now glue the shrine together. When dry, I added Clear Crackle Texture Paste to areas that created an “aged” look to the surface.

7. This wooden candlestick is base-coated with Heavy White Gesso first and then a layer of White Crackle Paste is slathered on. When it's dry, add Archival Inks in orange and sepia and some wax patinas.

8. Assemble the shrine and add the Mechanicals with 3D Matte Gel. The Vintage Lady is glued to a small wooden block and two Mechanicals. Let it dry overnight.

When it was completely dry, I added more Inka Gold waxes to areas creating more contrast. The candlestick was too bright for me, so I added a blue Patina wax and toned it down with more Archival Inks.

9. The finishing touches were to add some Gloss Gel with a brush to different places and sprinkle Copper, Silver and Black Micro Beads as filler. I also added some Gold Mica Flakes.

The paper Flower was sprayed with several colors of ink, and Micro Beads, plus some Luminous Gold Glitter was added. A bit of Charcoal Art Sugar and black Micro Beads are layered around the candlestick rims. A black bow completes the base.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this project and found the inspiration to make an Assemblage of your own. You can use little gift boxes, jewelry boxes, mint tins, or make one using chipboard.
The possibilities and the fun are endless!!! 

Materials used: