"The Oracle" - Collage on the Edge of Steampunk and Industrial

Hi again my loves.
Some of you know that from all the different projects I keep putting together collage and assemblage is the one I love the most. There are many reasons: the joy of finding, matching and transforming random objects - considered by most of people to be simply "rubbish" - is simply hard to compare with anything. Possibility to change them into something else, giving them "new life" is really inspiring idea, sparkling my creativity and giving me loads of energy to make art. It is great, almost never-ending fuel - the only ingredient which is really crucial in the process is time!

Speaking about time - this assemblage below was waiting to be completed for months.
I was really ecstatic when I found the porcelain doll on the flea market - it was perfect in size, it had a nice face and the price tag was really appealing. As soon as I got home I started to look for the proper background for the project that started to crystallize in my head... but it took me some time to find a right size piece of wooden board (I REALLY wanted to see the real wood structure in it!) and then some cool "industrial" elements to start with. In the end I decided to recycle one of the old motherboards I had in my stash...

"The Oracle" - collage/assemblage on wood (34x40 cm)

The process off assembling continued for days. I knew what I was going for - a marriage of cold, Industrial feeling with elements of more traditional Steampunk look. If possible  - all that in a nice, not too girly colour palette!

I added some old radio's parts, old lock, some  pieces of old belt, cogs an gears... in fact tons of these... there were some wires and some shells used together with buttons and metal embellishments but again it took me weeks until I found the last set of pieces matching in size to the composition. I wish I had access to some nice junkyard on the regular basis!

In the end, when I had all of my elements in place I could play with some art mediums. Of course my first choice were my products from Art Basics and Art Extravagance Line.
I used Art Basics 3D Gloss Gel for gluing elements together, my Art Extravagance White Crackle Paste to add some beautiful, weathered look and finally Art Basics Black Heavy Gesso to prime all the project before painting. It took me a longer moment to cover all the details, but it all turned out great!

Finally - the painting... this step was done after a very long break and I wasn't sure the effect I was going for will be possible to achieve, but in the end combination of Art Basics White Heavy Gesso, sprays, and metallic acrylic paints was a great choice. I am really happy with the colour palette: cold, industrial in feeling but warmed a bit with touches of gold and pink. Mission completed!

I know of course this kind of art won't be appealing to everybody - I know personally some lovely people who are seriously freaked out with just the idea of using dolls' parts for assemblage or collage and no matter how hard I will try they won't change their minds :)
I love them anyway and i understand their point of view - but my heart was telling me this is the time for something new and bold - so here it is.
I believe you have to listen to your inner self, even if sometimes it will speak to you with a bit creepy voice... ;) don't you think?

I hope you will have a wonderful creative week! don't forget to check the blog on Friday to see another amazing tutorial from my wonderful CT Members.
See you soon!

Funky Florals

Hi everyone!

Juicy colors, a variety of delicious textures, a super clever background technique and so much more!

Rebecca is presenting her new beautiful canvas and sharing a tutorial that will surely inspire you to create something special too.

Hello Everyone,

Rebecca here with you today to share with you all a rather bright little number.
This mixed media canvas has been created with a LARGE amount of what I call leftovers and recyclables. These upcycles combined with a lot of beautiful Finnabair Beads, Mechanicals and Art Ingredients produced my very bright and vibrant mixed media flower garden. 

I think we are all probably a little guilty of hoarding a few sheets of these in our craft stash, let's put them to some good use. As you can see they can create a beautifully different and textured background. 

To create my background I randomly placed a combination of letters and numerals all over my canvas, paying absolutely no attention to direction or placement (upside down or sideways, random is best!).

Once the canvas was completely covered, a thick coat of Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso was applied. As I wanted to create the look of a little flower garden I blended my colour from green (grass) through to blue (sky).

My choice of paints were Silks (African Jade, Bolivian Blue, Teal Zircon) and Lumiere (Pearlescent Blue, Halo Blue Gold Metallic Olive Green). 

Although a lot of paint had already been applied, I knew it still needed just that little bit more razzle dazzle.
To achieve this effect I sprinkled very very lightly some Art Ingredients Mica Power in Blue and Green. Spritzing with a water bottle and watching the shimmery mica run between all the letters and numerals. 

To frame my entire canvas border you will see beautiful Art Ingredients Glass Beads in Peacock Green and Turquoise.
Scattered and adhered between all the letters and numerals if you look closely you will find Art Ingredients Micro Beads in Bronze.
Plaited scrap material anchors down my lucky charm which has been combined with a hanging pendant.
Other title work on the canvas has been stamped from the beautiful Now is the Right Time and Dream On Prima Cling Stamps which has been backed with more scrap material.

Below you will see my flower stem and leaves have also been created with scrap material, rusty nails edge my boarders and have been wrapped with copper metallic thread.

Look closely at what else you can see, I did not notice this at the time of photographing but a bee had decided to land in the flower garden. ;-)

My two flowers were created with a combination of tattered flowers from my stash, hand made twisted rope flower and Mechanicals. Adorning both my Mechanicals you will see Art Ingredients Micro Beads in Grass and Blush.

Many thanks for looking my friends, as always I wish you all a very happy and creative day.

~ Rebecca ~


Products used:

Unforgettable Summer: across North America and back!

Hi there my dear friends, I'm glad to say I'm back home, safe and sound!
It was a long, intense but very adventurous and rewarding Summer: I've traveled for many weeks to meet wonderful groups of people in all corners of North America and I'm very happy to say I've used my time the best I could. I LOVE teaching: giving people inspiration, encouragement, self-confidence and making them believe they are good enough to create is the best reward you can imagine... and I have to say my students are always wonderful, talented and open hearted people. I keep learning new things from them every time I am in the classroom just simply watching them create, spreading their wings. I simply love my job.

I'd like to send huge thanks to all the wonderful people who made this experience possible and all the great shops I was able to visit: Scrap Addicts - Edmonton, Alberta, and Love is in the Details - Manitoba, Canada, Cafe Crop - Merillville, Indiana, Scrappy Chic - Livonia, Michigan, Donna Downey Studios - Huntersville - North Carolina, Scrapbooking Forever - Westlake Village, California, Artsy Stamps and Papercrafts - Loveland, Colorado, The Paper Butique - Springfield, Illinois, Whim So Doodle - St. Petersburg, Florida and Palette and Paper - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Each of this places was unique, but all of them were so warm and welcoming. Thank you so much for hosting me - time with you is just unforgettable!

I'm not going to overflow this post with all the photos I took on my way - you can see the all here on my Instagram account, but I'd like to share some of the highlights of the trip, just to give you a taste of what was going on... here we go!

I can't believe I did it... It still seems to be a one big dream, but hey, our life is built of dreams, right?
I hope those of you I was lucky to meet on my way had a good time... and I managed to inspire you a bit!
I'm trying to get back on the usual track again now, focusing on relaxing, thinking about new tasks to tick off from my "to do" list - including creating something new, something exciting, something I was planning to do for a long time :)

Keep your fingers crossed and see you soon on the blog!