It's Been Wonderful

Hi there folks!

October will be a bitter-sweet month for me. It's the time when some of the Creative Team members are saying their goodbyes and presenting their last projects on this blog.

However, it's never a farewell, I know we will keep in touch and I'm more than certain than these creative friendships will last forever.

Today it's Denisa whose deliciously multi layered and always so meaningful artworks have inspired us all for the last year...

Hello, it´s Denisa here today for the very last time.

It´s been a wonderful kind of a dream like experience. Being here with you… all the talented DT ladies and you, my lovely crafty folks! Thank you all for sharing your ideas, wisdom and warm comments with me. I´ve learned a lot and had a great time never to be forgotten.

My last project is a tribute to you all. It´s full of colours, textures and Finnabair´s goodies.

It´s a 3D art journal spread made on a cling stamps craft paper packaging. This time I was dealing with destiny and fate.

Let´s get started.

I gessoed the paper, let it dry and glued on some chippie left over (as a glue I used 3D Matte Gel). Then I painted it with Heavy White Gesso, sprinkled on some tiny Art Stones and let it dry again.

I added some colour using Lindy´s sprays. Again I dried the surface.

Next I glued on an old baking tin, some floristic sisal and a chestnut twig. I also attached some acorn caps and wires with beads on them.

Then I sprinkled on some Mini Art Stones and Glitters. I added some Mica Flakes, Micro Beads, Mica Powders, Glass Glitter. I did some painting using fab Art Alchemy Acrylics and some fragment stamping using black archival ink.

The focal point is a cluster made of an old vintage pic placed in a Mechanical Bottle Cap and covered with a Melange Art Pebble.

As you can see I also attached deer´s antlers to the man´s head. In my country it has a pejorative idiomatic meaning. A man illustrated with such antlers is regarded to be cheated on by his own wife.

Here´s my message: sometimes no matter how hard you try, you cannot defeat your destiny. Some are destined to fly and others to fail and fall. It has nothing to do with your love and kindness. That´s just the way things are.

To finish up my piece I added a star, Mechanical Typewriter Numbers, some bits of washi tapes.

I used some Lindy´s sprays again to make it more colourful and lots of black and white splashes.

The very last thing was my sentiment saying: Destiny, Thy Will Be Done!

Wishing you all a happy crafting time!
Denisa

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Artifacts Come in all Shapes and Sizes...

Hi again my dear ones!
I'm back here, between my usual schedule - traveling, planning, teaching and creating... in fact, I'm far ahead in plans for 2017 and I hope soon I will be able to share my full schedule for the next year - how crazy is that?

Today I'd like to show you one of the projects I decided to put on a bigger canvas - I'm sure you remember my "Artifact" class, full of texture, dimension, dramatic games of light and shadow? Well, there is now a chance to make a bigger version of this project... it transformed into the triptych and it really is full day od mixed-media fun - check it out!
(I'm going to teach this class next year during ART IS YOU Art Retreat in Minneapolis - you can see the full schedule including my other classes and amazing art from crazy talented teachers here... )

(The Ultimate Artifact - triptych 3x 18x24 cm)

You know I simply love using everyday objects and found items - here I was playing with the idea of double brush composition, built on the top of the heavy texture, surrounded by tons of metal plastic and paper elements - mostly my Mechanicals, Art Pebbles and Art Stones from Prima, but there is much more! As it is a classroom project I had limited access to my rubbish boxes and I  could only use whatever I put in the kit... but the results are not too bad, don't you think?

But this project is not just rich composition! there are amazing layers, which just make my heart sing: cardboard, fabric, lace, Art Extravagance Texture Pastes used with and without stencils - so much to see, so much to touch! All the colours used are based on my product too: Art Basics Black Heavy Gesso, Art Alchemy Paints and Art Ingredients Mica Powders are the ones I have to list first. It allmakess me a really proud product designer... I just love how thy all work together, just as I planned!

If you are interested in taking this class - here is your chance!
You can join Art Is You in Minneapolis and learn from the most amazing artists...or me ;) I'm so very proud to be invited to join this artistic tribe again! Check us out - and watch out for updates on Santa Rosa Art Retreat too!

Here is a list of the most important art medium used for this project - I hope it helps!

Sending best wishes to you all

Love You Forever

Hello in October!

We have such a special art piece to start this new month - Marta created a really emotional spread in her vintage book. Those of you who have tried art journaling already know what it's like to pour your feelings onto paper and how healing this form of creativity can be.

Those of you who have never journaled - believe us, it's so worth it! We hope Marta's story and beautiful artwork will inspire you to try this form of art.

Hello friends, it's Marta Lapkowska here.

I am back with a very special project... a project in the memory of Suzi, our guinea pig.

Losing a pet is never easy... but seeing your child saying godbye is the hardest thing ever.

This page was created only last night... with a very broken heart but I felt I had to and needed to do it, simple but very meaningful.

I wanted the textures and colors to reflect my mood... I wanted to capture the thoughts we all had at home. I believe that expressing our feelings and saying things out loud helps in difficult times...

I started by covering both pages in my altered book with White Gesso. It's the best way to prime your pages and to prepare your piece for all kinds of mediums that you might want to use. Especially when you create on delicate vintage paper like I did in this case.

As pages from old books are quite thin, it's good to glue 2-3 pages together with ordinary glue or Gel Medium.

My next step was to create some texture with Modeling Paste and a Honeycomb stencil.

While the Paste was still wet, I added the lace. Lace can be easily glued on with Modeling Paste but you can also simply press it into wet Gesso.

When everything was dry, I went for a monochrome palette and colored the pages with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays and a touch of some Silver Finnabair acrylic paint.

My embellishments - 3 metal Tin Hearts were sticked with 3D Matte Gel Medium.

Wishing you all the best,
Love, Marta xx 

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