Turn Paper Into Fabric....Finnabair CT

My december project for Finnabair's Creative Team involves pattern, layering and "illusion". Finn has produced some truly beautiful small, textural, stamps. Repeat stamping equals pattern. Do it on Bond paper then using Distress Stains, saturate it with colour. Scrunch it up, then partially dry it. This paper then looks and feels like fabric and can be moulded, folded and gathered just like fabric. The full tutorial is HERE on Finnabair blog.

Thanks for visiting. Have a happy and creative weekend.

Finnabair CT.........Spread Your Wings Mixed Media Academy

Today it's about favourites. We all have favourites......food, music, movies, books, seasons, places...........art materials. Choose your favourite art material and do something with it.This was the brief for this months SYWA. See what the other girls have chosen and their beautiful projects HERE on Finnabair's blog. My favourite medium is art basics Soft Matte or Gloss Gel. It works as a glue, (perfect for collage, my favourite thing ) also as a binder to which you can add other materials like Mica Powder, it's a sealer and it works better than any other product to do image transfer.  I love the process of image transfer and then the creative possibilities that this then opens up.

This journal page, with an image transfer of my favourite face, that of Frida Kahlo, was done using art basics Soft Matte Gel.

There is a more detailed step by step HERE on Finnabair's blog, but here you can see how well the image is transferred.....not perfect, but that is part of the beauty of this process.....I love the jagged, soft, smudgy edges.

 I received some criticism when I posted this journal page on my Instagram, telling me "Frida was overdone, move on, do something new." It made me a little sad.  What is it  about our "favourites" that we love so much...........they make us feel good, they make us happy, we feel comfortable with them, we trust them, our favourite things become a part of who we are. Negativity will never, ever be one of my favourite things.

Keeping It Simple..........Mixed Media Place

Sometimes it's good to limit yourself to just a few art materials. There is just so much to choose from these days, and if you love mixed media as I do, you just want to play with it all. On this journal page I have kept it simple, 2 colours 2 stamps 2 stencils 1 box of Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels.

These oil pastels give the look of watercolour but with a lot more control.

Using too many different materials and colours on one small page can become a bit like having too many kids at a birthday party.......lots of fun, but lots of chaos as well. Keeping it simple allows the couple of colours or media you use, to shine. More detail and a list of products used on this page can be found HERE at Mixed Media Place.
Thanks for visiting, have fun with your art materials ( just not all at the sane time )

Mixed Media Place.........Working Small

Mixed Media Place Creative Gym this month is about working small. Something I'm not that comfortable with. I have never been attracted to making cards, but greatly admire those artists out there who produce amazingly detailed and beautiful cards. I actually had to Google what an ATC was and how big it was. The challenge is also Christmas themed, so if you like working small and are in the festive mood already, then come and join our challenge HERE.

Two little ATC's made with Finnabair stencil, stamp, Mica Powder, Mechanicals and Glass Glitter

Details of challenge and team inspiration is HERE at Mixed Media Place. Thank you for dropping by. Believe in Peace.....do we dare?

Shrine for Frida.............Finnabair Creative Team

Using a "cutsie" doll's face to represent one of the strongest and most iconic of women seems almost sacrilege, and I apologise if this offends. I really did just want to portray the strength and beauty of this amazing woman. Perhaps the face is a little more Salma Hayek,who plays Frida in the movie, than the real Frida.

It was challenging to take a silicone doll's head and paint it, and I have nothing but respect for those artists who work in this field.

The other thing that I was inspired by for this project was an amazing wall of beautiful tiles I saw in a Mexican restaurant in Byron Bay. I had a go at making tiles out of chipboard, collaging them with tissue, cutting them into 1cm. squares and then coating them with glossy accents.

Wall tiles in restaurant.

The other side was coated with art extravagance White Texture Paste and coloured with Distress Stain.

Metal, resin and lace embellishments all coloured with Mica Powder. Micro Beads, Glass Glitter and Mica Flakes added for shine and texture. A more detailed tutorial is HERE on Finnabair's blog,

 along with a full list of ingredients used.

If you do not know the story of Frida Kahlo, watch the movie, it's wonderful.

Thanks for visiting today.

"Feet what do I need you for when I 

have wings to fly?" Frida Kahlo

Art Journals and The White Page

I'm enjoying playing in my art journals more and more. They are fantastic to use for exploring new ideas, for practicing with new and unfamiliar art mediums, for experimenting and for recording daily or special events. But they are also wonderful places to just "play". To have fun with your very favourite colours, materials and mediums.........all the things you love and feel most comfortable working with.

 My favourite things: Ranger Distress Spray Stains in Cracked Pistachio, Tea Dye, Wild Honey and Picked Raspberry. Pretty stamps from Prima.....I can not imagine my creative world with out stamps, so thank you to all the stamp makers and designers. Faces. Flowers and collage. All my favourite things: together on two small pages.

And of course words. Words that resonate and have meaning for me.

There is a more detailed write up and full list of products HERE at Mixed Media Place.

Does "the white page" intimidate you ? Sometimes it's really hard to put that first mark onto a clean, white, page.

I always start by adding colour, but there are many more ways of "breaking the white page."

The Spread Your Wings Academy on Fannabair's blog has some tips on how to overcome the daunting "white page".

You can see how this once white journal page was started, along with some other great ideas on how to make that first mark on a white page, HERE on Finnabair's blog.

Thanks for visiting, have a fun and creative weekend.

 

Misunderstood: Art Journal Page for Finnabair Creative Team.

Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person.....that's me. I always seem to be "putting my foot in my mouth". Art journal page, "Misunderstood" for Finnabair CT.

There is a step by step tutorial HERE on Finnabair's blog.

The face is hand sketched and coloured with regular old colour pencils.

Lindy's Stamp Gang "Magicals" , Finnabair stamps, stencils, gel, gesso and crackle medium.

Thanks for visiting. May your words always be perfect, meaningful, sincere and kind. Have a great creative week.

Book in a Box.........For Mixed Media Place

It's still going....that little book in a recycled box. There are now 18 pages. This is where I finished last time.

.......................and here are the next seven pages, created with different mixed media and some happy family snaps. I've tried to keep the colours and techniques consistent, using the same stamps and stencils throughout, so the pages "flow".

A full list of materials can be found HERE at Mixed Media Place and can be purchased on line from the Mixed Media Place store HERE.

Thank you for dropping by. Wishing you a wonderfully creative week and may all your projects get completed.

 

Through Different Eyes.......For Finnabair Creative Team

You would be heartless to not be moved by the inhumanity that is taking place across Europe. Thousands of people fleeing the terror and violence in Syria. Leaving all behind. Left with nothing, and no where to go. I wish I could see the world through "rose coloured glasses", where everything is good. I want to see a world that is free of all inhumanity. My page is reflective of this idealistic dream.

I have used a lot of "steps" or processes to make this page, but none are difficult. You can find a step by step tutorial of how I've created this page HERE on Finnabair's blog            

Some of the techniques used are:  wet embossing, dry embossing, stamping, collage, image transfer, stencilling with modeling paste and embossing powder.

I have used Finnabair's beautiful Mica Powders to colour chipboard, metal and the butterflies.

Ecoline watercolor gets absorbed by wet modeling paste applied through a stencil.
A full list of all materials used can be found HERE on Finnabair's blog and can be purchased on line from her shop HERE at Mixed Media Place.
Thank you so much for visiting. Enjoy your weekend and your freedom.

"Midnight Blue" and some "Layering" .

Hello. Time for a catch up. Time seems to be whizzing by and I have two projects that I would love to share. The first is a little canvas where I've tried to channel Finnabair with her wonderful textured backgrounds and beautifully and creatively layered "junk"and metal elements......I have a long way to go ( just as well I'm taking one of her classes when she is here in Australia in November ), but it is so much fun to work in her style. Details of this project can be found HERE at Mixed Media Place. My second project is an art journal page, created for Finnabair's Spread Your Wings Academy. Each month some of the Creative Team work on some simple tutorials showing a specific technique. This month it was "Layers" and I chose to show how you can create layers with "wet mediums". More details of this project with the step by step tutorial can be found HERE on Finnabair's blog.
"Midnight Blue"

The colour of this was achieved by firstly coating everything in black Gesso, then a coat of Silks Acrylic Glaze in "Boysenberry", touched up next with some Pink Mica Powder and lastly dry brushed with Inka Gold in "Silver"

"Everything Changes"

Art journal page working with layers of wet medium. Including art basics gesso both white and clear, waterproof ink, acrylic paint, Copic markers, art extravagance Texture Paste, art basics Modeling Paste, Distress Spray Stains, Izink pigment ink, Gelatos, waterproof black marker pen and Color Bloom Spray Mists.

All the materials used for these projects can be sourced from HERE at Mixed Media Place Store.

Thank you for visiting ! Have a fun and creative week.