Friday, June 17, 2016

Time on the Wings of a Butterfly for Finnabair

Sometimes you just step back and say, "yes." THAT'S what I was 
talking about.....and sometimes you don't.

Well, this was one of those time where I knew I was happy
as soon as I started to glue it down.

Yep, it's my turn on the 
and this is my BRIGHT and 
SHINY project.


It's really hard to photograph a project with mica paints, but here I found
laying it on a darker background helped. 
The white background just washed it all out, and you couldn't see
the deep,rich colors of the metallic paints.

I started with a 6x6 inch canvas board.


I added a coat of heavy white gesso with a 
texture brush to create some pattern. 

When dry I stamped a script stamp with embossing ink
and used a fine black powder to emboss.


I made a few embellishments with the new 
Iron Orchid Design molds and paper clay.

So using these as my main elements, I started to lay out my design.



When I had some basic idea, I started gluing with 
Heavy Body Gel and 3D Matte Gel,
 adding different found items and
Mechanicals that I had cut apart.

When dry, give it all a coat of heavy black gesso.
I left the stamped area alone for some open space.

I'm sorry I didn't remember to take a picture at
this point, just use your imagination and envision this a 
flat black blob in the middle of my canvas.


Here you can see where I used Soft Matte Gel to add 
Mini Art Stones as filler around the clock area. Then I started to
paint everything that is black.


 I used every color of 
Opal Magics on this. All 8 colors. 


The medium sized Grungy Butterfly is a rainbow of all the 
fabulous colors in this palette.

The few colors of Metalliques that I used were for the heart
with Rusty Red, Steampunk Copper, and some Gold Rush for highlights. Otherwise it was all done with the Opal Magics.....
which are just magical on black gesso!


I painted the German Dresden black and added Aqua-Rose, Green-Gold 
and Yellow-Blue Opal Magics.

The fabulous purple comes from Violet-Green, and YES,
it truly is that bright! I LOVE it.


You can see the detail on the mesh here with several colors painted
in with a small brush.


The last thing I did was add some dry brushing with 
black gesso to the edges of the canvas and white areas, 
and give spots a spritz of mica powder spray.

Contrast and shine....it's so easy to achieve with these
terrific paints.

Give them a go.  You won't be sorry.

Your Friend in ART, 

Linda

Products Used:
ArtAlchemy Paints-Metalliques - Rusty Red, Steampunk Copper, Gold Rush
Art Extravagance - Mini Art Stones

Monday, June 6, 2016

Fearless - Just for Fun Journal Page

Sometimes it's fun to drag out an unfinished journal page
and add to it to make it better.

Here I had a few bright colors sprayed onto a page in a 
large journal, and that was all.

So I got out my stencils, archival inks, and light paste and added some
more depth and layers.


 The picture from a magazine is glued on and painted over with black.
I added some more marks with pens and inks.

She looked like a Conquering Princess Warrior, so I 
gave her a crown with Finnabair mini beads and glass glitter, 
and a title of FEARLESS using ArtAlchemy Opal Magic
and Metallique Paints. 


I used clear gesso over the picture to seal and make it able
to take more paints and inks.

Her crown/flourish and the word are laser-cut chipboard
from Retro Cafe Art.


I used several different designers stencils in the layers that 
created a mottled background of color.

You can see how the Light Paste from Finnabair and Doily stencil
 turns an opaque white that I really liked for contrast.

Hope you enjoy this page, and have a great week!

Linda

Friday, June 3, 2016

An Enchanted Forest Treasure Shelf

I've always loved the rich, warm, fabulous designs from Graphic45 paper.

But this collection is too gorgeous not to play with. So, I decided to get to 
work and use some perfect embellishments on this 
from 



All the Cut-Outs and Charms, Rhinestone Trim and Paints can be found at
Retro Cafe Art Gallery using the links here,



You could store your ATC's here, or business cards,
scraps of paper or ticket stubs you treasure.
 Or anything else that you always want to keep in place....keys perhaps?!?!


This Relic and Artifact face was painted with Gold Rush
 and Rich Turquoise Metallique paints.

 It had Rusty Red on it and another unknown layer
 before I got the look I wanted. 


If you follow me, you know I fussy cut and layer papers
 onto my laser-cut Masonite kits from RCAG
 before I glue them together. 

This is the back with several different layers of paper cuts before I 
glued it to my Masonite piece.


 The wooden legs were in my stash, but I used German Dresden,
Mini Serrated and Gold Fancy Scalloped,
and painted them to the colors I wanted adding a wash of black to age them.

The Face reminded me of a mask used in those times by
performers in the court.
It's from the Relics and Artifacts Visage collection
 by Sandra Evertson.


The Ornate Flourish Cut Outs were painted gold and glittered up,
 then cut in half to use as corners. 


 I like to add Tombow markers to create deeper color and shadows in spots.


This is the a detail look at the back and one of the sides.


 The Rhinestone and Rhinestone and Pearl Trim just light this piece up. 


And this shows a detail of the legs where everything is
 painted with ArtAlchemy Paints.

I used Aqua-Rose and Blue-Gold Opal Magics
over the black paint, and Metalliques Rusty Red and
Steampunk Copper on the Trims.


Just a note, the backdrop for this an antique hand-crocheted
table cloth made by my Grandmother.
Hence a few tea stained areas can be seen.
 It's too fragile to try to remove them,
 but that makes it even more valuable to me. 

I hope you enjoyed this and get some inspiration to make
 a treasure of your own.

Be Well and Be Good to Each Other,

Linda