Art It Friday

The lovely Kim Dellow is asking us to join her for some Friday face drawing/painting, here is what Kim has to say:

Do you fancy joining in on this portraiture journey?

It can be any type of face, realistic, stylised, whimsical and you can use any materials you like, pencil, paint, pastels etc., just as long as it is your own work, i.e not a commercially available stencil or stamp.

Are you up to for it? I do hopes so! Let's have some face fun! Meet you here next Friday for some more.

My sketching is not good, i am trying to learn about placement and dimensions so each time i draw a face it is always a surprise how it turns out.

My favourite way of making them look good is to use an App called Pixlr-o-matic on my phone. So many possibilities and i always think my sketching's look so much better afterwards. Just found out i can also use this via chrome and as a download onto a laptop or computer, how exciting. you can tell what i will be doing after this blog post can’t you!

I am a tad scared at showing my faces so i hope you will be gentle with me and remember i am a complete beginner…

This particular sketch was done with a 2B Pencil, i didn’t like how her eyes or mouth looked so added the crosses.

The frame was added via Pixlr.

In a completely different style is this scary woman, added writing around her face and body but i can’t remember what i have written lol.  Again the frame was added via Pixlr.

This is one of the first sketches i used coloured pencils on, a set of Staedtler Ergosoft from Tesco.

These are not my first attempts will take pictures of them so i can share another time.

I do hope you can find the time to come and play along, i am hopeful you must have some sketches/drawings/paintings somewhere that you would like to share.

I apologise to all those of my lovely Followers who can draw, please be gentle…

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to your lovely comments.

Enjoy your weekend!

xxx.

Using Transparent Inks from DecoArt

I have used a technique that i watched by Andy Skinner. Here is a link to his technique using DecoArt Weathered Wood Crackle Medium. First time trying this technique, some bits worked and some didn’t so a good learning curve. I hope you get time to watch Andy’s video, he makes it look so easy!

All the Media paints, Weather Wood Crackle the Matt Decou-Page Glue and Media paints are from DecoArt.

The prints are from a freebie page on a web site, i chose mostly receipts as i like the lines and the empty space around some of the letters and descriptions.

This is a very image heavy post as i made a number of pages and took  pictures of each stage.

Made a mistake on my first try, in the above picture you can see i stamped onto the paper before doing the technique and didn’t leave any gaps as Andy did. Good thing the paints are transparent lol!

This is after the preparation and the first layers of paint added.

The crackle is appearing but i don’t think i added enough glue so the crackle came out very small.

The misters were sprayed to get some drippage, some had been wiped off with kitchen roll and some blotted off, loving the results so far.

Next step was to add some Andy Skinner stencilling and stamping onto the backgrounds.

This is as far as i am taking these background papers as i will be using them on a project very soon which will make them look much different.

The 80gsm copy paper i printed off with the receipt designs felt plasticised after all the layering of glue and paint so they became quite sturdy.

Some of the techniques that i used reacted differently on the Decou-Paged crackle layer. I flicked some of the mister onto the crackle layer, heated it with a heat gun and when a skin started to form i blotted the area,the paper took out the wet paint from the centre leaving a raised blot with a lighter inner. When i added water to the sprays to let them drip down the page they took the layers right back to the original paper colours.

I loved how the paints reacted to the different techniques and want to do this again.

Hope you have enjoyed seeing the process, it will make more sense after watching the video.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by and leave a comment, each one is read and much appreciated.

xxx

Bibliogami

Sorry for lack of commenting over the last few days i have been a tad unwell, today i spent catching up on all your wonderful blog posts, some amazing inspiration out there.

I have found something else i love to relax with, book folding also known as Bibliogami. It is difficult to find free patterns so i played with the only paper back book i had available and started folding pages.

Here is my first project.

Wanted it to look like an old rolodex so added some washers to the sides.

Front view, i am really proud of my first play. Am going to use it as a holder for my altered playing cards when they are all completed.

Cut some very thick cardboard to size, sprayed it with DecoArt Misters then when dry added some large glass flat backed clear pebbles. Used DecoArt Decou-Page Matt Glue/Sealer to adhere both the book to the cardboard and the glass pebbles.  I can highly recommend this glue, it is amazingly strong and dries clear.

Am working on my second book which should be finished by next week, i hope you have enjoyed my quick post and that you are all enjoying the very changeable weather.

Thanks for dropping by, looking forward to your comments.

xxx

Darcy’s Calendar Challenge–April 2015

Hi it’s time for Darcy’s April Calendar Challenge, hope you can find time to come and play!

This months techniques are:

1. Keep a part of the original picture and incorporate that into your design

2. Technique -  use drips and splatters

3. Add - a repeating shape or word as many times as possible

4. Blog your calendar page and link up from April 1st 2015.

Printed off my page onto 80gsm copier paper and then cut it down to size.

The only thing i wanted to keep was Tinglyitchiness from Stampotique.

Masked off Tingly using a masking fluid then painted over the whole area using Fresco Paint Nougat. Then i went over the whole area again using Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks blending the two yellow colours and using the Chipped Sapphire for the edge.

Really enjoyed this month’s techniques. I tried to follow a You Tube video from a very talented lady called Helen Allen who is on the DT for Rubber Dance Stamps. I was inspired to have a go at her background as she repeat stamps a script stamp over a butterfly.

I tried to follow her instructions but my second generation stamping was a tad heavy handed so i didn’t achieve the look she did, this is my first attempt at this and i will try again as i love the effect it gives. Let me know if you have a play and how your project turns out! Used a sentiment from Lindsay Mason’s set Creative thoughts, the butterfly is from Sarah Lugg for Rubber Stampede.

Added the drips and splats using a Sepia coloured Ink from my local stationers. Coloured the butterflies in using a watered down version of Mustard Seed DI.

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that Tingly is a different colour than in the beginning. Had to go over him as the masking fluid didn’t do a good job and the paint covered him up, ooops!

I am very happy with how my calendar image has turned out. Now to add him to my mop up journal.

Added some of the papers i had over from the recent workshop once again but there was something missing…

I added some washi tape to ground Tingly and to add a little more colour on the collaged page and a couple of dark splats from the Inkylicious Elements 2 set.

More pondering over a couple of day then i added a

 

Memory Box die called Chloe and a piece of fabric i had over from making a watch strap for my OH, thought this would make a fab tree trunk, then added a piece of the Gelli Plate i had over to ground the trunk.

Recap - I used two stamps repeatedly, added splats and drippage as April’s instructions.

If you want to join in with May’s Challenge Darcy has left these instructions:

Here are the rules for May 2015.

1.. Keep a part of the original picture and incorporate that into your design

2, Technique - Make marks,... scratching or stamping into texture paste/thick gesso/spackle/glue anything that will hold the shape

3. Add – an image that depicts your star sign/horoscope (drawing,painting,magazine image)

4. Blog your calendar page and link up from May 1st 2015

 

Looking forward to your lovely comments, thanks for dropping by.

xxx

SDC 187 Neon

Stampotique Designers Blog challenge for this week is to use neon. This is what the host Astrid Stulemeijer has us say:
At first I was a bit afraid of these intense colours, but after using them, I really love them.  They give your work such a nice "pop".  I challenge you to use at least one neon colour.  Can't wait to see your eye popping work!

A challenge indeed as i wasn’t sure if i owned any neon colours and i don’t find them easy to work with.

Off the check on my stash and found a piece of background card i had over from the taster day i went to at AFTH in February which is very bright, cut out an ATC sized card from it.

Decided to use Teddy from Stampotique as my muse. Found some very old neon pens in my stash, coloured Teddy in but didn’t fussy cut him out just the basic shape, i stamped him again directly onto the ATC and then adhered the coloured in version over the top.

Sat looking at him for a while then hand wrote the words ‘They told me to trust their design choices. Never ever again…’ Added a bow and a butterfly handbag.

Drew some little white circles on the edge then outlined them using a UniBall Pen, found an old stamp which i partially stamped just for the word Art. Stamped using Vintage Photo Distress ink then outlined the letters with a white Signo Pen. Put that onto a piece of torn kraft paper and then added a piece of book paper. Grounded Teddy with some washi tape from stash.

Macro shot of Teddy so you can see the bow and butterfly.

Hope you have enjoyed your visit today, thanks for dropping by and looking forward to your lovely comments.

xxx