Mixed media experiments

 

After seeing Jane Chipp's artwork, I was inspired to try it myself. I am learning what I like and what to change with each rendition. A great learning experience!  I love to learn new or different techniques. What I love about this is it combines painting with collage - a real mixed media project. 

Happy crafting!

Rusty and Crusty

Yummy rusty and crusty embellishments. I love making these. All are paper. I use multiple mixed media goodness to make them. Embossing powders, paint, inks, waxes...and anything that give that aged and old look.  

I made chipboard flourishes on my Cricut. The butterflies are Tim Holtz die set. Happy Crafting!

Addictive ATC coins

Back to mixed media- oh how I've missed you!  And I didn't even realize it until I started playing again.  These little coins are great to make. They are about 2.5 inches across.   This one started with  sheet music then added a paper napkin over it. All collage with matte medium. I added glitter to the die cut swirl- too bad you cant really see it in the photo.  To finish, I added clear dew drops.  Cant wait to make more!

happy crafting! 

Back to my roots

I miss mixed media. I got away from it with painting and cardmaking and procreate digital painting. This morning I got messy again and it felt great!  I made this in my mixed media journal. The bottles I made on my Cricut and used some awesome paper by Tim Holtz. The background is a combo of paint, ink,  rubber stamps and Seth Apters embossing powders. I love the powders- they are grungy and oh-so-cool to use. I added the labels- they reflect how I feel about this page.

Too early for Christmas cards?

Before I came down with this awful head cold, I got busy making Christmas cards. Last year I made them one-by-one and it took much longer than expected. This year I am trying a different way- making a group of several of one style. Seems to be faster and easier but still getting the home made results I am after.   These six cards are all mixed media. I started by painting the rectangles and adding stencil paste, gesso and sprays...grungy look. Once dry I layered all the embellishments from my stash. I could make 100 of these cards with all the embellishments I have collected/made. But that is for another day!  I love how these turned out. And six at one time is a good thing.

happy crafting!

Experimenting and having fun

Fantasy painting - experimenting. I am an admirer of Stephanie Low's artwork. She does fantasy, fairy, mermaid, folk tale painting. I love her ethereal style. I decided to play around and see what happens. This presented itself. I first put in a back ground of Burnt Umber and an iridescent paint and let dry. Then I added drops of paint and let dry. Then I put down a clear ground and let that dry. Then I just started drawing with a pencil what I saw. It is amazing how these little critters just sort of appeared ! It was a fun process and will do again.  I will use this for a card background with an ocean theme for sure.

Mixed media greeting card

I used several products and techniques to make this card. First I used inks to color the background. Then I stamped some hearts. Then came texture paste with stencil and HELLO was cut out of image glued onto card. I added some bling and flowers. I also added a punched out heart to finish.

I just experimented and went with my gut on this one. No real plan to start. 

Happy crafting!

Mixed Media yumminess...

click to enlarge

I LOVE how these turned out. All vintage and grungy and yummy. I used all kinds of products on this. It's one pieces of paper, different shots.  I first covered the paper with gesso to create a barrier. Once that was dried I used Versamark and stamp several patterns and text rubber stamps all over and embossed with clear embossing powder. Then the fun started! I added walnut ink, sprays, distress inks...what ever I could think of that would add 'age'. I used several products that had a patina color. Once it was all dry, I wiped the whole thing to take the products off of the embossed areas. And this is the result. Not sure how I will use this paper. A back to a card? Just not sure. Any ideas? Would love to hear what you think.

Happy Crafting!

Mixed Media in my art journal

I used a variety of items in this piece. Die cuts, stamped image, collage, torn papers. I love to take a favorite saying and create art around it. I never know what will happen. It's a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants sort of adventure. I collaged the background using an old dictionary page and painted it using my favorite Azo gold. Then I added torn papers and cut papers. Finished with the stamped image and the die cuts. Then I added the saying, which I typed out on my old typewriter. Easy Peasy!

Happy Crafting!

#PrimaDTCall

back to my roots...

click image to enlarge

in my art journal

3.5" x 5.5"

Lately I've been doing a lot of experimental playing with my art supplies. Inevitably I go back to mixed media collage at these times, my roots, so to speak. But it has evolved. I used to make my collages dark and moody. I loved them, but these days, I am all about COLOR. My experiments are bold, colorful and happy. Maybe this is a reflection of my interior voice. I am happy. I feel very settled here at the beach. My life is my dream come true. Someday when I am an old(er) woman, I know I will need help and will probably move back up closer to my daughters. But for now, I am living the life I imagined. What an honor and a privilege. 

mixed media journal page

I loved making this journal page. It's kind of what was on my desk at the moment. I used mat medium and glued everything down to a page. Once all was dry, I  painted it all black with gesso. When that dried, I painted with both an orange and aqua acrylic paint. Then I went over it all here and there with Gilders paste. I really like the grundgy old look of this. I added the words to create a focal point.

Happy Crafting!

Butterfly collage

"Rebirth"

Butterfly collage

3" x 3"

acrylic medium, paint and papers

This small collage was so much fun to create! I used Jonathan Talbot's method of using fluid medium and heat to adhere the collage pieces to the substrate. Once dry, I then used acrylic paint to shade and color.   It is then backed onto deckle edged watercolor paper and then framed in an 8"x 8" frame, making it quite a dramatic statement for a small piece of mixed media art. 

It hangs in my bedroom as a reminder of my life journey. Butterflies represent rebirth and transformation. I believe that we are always on a journey in this life and are always in a state of rebirth and/or transformation. We 'die' to become something else. We transform from our life experiences and so we 'become' again and again. 

Feels so good to make art!!

It's been a long time since I've made any art. Life has a way of happening and before I realize it, it's been months. Since my husband passed away so suddenly 9 months ago, my life changed, For a time I thought I would never make art again, as my heart was broken and my life was shattered. Slowly, the pieces have started to mend.  I am very gentle with myself these days.  The stress of life and loss had forced me to do so.

This is a commission piece. It felt so good to get back in the saddle and create again. I felt a bit of my old self today while making this. Boy did that feel nice! I wasn't sure I would ever feel like creating again.

I love this saying and isn't it true? It DOES take a long time to grow a friend.

mixed media face painting

 

"Live in the sun shine,

swim in the sea"

mixed media on paper

9"x12"

 

I bought a new craft book and I am really enjoying it. It's called:  Drawing and Painting Beautiful Faces, by Jane Davenport. What a fun book! There are great stepped-out photos with easy directions to paint faces using all kinds of media.

 

This is my first face I drew and painted using her book. It's a mermaid and she is underwater. I created it by copying one of her faces in the book and following her directions. Lots of fun using markers, acrylic paint pens, colored pencils, glitter...you name it...it's on here!  If you look close, you will see a crab along with sea horses in her hair among the bubbles and plants.

 

new mini photo album

This is my latest mini photo album. It's called "The Garden". The base of the book is a Michaels 5 page scalloped chipboard book with a ring binder. I used the Butterfly Collection paper line from Pink Paislee.

finally finished

upstairs for a cup of tea

8" x 10", mixed media

I finally finished this piece, which I started at the end of the summer while away on a crafting weekend with some friends. It sat for a long time until it told me what it needed to be finished. I love how it turned out, especially the colors. Look closely, there is a light in the room on the second floor where tea is being made...

paper clay doll # 3

let the mess begin! Creative Chaos...

Gorilla hands will not do! I have to remake them.

Yes, I know her legs do not match in thickness...ah well

It really helps to make a scale drawing to follow.

On to doll # 3 in my paper clay doll making adventure. She is going to be small, about 6.5" inches tall. Her theme - something about time going too fast, middle age, middle passage...the thoughts tumbling around in my head at this moment in time in my own personal journey. Thoughts are marinading and ideas are coming into focus as I make her and she presents herself to me. She will let me know her message...

Her hands I made are WAY TOO LARGE...so I am experimenting with polymer clay and paper clay to see which works better for me to make tiny hands...last night I made hands 4x out of polymer clay and these in the photos above- all still too large and gorilla like...onto to hands # 6- eventually I'll hopefully get to where I can live with them and they won't be so gorilla like!

I made her feet large on purpose. I want them large and she will be wearing ballet slippers. This much I know. The rest, well, like I said...she will tell me...

Dream Big

Dream Big

8" x 10" mixed media collage

I've always admired Kelly Rea Roberts and if you go back to Issue # 15 of Cloth Paper Scissors, (Nov/Dec 2007), on page 72 she has an article about how she makes her collages. So I made this with a nod to Kelly- very much in her style. I am pleased at how it came out. I learned a great technique from the article...one she learned from someone else...and that's how we all learn. Now I want to take her article and make more of this kind of art, but with my own spin on it.

layers of our lives

close up

Life's Layers

mixed media

another close up

Earth layers are like the layers of our lives...as we dig deeper into our own life story we often find treasures and tragedies. Some layers are thick and gooey, keep us heavy, while some are light and allow us to spread our wings and fly.

I always get into a place of reflection at the close of each year. This year I am thinking about the layers of my life. How each one contributes to the wholeness that is me, my story, my life.

I started this piece last night at about 1 am and worked on it until almost 2:30 am. Then I finished it up today (after the snow removal!).

Laurie Meseroll workshop

Wherever you go, go with all your heart

mixed media collage 12" x 12"

I really really really enjoyed spending a day with Laurie Meseroll learning her folk art techniques using fabric, rice paste, bees wax and paint...a wonderful messy day of art!

I completed one piece and I am pleased with it. I now will incorporate her techniques into my own art as I go forward. That's what I love about workshops- learning new techniques and tips...and meeting lots of fellow artists. All in all a great experience!