Multi Frame

It was a lovely surprise to find that Claire, whom I had just met at stamp magic, was our Guest Designer.
I love the freshness of her Darcy stamping, the understated colours and her crackle contrast,

I decided to have a go. I stamped onto a journal page with black archival and just arranged the stamps on the page.
Next I washed over with PA fresco, Hey Pesto, Mermaid, Limelight and Chartreuse randomly.
I used the same paints to fill in the images and a tiny touch of white pen.
As I didn't have a frame I made some crackly washi tape using masking tape and crackle glaze. i cut it down the centre to make the frames in proportion to the stamped images. I like the contrast between the crisp images and the rustic washi tape.
Thanks Claire for the inspiration and very well done!

Face number 2

Having experienced a class by Dina Wakley on Sunday I am still fired up to play with her ideas.
I wanted to show the stages that this piece went through and the build up of layers.

First , after gesso I scraped colour onto the page with palette knife. Next, I sprayed through a stencil with Dylusion inks.
I drew my image in Stabilo black and dry brushed the shadows in umber (Dina's paint).

Next I went over most of the umber with Sky blue paint, still dry brushing and then cross hatched with Lemon and added magenta lips and sky blue eyes.

I added some tangerine to the face and then highlighted the face with white. I played with colours in the hair and redrew lies with my stabile pencil. 

Finally I drew through the hair lines of Portfolio pastels.

Finished!

Dina Wakley class

Gosh, where do I start with my class at AFTH. Excited, nervous, so looking forward to meeting Dina.
Must try not to waffle.
Lots of very colourful characters were there and I was glad that I had chosen my Joseph's amazing technicoloured dream dress to wear as I felt part of the clan.(stupid but important to me)

Dina started by asking us to draw our before pic of a face. This was good to compare at the end.
Next she demonstrated correct proportions of face and effects of eyes, mouth etc and how she portrays them. We all tried this.
Next, using her guidelines we all drew the person next to us. This was on top of page gesso'd and scraped with paint and stencilled. We drew with our Stabilo pencil which reacts to water. We washed over some of the lines with water. Mine was not bad but Dina noticed that the eyes were too big.

Dina emphasised over and over that in order to sketch faces we must practise and practise and use reference….photos from mags etc.

Next challenge, should we choose to accept it, she said, was to draw from a pic we had brought and paint it.

We prepped a background with scraped paint, stencils etc. Drew our pic and then

1. dry brushed all the shadowed parts in umber.

2. overlapped this 90% with another colour, e.g. turquoise.

3. overlaid the face with another colour by crosshatch brushstrokes.. never any water, just wipe brush on apron and carry on.

4. Highlight  areas in white.

Paint up to black lines, not over them.

5. whiten the pupil and paint mouth.

6. redraw lines with stabile pencil

7. Add more colour for fun and crayon too.

this is my result. I was well pleased with this.

Here are examples of Dina's work…awesome.

Next project was to build up a series of faces on one piece of work. Obviously, this is Dina's.

Mine! based on Marilyn Monroe. Not the best! but fast and frantic to be fair!

Next project, draw with non-dominant hand! liked this cos good excuse to fail! This is Dina's.

And mine!

Next project, after prepping background, colour block a face shape and then draw on it with a stick dipped in ink!

Mine was rubbish as I forgot to consider proportion as was losing the plot by this stage!

ANYWAY….we went on to draw a face using a top from Dylusion inks dipped in ink….Dina's

 version, she used a great big fat top for hers. Amazing!

My version…not bad!

I took quite a few of our wonderful tutor and here she is!

And here is a very cream crackered but happy me just before we did show and tell!

So, a very worthwhile and extremely rewarding course. fired me up to have a go and free up to use colour and bigger brushes. practise is the key and use references. 

Had another go today and am pleased to be carrying on the skills that the wonderful Dina taught me! Much respect!

My style is not that of Dina but her aim is to stimulate, not to clone!

Wreaths

I found a lovely idea to copy while at Stamp Magic at Doncaster last weekend. Well lots of ideas really but this one has been useful to make gifts for Christmas.
On the Inkydoodles stand I saw some wire rings and wooden die cuts, Birdhouses, hearts, birds and flowers.
Sarah had created wreaths with knotted ribbon and added the wooden embellishments,
So I had a go when I got home. This red one is for my old job share partner Helen as her colour scheme is red. I added some large buttons with butchers twine. It took most of my red gingham ribbon.

I forgot to mention that I used Paperartsy fresco acrylic paint for the birdhouse.

Next I chose to make one for my daughter using her new colour scheme of Grey and Mustard.

This time I bought the ribbon specially and I used 7 metres. 

Sarah used twice as much ribbon on her creation but I was happy with how far I took them. Thanks for the inspiration Sarah from Inkydoodles. 

Melting pastels

Another challenge caught my imagination this week, playing with Portfolio pastels by the very talented Helen Chilton.
I have previously melted wax crayons but never Portfolios.

I used bright colours on a ribbed black card and followed Helen's instructions. I varied it by adding some Frantage aged gold and then ran the crayons over the top to create lines.

I played about with stamping faces and melting onto different colours and shiny surfaces and these are my results. Just loved it and will play again with more knowledge.

Thanks Helen, loved it!

Stuff!

This is my fourth PA project for this months challenges, and how can I resist a challenge created by Julie Ann. Can't explain, but Julie Ann always manages to set my mind whirring and sends me off in a frenzy.
I knew that I didn't have a corrugated jacket from this company and actually went on their website and selected a book….but, because it wouldn't be here until next week and I am a "need to do it yesterday" girl, I found a cardboard version.

I begun by brayering Little Black Dress, Snowflake and Pewter randomly onto the surfaces. I decided to leave some of the background showing. Next I did the lid stamping in Black and with a lolly stick made little lines to mimic the corrugated pattern that I hadn't got. 

Next, I had great fun making my own washi tape. All my stamps used are from PaperArtsy.

It was really going well and I normally spend ages choosing positioning of things but this just went on straight away. Washi tape on and really pleased.

Next I made some letters from corrugated card and scruffed them up a bit. I think that I am very good at achieving scruffy!

I glued them onto black card to make them stand out and attached them and some string and a tag.

My intention is to use this folder to store my pictures of faces that I have collected to take to my Dina Wakley class in 2 weeks….(very excited) !!!!

Thanks Julie Ann, your work is amazing and you inspire me greatly! x

Ceramic Tile.

I was fascinated this week by the project from Wanda with a fantastic selection of tiles.
I was so impressed with her work and the great detail of how she described her successes, failures and learned methods.
I was drawn to the bright tile and after a rummage in the garage, came up with a rather large tile but had to have a go!
My tile is 13 inches by 8, so it can be either just decorative art or a worktop saver!
I followed instructions up to the Snowflake stencilling and then decided to hand paint the colours onto the flowers. I didn't have a suitable stamp for the middles so drew with black pen a few lines. I went round with white pen and then black again to make my flowers emerge from the busy background.
Lessons learned, try the colour scheme out first and do not just plough on….leave a lot more white space….dont try to fill every space!!
I do like my tile but will have another go and this time plan a little better.
Thanks Wanda for all your fabulous ideas.

Moths

Here is my interpretation of Gillian Simson's latest challenge. Just love the textures.
I worked in my journal as I am running out of storage/display space.
I prepared my background with some text by adding a dictionary page and some manuscript and then
 I used PA frescos Mermaid,Sky, Chutney and Seaweed and spread with a palette knife on my background. Like Gillian I added grungepaste through a stencil.

Next I stripped some corrugated card and like Gillian added paint with a palette knife. I also distressed the edges with Black Soot, to give extra definition.
I cut some Kraft card and spread paint and added some script from a PA Hotpick using Coffee Archival.
I intended to use a butterfly stamp as a feature but believe it or not I have no butterflies in my PA collection so I used a little moth. I stamped the moth with Stazon onto sparkly card and mounted them with a brad through each one.
Then I found a sentiment that I like and mounted it and the word Dream .
I distress inked my grungepaste and then added the compulsory Treasure Gold Aquamarine.
It does not resemble Gillian's beautiful work but I have used many of her techniques and she certainly inspired me. Thanks Gillibobs!

Helen's journal

What a lovely surprise to discover that lovely Helen was our Guest Designer on the PA blog. She deserves a medal for her dedication to the Patwit brigade and her journalling pages are always a delight.
I, too, decided to decorate my square journal cover and followed instructions with Fresco chalk, stencilling and stamping. I used Fresco Bora Bora, London Bus and Limelight.
I stamped my large flowers onto a dictionary page before painting and cutting. I die cut some flowers from a baby wipe mop up from my previous blogpost which matched really well.
Finishing touches were to add buttons and stamp HAPPY! which is what Helens post made me. Well done Helen, you inspired me!

ATP Tony on the wall!

First of all congrats to the Artist Trading Post Exchange team. Fabulous designers and exciting times to come.
I am thrilled to enter the first ever challenge.
I started with a piece of heavy board and brayered the Paper Artsy frescos Yellow Sub, Space Cadet and Choc Pud. Next I added some crackle glaze and brayered the same colours on top. I got some crackle but decided to sand back and scratch the surface to create an aged effect.
I must admit that planning is not my forte and I had no idea where I was going! I added some white script and a little brick wall using coffee archival and PING, the lightbulb moment.

A few weeks ago I accidentally came across some graffiti on a wall close to where I lived as a child and staring back at me was my brothers name and date, scratched in over 50 years ago. It unsettled me a bit and then I was just pleased to have that moment with him, he died 10 years ago.
So I then selected some stamps that reminded me of our childhood together and stamped them onto shrink plastic.(Julie Ann Lee did a shrink plastic piece of work last week which inspired me.)
I painted the backs of them and assembled them together with some chain and a few buttons.
I found a stamp which reminded me of him and added it to the background.
I miss him but have very happy memories.