Friday 28 October 2016

Grids and Squares

Over on the Paperartsy blog the current topic is Grids and Squares.


I was inspired by a piece of art that I saw in  gallery in Padstow. It was a Damien Hirst piece with coloured circles arranged onto a black glittery background.

First, I cut out lots of squares from coloured papers, more than i needed because i knew that I would need to select and play with the colours and shapes.

I chose one of Ellen Vargo's stamps for this particular one, EEV03, and stamped with black archival and heat embossed with Clear embossing powders.


It was an interesting exercise to use just one individual stamp in a variety of ways. I love playing with the relationships that the shapes create.

I mounted each square onto black card and spent some time trying different coloured glittery backgrounds. The chocolate brown worked the best.
For added interest, I chose a linen box frame and also mounted the squares onto foam pads.


I went on to experiment further, this time using a variety of stamps. I feel that this can be adapted to so many creative uses. Christmas cards would look good by using parts of a Christmas stamp.


Thanks for looking, and you will find more inspiration on the theme of Grids and Squares over on the Paperartsy blog.


Sunday 9 October 2016

Beeswax Trio

I am in the middle of a wonderful online course by Laly Mille.


It is so my thing and I am enjoying every tiny bit of it.
This week I have been playing with beeswax. I don't want to go through all the details as I feel that it would be disloyal to my tutor.

I worked with hessian, plaster Gauze, a few bits of handmade paper and some images.
I also incorporated some die cut leaves using Paperartsy Crunchy Wax paper.

The images are some drawings that I did a while ago during the Wanderlust class and I toned the colours down to fit my theme.

Here are the panels one by one.




I am entering these into the very inspiring topic of Die-cuts over on the Paperartsy Challenge.



Wednesday 5 October 2016

All things Spooky 2

Helo, and welcome to my second post for CVC on the topic of All Things Spooky.


I mentioned in my last post that I am not really a fan of the Halloween malarkey. Nothing against it other than it does not float my boat.
So, thinking of ways to create the feel without the relevant images.

First, in my trusty Girls journal from the 1940's, I gessoed the page and then painted a layer of PA fresco grey paint over it. Think that I used Elephant, which is now probably replaced by another similar grey. I wanted to create an air of drama, so, I sprayed some Hickory Smoke and Pumice Stone onto my craft mat and watered them a little and dropped my page onto it to create the Wrinkle Free Distress effect.
I cut out a white circle for the moon and added a little Hickory Smoke ink to create some shadows.
Next, using Watering Can Archival and Black Archival Inks, I stamped some Fir trees in the distance.


I hand drew a tree and painted it and the birds with Paperartsy fresco Little Black Dress and highlighted the trunk with my white Uni Ball pen.

To finish, I drew a pumpkin onto orange card and added features and the very last thing was to draw pairs of eyes in the woods......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....Spooky!


Thankyou for visiting my blog and I hope that you will visit the Country View Crafts blog  too, for even spookier works of art.



Saturday 1 October 2016

All things spooky

Now, I must be honest.....all things spooky is not my kind of thing. But I really enjoyed the challenge of creating something without owning any "spooky" related stamps.


So, here is my Spooky midnight scene.
I began by choosing some Paperartsy fresco colours and painting onto my book page.

First, I cut out a white circle for the moon and glued it down.
Next, I chose some of Darcy's Steampunk style stamps of leaves and houses and stamped them with Black Archival and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.
With a white Uniball pen, I highlighted some of the leaves and parts of the building. Also, I shaded parts of the building with grey watercolour to give extra depth.
Finally, I hand drew and coloured in my vampire bats......make me shiver....not a fan of bats!
A quick scribble of white to frame it and it was finished.
I hope that this has inspired you to do something similar, maybe starting with a dramatic background.
Thanks for looking and perhaps you will join in with our challenge at Country View Crafts.

Products Used:- Paperartsy fresco paints; Darcy Stamps, EDY08.