Mixed Media Monthly Challange

I have taken another commission from a friend for her daughters 13th birthday but I also wanted to enter this piece into the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog. http://mixedmediamc.blogspot.in/2015/06/mixed-media-monthly-challenge-13-year.html?m=1

It wasn't difficult to cater my canvas to one of the options since there are so many this challenge but I have chosen 'Stamps' as my theme.

 

Here is the finished canvas and below a description of how I made it.

 

 

 

To begin with a painted random sections of the canvas in heavy white acrylic paint. The brief from my friend was to use blues and greens and nothing too girly so I then used liquid acrylics, some of which are metallic to blend with the white paint all over the canvas. Once I had let that dry I used an old credit card to apply gesso over the areas of white acrylic paint to give some dimension.

 

I don't have a stamp or stencil with random letters already in place so I used some of the individual letters from my stash and placed them in a random way on my stamp block. I used black archival ink to stamp the letters onto the background. Then I swapped the letters for numbers (in ascending order this time) and repeated the process. I used a bird stamp set by PaperCraft to stamp the round black stamp onto one of the gesso'd areas at the bottom, again using archival ink and a Faber Castell Big Brush Marker in Cobalt Turquoise to stamp a keyhole design onto various areas of the background.

 

Because I wanted a really clear image from my butterfly stamps I didn't stamp them directly onto the canvas as you cant guarantee you will always get the full design coming out. Instead I stamped them onto white tissue paper and then cut around them before gluing them on with matt gel medium. I also used black and white acrylic paint to stamp the circles on with the end of a toilet roll tube! I have recently bought three stencils which I was keen to use so I used a harlequin stencil and moulding paste to apply more texture around the corners and sides of the canvas. When it was dry I painted it with metallic green paint.

 

I used white card stock and black archival ink to stamp the quote (which was provided by my friend) with tiny Dove Craft letters before cutting them out and sticking down with gel medium. I then went around the outside with a black gel pen and then repeated to get a slightly thicker line so the quote would stand out more.

 

For the finishing touches I used some pearlescent paint to highlight some of the harlequin design; used a white posca paint marker to do some doodling around the edges and also highlight some of the edges of the harlequin diamonds; I used a small script stamp, Versamark ink and hologram embossing powder to stamp areas of my canvas so they glittered a bit more and finally used Dove Craft 3D Pearl Effects in black to add different sized dots to add a bit more dimension and draw attention of some areas of the canvas.

 

More is always more with Mixed Media

So I was given a canvas that someone didn't want anymore. It was one of those instant art ones you can get in any homewares or DIY store. I wanted to do a canvas for my daughter Eva who is going to be 4 months old on Saturday to put in her room. It's quite big and I had to use several sheets of 12x12 scrapbook paper to get it covered and they went all bubbly where I put the PVA glue on and looked hideous so then I just kept adding and adding to try and cover it up and it progressively looked worse and worse and I almost decided to cover it over and start all over again at one point but it just goes to show that if you persevere with mixed media and keep adding then things grandually improve. I think that as the title suggests more is more when it comes to mixed media. I don't think you can ever overwork a canvas. Anyway here it is. Im pretty pleased with it now :) I must add that the owl in particular; the shape of her and her ears and eyes were inspired by this piece I found on Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/438467713698533045/

Commissioned again!

Just sold another commission. This one was from the same person as the previous one. She was going to her sister in laws wedding and had to do a reading. She sent me the piece of scripture she was going to read and asked that I do it in a vintage style with some elements of mint green as that was the colour theme of the wedding. This is by far the most beautiful canvas I have made. I really struggle with a vintage theme as im definitely not used to such muted colours and delicate embellishments but im stunned with how well this has come out. I will definitely try to imitate this style more often!

Commissioned!

I have been to two craft fairs since making my canvases. They were only at the local church and very small affairs but I was shocked to find that people would actually pay money for my work. The first time I sold 3 and this year I sold 4. However from that fair I have been commissioned via my facebook page to do two more of the canvases from the poem 'Footprints in the Sand'. Here is the first canvas I did:



The original
 

And here are the pair I was commissioned for. Not a bad job I think.

My art so far



This is the first canvas I ever made. Given to a friend when she had moved into her new house. Still one of my favourites

A butterfly counts not months but moments and still has time enough. This one is now sold!

Im so disappointed that I didn't photography the final piece before I sold it. It eventually said 'Bloom where you are planted" It was inspired by this picture from Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/438467713693693117/

Inspired by the textures from this piece of work https://www.pinterest.com/pin/438467713695667909/ Here is my trio



Made for my best friends daughter - "Happiness is swimming with dolphins"



An excerpt from the famous Christian Poem "Footprints in the Sand" This canvas is now sold



My favourite psalm; Psalm 91. Sold last year



This is the only one that I have made for myself. I have to remind myself that im ok.



Made for a friend going through a difficult time. The quote is of my own making.



My first commission from my cousin to make a canvas for her friend. My cousin is the girl on the left and her friend on the right.



One of my more recent and favourite ones, sold at a craft fair.



I wanted to try and get lots of movement into this picture but I have been perpetually unhappy with how its turned out. It doesn't seem to flow or gel like I want it to.



These ones are hung in my kitchen, I transferred 3 photos of my favourite place onto the canvas before decorating around them.



One of my very earliest. The little girl with the blonde hair is my friends daughter with her arm around her best friend. She is French and one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen.



Inspired by the swirls of colour from this picture https://www.pinterest.com/pin/438467713697933461/. I feel like I don't want to overwhelm this canvas with too much detail but somehow I feel it is missing something.



Another early canvas of mine. I loved the sentiment and made it for myself but then sold it and vowed I would make another but I never have.



My first canvas using tubes of book paper to create texture.

Another that I am just not happy with. I had a vision for how it would turn out and its just not what I wanted. It looks messy and scrappy. The quote is from Isiah and reads "You will be like a well watered garden, like a spring that never fails."



I just love the quote "Bloom where you are planted" and I used it again here. Again I used one of my own photos and transferred it onto the canvas before decorating around it.

A bit about me

This blog is going to be a place where I can post my mixed media art however I didn't want to start my blog without acknowledging the major life changing event that happened a little over 3 months ago; the birth of my daughter. For about 9 weeks I did not have the time to do any crafts at all but once I had got the hang of motherhood I began to make my canvases once more. The fact that I can only really make canvases either when she is napping or particularly when she has gone to bed has slowed me down somewhat but apparently I think I have time to write a blog too so I must be doing something right! Not really significant in the grand scheme of things but its my blog so I get to write what suits me!

I started doing mixed media a little over a year ago. Before this my life was completely engulfed by my all consuming job as a teacher. I worked all my evenings and both days of the weekends and eventually got signed off because I could not sustain that workload. I was in two minds about admitting that I suffered from depression but actually the only reason this horrible illness is stigmatised is because people don't talk about it and treat it as taboo. So there it is. I was signed off with stress and depression and began watching Christy Tomlinson on YouTube. I don't recall how I found her video channel but it was completely inspiring and I thought 'I can do that!' I already had quite a bit of scrapbooking supplies from previously making a scrapbook for my mum so I bought I few more bits and starting crafting. It has been the outlet that I need. Now I am a lot better and I have a beautiful bouncing baby and am selling canvases and taking commissions.