Guest Designer for Paper Artsy

Hey guys!! I am so thrilled to have been asked to be a guest designer for Paper Artsy.  I wanted to try something new after going through a spell where I had created a slew of ATC's over the course of a few months. Many, many (many)  moons ago I was really into Pyrography or wood burning as I casually call it.  When Darcy asked me I thought this might be the perfect time to pull out my wood burning tool, sketchpad and the gorgeous JOFY stamps and see what I could come up with.  

By stamping the flowers and butterfly on the tracing paper I could easily move the images around under my sketch to determine placementt.

Once I was happy with the placement I traced the stamped images onto my sketch and then transferred everything to my wooden plaque with graphite paper. Hint: lacking graphite paper you can just take your pencil and scribble on the back side of your sketch. You only have to scribble where the lines are.

Now let the fun begin!!! My particular wood burning tool has interchangeable tips. Like anything else it's easier to start slowly and build up layers or thickness of the lines. I also embrace the primitive lines that sometimes occur when you hit a knot in the wood itself.

Tada!!! Obviously this took some time. I think it was most of the day off and on. Sometimes the tool itself gets so hot that it helps to unplug it for awhile then resume later.

I knew I wanted the wood aspect to shine through so I chose just Beach Hut and Autumn Fire which I watered down and used like a watercolor or stain.

That Beach Hut is one of my favorite colors so I taped off the edges to keep a nice crisp edge:

The finishing touches were to collage her shirt and add highlights with Snowflake to the flowers. (I created the color in her cheeks with a watercolor pencil).  And I also noticed she could use a few more butterflies (who couldn't?)

Thanks so much Leandra, Darcy and the rest of Paper Artsy Team to allow me to play in your sandbox for the day!! Now make sure and head over and have a play in the challenge and check out their awesome stamps.

On a personal note this will be my last post for quite some time.  Some issues have come up with my mom that require me to be out of state (and no internet!!!) not to mention sans most of my art supplies. Thank God for adult coloring books! And since I am posting this on my phone I can't for the life of me figure out how to delete these pics below so let's just roll with it xx

DecoArt Media Line Now Available at ...

Hi guys! Sorry for the teaser title! So without further delay .... select Joanne's!!! You can now (or soon will) find DecoArt Media Line Fluid Acrylics and mediums in a Joann's near you. But rest assured, if you do not have a Joanne's near you they are still available on the DecoArt online store. 

So if you are like me, you are wondering "what can these puppies do?"  After all acrylics are acrylics, right?? Not really. The first thing you need to know is NOT to put a huge blob of paint on your palette. All you need is a little (and I mean LITTLE) drop of paint. They are INTENSELY pigmented and go so much further than you would think. Because of their fluidity I really wanted to put it them to the test so I decided to try them in my airbrush. Let me show you the finished painting and then I'll walk through it step by step. 

I loved deckled edges (torn looking, not perfectly cut) so I started there. I took a piece of 140 lb. watercolor paper and tore the edges:

I ended up with an 8x8" square. The next step was to sketch out my flower with a plain old #2 pencil. Because I was using my airbrush I knew I wouldn't have much control so I created a mask with Grafix Friskit Film. After that was in place I knew I wanted to add some shapes in the background that would resemble out of focus leaves. That was so easily accomplished using Andy Skinners Snakeskin stencil and DecoArt Media Mister in Primary Yellow. 

Now on to Airbrushing. This was so easily accomplished using just 1 drop of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics (list of colors used for the entire project will be at the end) and 2 drops of water. 

Once I had the paint drops and water in the airbrush cup I mixed them together with a paintbrush. I was even able to do some custom color mixing inside the paint cup. I added a drop of Carbon Black to Phathlo Green - Blue to get a darker color for the border. I apologize for not getting more shots of the airbrush process but I got lost in the process. I just kept building up layers until I was satisfied. This look can also be achieved with a paintbrush or even a sponge. I removed the Friskit Mask at this point (but save them, you never know when you might have to reapply like I do at the end)

Next I wanted a way to tie the background to the flower. I accomplished that by collaging with Deco Page papers:

I adhered them with Media Matte Medium and gave the flower a skim coat of Matte medium. I like the way this makes the paint "grab" differently on the watercolor paper. 

Now on to the fine details:

Those white squiggles will be washed with some yellow paint. Next was to add shadows to the petals with Paynes Gray water downed:

Noticed that I had gone over the collage papers with some greens and yellows to help them to blend into the background. I wasn't happy that I lost some of the details from the stencil process but I will remedy that at the end.

Next is to add some pink (Primary Magenta, one of my absolute favorites):

I side loaded an angle brush to achieve that graduated blend. I have also added some Cerulean Blue to the petals in spots to accentuate shadows. 

Now back to those stenciled shapes I lost. It was easily remedied by replacing the Friskit Mask and spraying DecoArt Media Mister in Shimmer White. Since they are permanent once dry (hallelujah!!!) I was able to add a thin wash of yellow paint to get back to where I was earlier. I also added some splatters of water downed Carbon Black.

Once dry I removed the mask and gave it a coat of DecoArt Media Gloss Varnish (but you could also use Matte if that is your choice). And finally, here's the finished painting and some close ups of the details:

Supplies:

140 lb. Watercolor Paper

Airbrush (optional)

Angle Brush

Friskit Film or Masking Fluid

Stencils of choice

Good reference materials for drawing or transferring to your watercolor paper*

Products:

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in the following colors:

Paynes Grey 

Carbon Black

Burnt Umber

Raw Sienna

Yellow Oxide

Primary Yellow

Diarylide Yellow

Phtalo Green-Blue

Cobalt Blue Hue

Primary Magenta

DecoArt Media Misters:

Primary Yellow

Shimmer White

DecoArt Media Mediums

Matte Medium

DecoArt Media Varnishes

Gloss Varnish

Thanks so much for stopping by and keep coming back to the DecoArt Media Blog for more inspiration from my team mates as they work their magic with these amazing products =0)

*I find pmp-art.com (formerly Paint My Photo Ning site) to be a great source of copyright free photo's to use for photo reference.

Hugs~

DecoArt Media Interference Paints

Heelllllooooo!!! It seems like I, well not seems like, WAS away for most of the summer except for a pop in here and there. I've been blogging long enough to know it ebbs and flows like that, for me at least. 

So lets get on with the flow part! 

I've been working on some mixed media ATC's with whimsy girls on them. I usually just use the Media Line Acrylics on the backgrounds after getting the girls painted with Americana paints. (if you don't have those stores local they can also be purchased online).

But I was sitting there looking at them at thinking I am doing the same ol', same ol'. 

I decided to see how the DecoArt Media Interference Paints looked over flat black American acrylics. 

Here's the interference paints I played with:

It seems I am missing Gold and Turquoise! *gasp* I will have to remedy that ASAP! ;)

Here are shots of how awesome they look over black:

And if you think those look awesome you should see them in person! Every way you tilt them you get a different color shift. I can't wait to find more ways to play with these gems of a product! 

As always, thanks so much for stopping by! Hope to see you soon =0)

~

hugs~

no post, just reclaiming for Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Did this many moons ago but for some reason my blog isn't claimed?? no biggie, but just ignore this post! I hope to have some art coming to you very soon! Once school starts I am hoping to get my life back to "normal" (whatever that is!) 

 Hugs~

Exciting News!

We just returned from a two week vacation to visit my mom in Florida and had a blast! Nothing makes me happier than swimming and being at the beach. We did both, a LOT! 

The topper though was to come home to catch up on emails and find one that was especially amazing! I have been invited to be on the DecoArt Media Design Team!! I couldn't be more thrilled! If you've followed my blog then you know I am a huge fan of their products including both the Americana paints and the Media Line Fluid Acrylics. I especially like to incorporate both on a page or canvas to have that play of transparency and opaque matte on the same piece. Here's a few examples of previous work:

I hope you will head over to the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog. While you are there make sure to sign up for the newsletter and click on the links to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Thanks for swinging by and I hope to bring you some inspiring projects in the very near future =0)

Hugs~