Let's crank it up!

The Three Muses challenge this week is the rustle of spring.  I've been sick and away on leave and also incredibly busy at work so was looking forward to this.  However my muse had other ideas, I'm sorry for anyone here expecting to find a landscape or even flowers.

The closest tenuous thread I can tie, is to the spring on the top right hand side, is that enough? :)

Spring driven iPhone 

I started out with a cheap case, I made the gears from plastic, the strap from grunge paper and the spring from 20 gauge brass wire coiled around some thick wire.

Several base coats in various shades of gold and bronze to try and get it close to brass and then I heated it a little to make slight blistering.  All of the bits and pieces were glued on and then I started the painting using Burnt Umber as a base and then dry brushing with Iridescent Bronze by Golden.  The circular piece on the top is meant to represent a compass and is made from a large brad with a matching sized dome.  I had a compass stamp almost the exact size so stamped it on 300gsm paper coloured with Antique Linen distress ink.

It looks incredibly heavy but I can honestly say it's all made of plastic except the brass wire spring and the base of the brad!  I am so very pleased I made this, I love it and may even attack my iPad next!!!

Thanks for looking and I'm sorry my muse took liberties with the brief this week.

Ravishing in Red

The Three Muses set a challenge to use red in our art today.  I have no idea where this came from but sometime during the night it came :)

What do you mean I look a mess?

This is clearly a double spread in my journal, staring out with quinacridone magenta and lemonade and sour apple paint being roughly applied.  Next came some stamping in Archival blue, yellow and orange.  I found the cute picture of a pig on the Internet and cut her out then hand drew the fabulous over stuffed chair.  The chair is sprayed with Dylusions ink in Pillar Box red.  The chandeliers across the top are stamped in StayzOn ink and the font is done on my computer.
I added a crown and some ear rings and some lovely lipstick to Miss Piggy :)  Around the edges is some doodling and the chandeliers and ear rings have some Black Diamond Stickles

Steampunk cyborg

The Take A Word challenge this week is masks!  I have been playing around quite a bit lately with paint techniques so decided to do a 3D piece using a steampunk paint effect.

Poor cyborg has seen better days

 I started out with a paper mache mask, then die cut some gears from medium weight chipboard and the 'metal' straps are made from grunge paper punched with a hole punch :)
The pieces were firstly painted in Iridescent Bronze by Golden and then I glued them to the mask and applied a second coat of bronze.
Next came lots and lots of layers of quindicrinone gold wash followed by lots of layers of black wash.  There isn't really much texture so the wash mostly runs straight off.

The eye is made from a flat back bead which was clear so I dropped some blue alcohol ink on the back before I glued it to the small cog.

Gothic Delights

When SPA announced their challenge as Gothic Valentine, I was a little lost for a while but then ideas began to tumble from somewhere and I couldn't wait to make it.  I don't usually do 'dark' art and don't much like Halloween  but have to say I have enjoyed this so much.

Love Eternal

 Starting out with 300gsm paper I cut a heart freehand and then used it as a template to draw a heart on the 6x4 postcard.  I applied Decoart texture sand using a paintbrush radiating out from the heart drawn on the postcard and left it to dry while I worked on the overlay heart.  I glued some white lace to the heart and pressed it firmly and once it was dry I applied 3 coats of Americana True Red.

Painting the whole of the card with two coats of Traditions Carbon black I began dry brushing from the outer edge to the inner edge working with ever lightening shades of gray until I finished using white at the very centre.  It looked like I had dusted it with baby powder!
Once I had finished with the white I began to cover the whole of the white dry brushing with Traditions Quinacridone Violet.  This was the only way I could think to achieve the subtle shading I wanted to achieve.

I mixed some of the True Red and a little black to apply some dry brush shading to the heart and then sprayed it with High Gloss sealer.  The bow at the top was originally white organza that I swiped with StayzOn black.  (it now has a fantastic metallic sheen, love it).

All in all this has been a lot of fun and I've learned a couple of new techniques.  Thanks so much for taking the time to look.

This old heart of mine

I was so excited when I was asked to host at Take A Word this week, that I immediately started the concept drawing (such a child).  I hope you get some inspiration from the piece.

Heart in my art

Starting out with 300gsm water colour paper and using a fan brush I applied light strokes of white gesso.  Once dried I made three very weak washes using distress ink re-inkers in Milled Lavender, Tattered Rose and Old Paper. I applied a tiny bit of Old Paper, and then much more of the lavender and rose.  (The gesso acts as a resist).  Once dry, I applied some glass bead medium in patches over the gesso.  While the medium was drying, I cut a heart from rusty metal (it's real metal and real rust) and, cut the heart in two.  Using a Crop-A-Dile I punched the holes and applied large grommets.
Next came some 'industrial' stamping with Black StayzOn, the stamps are all circuit boards and warning signs.  Then I laced the two sections of the heart with some soft apricot ribbon finished with a bow.

 Several more layers of the weak distress wash, each one dried before applying the next, then a drop of  undiluted re-inker over the beads.  Next came some stamping with swirls using London Fog Archival Ink and then Golden Iridescent Bronze was dry brushed over the beads.
The words were printed on my computer and edged with Tattered Rose and the small hearts were painted with Golden Iridescent Bronze and punched with a small heart punch.
Finally, I dusted the edge of the whole piece with Pumice Stone distress ink.
Thanks so much for looking and your comments.