Special Effects Time!

I have been a little quiet lately, not because I'm not doing art, but because I have had some new art projects on the go.  I am taking the Andy Skinner Book of Ruination course.  It's been great fun so far and it's kept me quiet.

I made a few items and finished up with this mask based on the techniques taught on the course.  (Yes, steampunk I've probably done to death previously).

My brother was The Terminator!

It's not to everyone's taste I agree, but as a technique I love it and had so much fun.  I will probably use a version of the technique in my art journal too although we are told it won't work on paper (impossible is such a delicious temptation).

I am also making book covers with this technique and the book will contain my faux painting technique samples and recipes.  If only I had known how much I love doing these things when I was younger.  A career in special effects would have been awesome!

The Grand Tour

The Challenge at Three Muses this week is Steampunk!  It is one of my favourite subjects but this time I have gone less industrial and more romantic with the Grand Tour.  I'm still trying out some new techniques but I'm happy with how this came out.

Dreaming of the Grand Tour

Starting with heavy card stock I die cut one of the short edges using the Tim Holtz Steampunk On The Edge die.  I then painted the cogs in Burned Umber and the rest of the card in Lumiere Halo Rose Gold (not used this for a while and forgot how much I love it).

Next I stamped the lady's face on high quality card and coloured her with Promarkers then stamped a few cogs around her face in both Distress Ink Rusty Hinge and Archival Ink Coffee.I trimmed around the hairline and then used Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge to colour the top and side of her face to help blend her into the background.  After gluing her to the background I stamped more and various cogs to represent hair.

Next I stamped the metal globe in StayzOn Metallic Gold and when it was dry I over-stamped with the quote in Archival Coffee.  I used a couple of other stamps from the Grand Tour plate.
I decided I didn't like the cogs in Burned Umber so I coated them with texture paste, painted them Burned Umber again and then dry brushed them with Iridescent Bronze.

What hasn't come out well on the scan or the photo's is the fantastic glow that comes from the Lumiere paints, Ah well, such is life :)

Thank You Mum

It is Mothers Day in the UK today and Sunday Postcard Art have challenged us to create art about mothers.      Imagine the job description to be a mother?
- 7 day week, 52 week year, no sick leave, no vacation, no pay, minimum 18 year contract!

My tribute to mothers everywhere:

Thank You to Mothers everywhere

Starting out with 300gsm card stock I applied Americana paint in Butter, Spa Blue, Mint Julep Green and Indian Turquoise blending them slightly.
Next came stamping of flowers and leaves in Archival Sap Green, followed by a damask background stamp also in Sap Green
Both the stamped and typed words used here were inspired by my Mum.  She always always there, loving, patient and definitely quirky! (this is where I get it from I guess).  The clockwork lady is stamped on coated paper and coloured with Promarkers before being cut out and glued to the background with Golden gel medium.
Finally I edged the card with a Glaze Jelly Roll by Sakura and die cut a small heart from a scrap from another project.

Thanks for looking and if you are a Mum - pat yourself on the back!

Was that a fairy I saw?

The challenge at Sunday postcard art this week is Mushrooms / Toadstools.  I wanted to do something closely aligned with the brief, since my muse went on a tangent for the last challenge I entered!

I think I'm in auto-experimentation mode at the moment... today's experiment :-

Are those lights in the forest or eyes?

Using 300sgm card stock I sprayed through a stencil with Dylusions Vibrant Turquoise and then removing the stencil I sprayed again with cut grass.  After all of the other layers the stencil is almost invisible.  Using Archival ink in Sap Green I stamped leaves around both the left and right hand sides (also impossible to see now).  Next I placed drops of Daler Rowney liquid acrylic in Pearlescent white and sprayed it with an airbrush.
The toadstool stamp is from Dyan Reavely and is stamped on 300gsm card stock and coloured with Inktensils. After adhering the toadstools to the background I outlined them with nautical blue charcoal and then smooshed that with a paper stump.

I applied some Dew Drops in 'Mint Chocolate' to the background and then stamped over everything with a small script stamp and a cross hatch stamp using Archival French Ultramarine.  The piece was finished using a 'dream' stamp using StayzOn ink

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.