Acrylic Bird Painting

Long ago when I was a teenager and young adult I drew,painted and wrote poetry.Not for any reason just as a creative outlet.I couldn't afford art leasons or good supplies so just bought cheap sketch books,pencils and paints.After I got married these past times were lost to me and it wasn't till I discovered paper arts over 14yrs or so ago that I again found a creative outlet...mind you the time to do it is still hampered by the non creative part of my life taking over my "play" time more often then not.Maybe that will change as the kids get older and move out...I can dream hey LOL
Well the Dry is here in the Northern Territory and this brings long warm days and cool nights.It's when I do a big annual clean.It's far too hot and sweaty in the high humidity of the Wet to do any great cleaning at all.I'm not a super clean freak but once a year I like to get in and sort out things that need throwing out.Well I was sorting out the bedroom cupboard and came across my old sketch books.Birds are in at the moment in the paper crafting World and when I saw this old painting I did I thought I would scan it and maybe print it out and use it in my work.Funny what you keep :o)

Yummy Card In The Mail

Look at this gorgeous card that Celeste Santin made for me...I adore it!!!.I gave Celeste the Fairy in The Secret Garden collage card I made last month for her birthday and she made me this as a thanks.It's sitting right in front of me at my desk so hope it gives me some inspiration when my muse flies off.I wanted to get creating today before I go to work but have all the kids home due to a teachers strike WAH.
I'm hoping to make a few short Youtube shows on how I use Opals embossing enamels soon...waiting for our digicam to come back from repairs.Also I'm having the WORST run in Ranger Melt Pots...they keep on stop working for some reason and I'm not happy....of course I could use my OLD and trusty electric skillet but it's not very nice to look at LOL.The first melt pot was bought here in Oz and worked for a year and then suddenly stopped.I really liked how versatile it was...you can use it with moulds to make chocolates,soaps,Opals molded stuff and even Sculpey can be baked in there...so after a while I took the plunge and got a second one from the USA and used a power converter adaptor so I could use it with the Aussie power source...worked fine for two months and again just stopped working one day.
I swore off them for well over a year but thought I would just try one more time.Surely I couldn't be that jinxed that a third one would do the same thing?...Yeh Right....had it turned on for five minutes and bloomin heck it stopped working.Left it to cool turned off overnight and it still wont work.I've e-mailed Ranger directly and got no reply.The adaptor I used works fine with other appliances from the USA we have so not sure what is going on for me here...I'm thinking the element is burning out for some reason but why me.The problem had occurred here in this house and at the Wildlife Park staff village so it's not just a wiring thing here.I've got friends who have had Melt Pots here in Oz for yrs and they have no problem.

Picture This 8 Swap

At Arty Oz group I participated in a swap run by Greta Young where we were all sent a picture and we had to use all or part of it to make ATC's.The picture above was the one sent to us and as you can see its a very powerful image.I'm not completely sure of it but it looks to be a poverty line of sorts.It took me by surprise at how sad I felt looking at the photo.I initially felt OMG what can I do with that.I printed it out all different sizes and sat looking at it for ages.I wasted a day doing gel medium transfers to discover the transfers made the people look dull and even more gloomy.I then looked at an A4 size print and started looking at the faces.It was interesting to me that some of the people where looking out at the photographer and these still had a vitality that seemed lost on the ones looking straight ahead.Finally I settled on setting just one person free from the cue...I would give her wings so she could fly away and below is what I came up with.

I used one of my Vilene and tissue backgrounds as the base,stamped all over with white gesso and added texture paste at the corners by pushing it thru a plastic stencil.Then I cut out the ladies dress coat and layered the image onto a word bg paper.I stamped her wings with white gesso and then outlined areas with a white perm marker.I applied some Golden acrylic paint washes of Hansa Yellow,Green Gold and Phthalo Green being careful to not cover the ladies face.Lastly I highlighted the texture paste areas with gold paint and added the words and gold heart brad.Below are my gorgeous received ATC's from the other players that arrived today in the mail.It was amazing to see everyone else's ideas made from the same image

Left ATC done by Vanessa Henry and right by Kaeren Sutherland

Left by Phillipa Barr and right by Elaine Hannam

Left by Greta Young and right by Ruth Spitzer

Left by Diane Whatford and right by Liz Aitken

Textured Gesso Canvas At Last

OMG don't you hate when your computer dies.I have had this project done for two weeks but haven't had a computer to upload it....well that isn't quiet right as we actually usually have three computers at home but one completely died two weeks ago and the other has been in at the repairers for two months(it was only three months old gggrrr)...this left the oldest slowest computer for the three teenagers,Dad and Mum to use.Well now as all us Mum's know we are the last to get to do anything and with the others hogging computer time I didn't get a look in.So by last Sunday I had had enough and went off to get this new PC.The old computer used XP and this uses Vista so it has taken me ages to get all our old hardware drivers updated to work in Vista let alone find my way around it LOL
Anyway here is the canvas I made with my Textured Gesso stuff from my long ago previous post.It's A4 in size.IT says "Our lost loved ones are never for from sight for they are the scattered stars just beyond the blanket of night".You can see the plastic mesh I embedded into the textured gesso and Opals mix at the top.The Angel scattering heavens stars is a foam cone cut in half and covered with Liquid Nails on top that I dabbed up and down to make texture with ala Michael De Meng.When it dried I painted it with Golden acrylics.The face is air dry clay pressed into a cheap face mold I had from Spotlight and her hair is made with more liquid nails and paint.The city scape glittering in the fading light of dusk at the bottom is mat board cut to shape and painted with Golden acrylics.Just above the city is the nights "blanket " which is dressing gauze painted with black gesso and then Jo Sonja Opal Dust

Here you can see some of the stars closer.They are all Translucent Liquid Sculpey transfers of black and white vintage images.I then stuck them to little wooden stars and trimmed them to size.You can also see my Angel wing here is Angelina Fibres that I stamped with my home made polymer wings stamps I made with the stamp making machine I won.The Angel arms were tree twigs that I covered with paper masking tape,then Liquid Nails and Golden Acrylics.The scalloped German scrap parts I painted and used as her clothing trim

This the view from top down so you can get an idea of the texture in it all.The Angel crown was an old gold jewellery finding I had that was meant for a necklace.The boarders of the canvas have German scrap painted with black gesso and I then highlighted the edges with gold paint.

This is taken from the side and the image below from the bottom.

I have no idea what I will do with his piece.I have never kept anything for myself that I had made in my past yet I think I may keep this.It was inspired by making textured gesso backgrounds but once it got to look like a stary stary night it did take on a meaning for me.See my Dad passed away when I was 15 and at that age I was neither a child nor really an adult.He went to mow an elderly ladies lawn and never came back and I never saw him again.So I clearly have these memories of that time thinking he had become a star in heaven and it made me feel safe then to think he was watching over us all from the heavens.I imagined an Angel scattering the stars of lost loved ones at dusk to shine on down for all us living people to see....these thoughts are why I made the canvas I think. Wether I can stop looking at the peice in my critical of self way is another thing LOL

Textured Gesso Tease

Over at the Next Generation Stampers they have a few challengers a month and I have been just too busy to join in much.This month when I was sick I decided to try this months one which was textured gesso.The basic idea was to lather black gesso on the base and texturize it with blobs,pressing things in and lifting them off and pressing card on top and pulling it off to create "waves"etc etc.Once it is dry use rub ons,dry brush on metallic paints and anything else you can think of to highlight the texture you created.Above is my first attempt.While it was wet I sprinkled on Opals embossing enamels into it.After it was dry I hit it with the heat gun and then dry brushed on Golden Iridescent gold paint in places and Jo Sonja Opal Dust which has really shimmery bits of glitter in it.This all looked like a stary night and got me thinking about heaven LOL...would it look like this and so on.
Well I had Monday off to myself so I started to make a large A4 plus canvas.It isn't finished yet(had to clean out and downsize the bedroom today) but I'm loving the look and texture in this piece so far.Here is a pre-view till I have time to complete it *grin*.It started as textured gesso and Opals bg that I have imbeded some plastic mesh in at the top and painted with the Golden Iridescent gold paint and Jo Sonja Opals Dust

This is the head which is an air dry clay caste mold face.The hair was made with painted Liquid Nails set on a gold decorative oval.The face was painted with Pearlescent paints

AAAHHH yes and why did I want to make Angel wing stamps with the stamp making machine from my previous post...it was for this project so here are my very own made wing stamps on hot fix Angelina fibres.You place the fibres on your stamps,cover with Gladbake and iron it using a hot dry setting..Oh La La they look nice and are about 14cmx4.5cms

Now here is the last sneak peak and it is some foam that I applied Liquid Nails to and then painted it white when dry.Then I painted some Golden Nikle Azo Gold on top and dusted on some Gold Schmincke while wet

Hope to finish it soon but I have a visit from my brother for the next five days then do my ten busy days for work so not sure when I get it all together.You will have to wait for the final showing o) .I'll do photos in better light then too.

Krafty Lady Mold Caste With Dressing Gauze

Here is a Krafty Lady "lady with scarf" mold that I caste with dressing gauze and gel medium.I folded the gauze and put it in the mold.Then I put a folded tissue behind that.I pressed it all down with a paint brush soaked in slightly watered down Golden gel medium till I was sure it was all wet thru.Behind this I put one more layer of gauze that I also wet with the watered down gel medium.I pressed it all down again firmly with the end of the paint brush to ensure this mash went right into all the creases of the mold.
I left it to dry for 24hrs.I thought it was all dry and peeled it up but areas of the face were still damp and her nose and part of the scarf got left behind YIKES...no drama as I put it back in and pressed all around the mold again with my fingers.Left it for another 24hrs and this time it was all dry and her nose was reattached LOL.It had a lovely texture to it and was quite firm and sturdy.

I painted the caste with Luminarte Primary Elements polished pigments mixed with the Simple solution for fabrics.Then I hand sewed on the beads around her scarf.I then dusted on gold Schmincke gauche around the beaded area.I had a square of coppery orange Organza and some hand dyed gauze that had the same colours I had used on the Ladies scarf.I fused these two pieces together with some shimmery plastic squares scattered between using Vliesofix(heat bondable fusible webbing) and an iron.What amazed me there was that the purple squares changed colour and went coppery,orange and a purply orange.Very interesting.I had found them in the cheap shop while looking for small mirrors...think I had better go back and sus out other colours o).

The German scrap was coloured with Crayola water soluble crayons and the edges high lighted with Golden iridescent gold paint.The metal corners were pressed into the Stuart Superior black stamp and stick glue pad and the adhesive activated with a heat gun.Then Pearl-ex was dusted on.Lastly I hand sewed small beads around the German scrap and layered the whole thing on copper,metallic red and gold card stock.The photo was taken under room light with the flash off so what you are seeing is exactly what I am seeing here IRL...a shimmery sun lady :o)

First Try Of the Instastamp Stamp Making Machine

Her are my wings and funky figure stamps stamped onto card stock...not bad hey and I am not great at drawing at all.

These are the polymer stamps I made...should have taken pic before I used them LOL..sorry about the ink on them they are totaly clear with a light blue tinge when cleaned

This is some of the kit I won.There is also 10xA6 sized Photopolymer sachets,a washout brush,Two acrylic blocks,some Instagrip,vellum sheets and a CDrom to make images into stamp looking images and some samples to print onto vellum

I've caught an awful flu and have been home the last few days off sick.I can't seem to think well and although I have time to be creative I can't seem to make anything as the bug has stollen my brain LOL.Anyway I thought I would get out my Instastamp polymer stamp making machine and try it out at last.I was totally amazed in mid December to find out I had won this stamp making machine in a competetion and it came with everything needed to make polymer stamps.Robert at Instastamp has come up with an awesome little machine indeed and after my first tries last night I am impressed and I am also very thankful to Robert for holding the competetion in the first place.

There are full instructions with it and although I did stuff up the first two sachets of polymer getting the timing right(some smaller test sachets would have been really good in the kit)the end results are really good.It makes shop quality stamps that are a good few mm thick.I needed a left and right angel wing for a project so drew them from a wax embellishment I had and used those to try the machine with.I also used a funky figure drawing of mine to fill up the A6 sized sachet.My first tries were not too good as I didn't read the instructions first like you are supposed too and I was trying to read and do it at the same time...hence I over exposed one sachet and under exposed the other.I'm normally really good with reading instructions but as I told you my brain has gone walk about at the moment.

A few things I did learn are it's easier to make up the washout solutions and post exposure solutions FIRST,get images ready and all equipment close by then do the stamp making steps.It is easy though.The stamps come out great though my drawing needs alot of work *grin*.I thought I had lost details on the top of the wings just looking at the stamps but once inked there they were just as I drew them.Robert also sells Instagrip and there was some of it in the kit.It feels like a polymer sheets and you put it on your acrylic blocks and the clear stamps made with the Instastamp grips onto it VERY easily.I like this stuff...in fact I am very impressed with the whole thing LOL.The machine uses UV lights so you can make the stamps any time of the day or night(I've made stamps using photopolymer sheets and the sun before...not good when you live where it rains for 6months of the year).The last thing I learnt that wasn't in the instructions is the stamps come out on a thin plastic backing that I didn't realize at first that I could peel them off from.Once I got them off that they feel like good quality see thru shop bought clear polymer stamps...I'm in love *grin*