Mixed Media Collage... SEA

It's the 15th of the month, yes again!! The months are flying by so fast, maybe it's my age? They say that time  goes quicker the older you get. 

Anyway, a new challenge launched today over on the Bleeding Art blog & it's time to reveal my DT piece!

The base for this piece is a canvas covered board, it was a painting in a former life, but it got badly marked when coffee got spilled on it. Rather than throw it away, I gave it a couple of coats of gesso & I had a blank canvas again. 

Next, I painted the surface with 3 shades of blue, using the 'wet on wet' technique, to do this I selected the darkest shade first & painted the whole surface, while still wet, using the next shade down I painted a few areas, blending the paint as I put it on & did the same with the third colour. Moving the paint around giving a mottled effect. Next, began adding colour to the large seahorse, using acrylic paint & waxes, when happy I adhered it to the base & gathered the embellishments together.

                                                  

I placed the cogs in place first, then added little stones & gauze in random areas, then painted them blue. When dry I started to build the colour up, don't worry to much at the moment, you can touch it up later!

now it's time to add all the extras. I have used seashells, faux pearls, charms, gems, glitter & resins. I found some lovely wooden alphabet tiles, so used them for the title, they were very dark, so treated them to a bit of golden wax to give them some interest.

                                                  

At this point I tend to take a photo & walk away from it, for a while. I do this so that I can look at it through the photo & for some reason I see clearer on there where things stand out of need touching up or blending. Daft, I know, but that's just how I work especially when using lots of colour.

                                               

When I looked at the photo online, the letter tiles, stood out to bold, so I added the tiniest bit of blue & pink wax, just to balance it out. I also noticed that the cogs didn't stand out, so I dapped some of the same gold wax, just on the tips of each one & a little to the edges of the board too.

                                                    

I coloured & added the 2 smaller resin seahorses, some shells to form the back fin of the large seahorse & I was done!

                                                      

I hope you like my little canvas, it was fun to make, even if it was a bit out of my comfort zone. Please join in with the Bleeding Art challenge, it is a mixed media challenge & always 'Anything Goes' so no restraints. There is always a lovely prize on offer as well as the lovely winner badge to display on your social media page.

Thanks for visiting my blog, please leave me a comment. Take care & stay safe Jane x

Purple & Gold looks so extravagant ...

It's July the 15th, which means that there is a new challenge started over on the BleedingArt blog & what a line up of inspiration the Design Team have created for you all. Please join us this month, remember it's always 'Anything Goes' so you have free reign to create whatever you like. However, we say NO to scrapbook LO's, should these be entered, they will not be considered in the judging process!

This month I decided to alter a no longer needed iPhone box, it was just the right size to turn it into a collector's box, you know, all of those little treasures you accumulate in life, but never know what to do with them. My box contains little things such as, a tiny green plastic ring that my 30 something son have me as a toddler & a tiny pebble that my grandson had given me, because he said it looked like a shoe lol ..... Sentimental treasures that mean nothing to anyone else, but they are precious to me 😊

So, I started by removing any stickers & labels from the iphone box, then I roughed up all of the shiney surfaces with a strong energy board, but it can be done with a sanding block or sandpaper also. I do this to give some grip for the products that I will be applying to transform the box.

The next step was to coat the box with gesso, allowing it to dry completely. I wanted to give the idea of texture without actually using products to produce the effect. So, I painted the lid of the box with a nice purple acrylic paint, when dry I dry brushed some good metallic paint, quite randomly, to break up the plain colour & adhered a piece of string netting! By doing this, I have myself another colour to play with,  when it came to adding embellishments & there are lots of them! 

The next step was to gather a mixture of embellishments to dress my box lid, after a happy rummage through my various wellies boxes, I chose some resins, a few cogs, a bottle cap, some cognac coloured faux gems, some gauze & some yummy metal shapes. I placed them on the lid, which always takes me a while to get the look that I want. When, I was happy with my look, I began gluing them in place, I like to use a gel medium for this, because I know that it has a very strong bond.

Some of the pieces I painted before glueing them down, because of where they would be hard to get too, when other things were placed on top. The lovely metal pieces & the string net, I left unpainted, because I like the contrast between metal & coloured.

The big element in the middle of the box, is from a larger resin that I broke in half, it's the lower half of the Zuri Phoenix. It's good to play with your available embellishments etc. to see if they can be adapted to fit your projects, because I am making a conscious effort to use what I have, instead of keep buying all of the time. I know it's the same for most crafters, but I am rapidly running out of storage space 😉 

Ok, so all of my embellishments are glued in place, once everything was completely dry, it is good to pick it up & look at it from all angles, by doing this you can see if you need a dab of paint anywhere or other little finishing touches. Sometimes, just the tiniest dab of paint can make everything work together.

I finished it off by adding the word ‘Memories’ & adding a few of those cognac coloured gems & I was finally done.

Thank you for visiting me today, please leave a comment so that I know you have been & or become a follower, I always do my best to return visits.

Many thanks

Jane 🌴