Experiments with Wax #1

Wax, I like using wax in my art, I like the resist you can get in a batik kind of way by rubbing a wax candle over areas of art you want to protect.  And I like the soft ethereal look you can with wax when you spread it all your art.  I even gone so far to buy books on encaustic art, but that a whole new resource requirement and the subsequent drain on finances!

So when the challenge topic #3 Wax was announced on the PaperArtsy website, I knew it would lovely to play along.

I used an old A4 canvas that was originally dark green with texture on it and painted over with a few coats of white acrylic.  I used an credit card to scrape the paint over and that left interesting marks.  I then went over this with Candy Floss Fresco in the same way.

Now for some stamping.  I made a collage plate of the phrases and words from Emma Godfrey's EEG07 plate and stamped over the canvas in Coffee Archival.

Over this I added a washes of Blush and Chalk to tone down the "pinkness"

I added some Finnabair Texture Paste Clear Crackle in the corners and left this to dry.  I'm still getting to grips with this product, trying to get even layer and understand its drying properties. I wasn't sure at first but now I'm liking it more and more each time I use especially if I don't spread too thickly and leave to dry naturally which can take a long time  so that I get fine porcelain type crackles.

Once dry I rubbed with my fingers some watered down French Roast into the cracks and also spritzed with water to get drips.  To be honest I could have left it there as it looked so good!

 

First layer of wax to seal all these layers in and create a base for the next layers.I use wax pellets and heat with my heat gun and spread the melted wax with an old credit card. 

Then it was a case of just adding more layers of paint and stencilling. In the picture below you'll see  I stencilled in Chocolate Pudding and added some smears of Chartreuse. Using Chalk when I needed to knock back the colour and blend it together. 

This then had another layer of wax.  The interesting thing was that as I used the credit card it moved the Chocolate Pudding stencilling around.  Not what I was expecting, but, hey it added to the texture!  I also added more word stamping again as that layer had started to disappear under the layers on top.

Now I knew it needed a focus, so I had a look through my photo and transfer image folder and found this altered images of Lupins taken last summer.  the colours were a spot on match for the background.  It needed a frame to sit on so I got out my Portfolio pastels and some more pastels Id got and selected greys, whites  and browns.  I just scribbled them on and then heated.

Oh er, it was alchemy! The Portfolios melt and set, but the oil pastels moved around and spread. I got so excited by it I forgot to take a picture of that stage. But of you enlarge the picture below you'll see where the colour spread.

A layer of clear wax pellets to seal this layer.  It needed some extra elements to frame the image so I added some of Emma's lovely scribbly blooms in Coffee Archived and lightly painted in Chalk to get a scuffed translucent look as I didn't want them to distract from the main image. I added a quote from EEG14 as well (oh so very true).

Some close-ups (click on them to enlarge and get even closer!)

 As I said on Instagram, (see links on the left), I really, really love this, some definite actions and some happy mistakes to make gorgeous, if I say so myself, art.

Hugs
Jo
xx

Grungy heart

Grungy, shabby, distress, ripped, layers, collage, depth, that pretty much sums up my art and this encompasses all of that. 

I've had the idea of strips of distressed card layered onto more card for ages, its sometime I do with fabric and I wanted to see how it translated to card. 

Picture heavy, but I know that's what everyone likes!

I started by creating an master board using a PaperArtsy paints. I brayered and wiped,, scraped and stencilled with Buff, Cherry Red, Garnet, Vanilla and Chartreuse.   

Then I created a large collage style stamping plate using a variety of Ink and the Dog stamps and stamped over the card with Red Geranium Archival and finally some stamping of numbers in Watering Can Archival. A light wash of Chalk was put on to soften everything down.

  

 This master board was then cut into 1cm strips and the edges distressed.

 

The strips were then glued down onto a black background, make sure they aren't in the order you cut them, you want  a random look so that the stamping isn't prominent and acts as just another layer of contrast and creates the depth.

 

Finally I cut a heart shape and edged with Distress inks in Brick Red and Walnut Stain after gently distressing the edges. 

The background canvas had a lot of layers of die cut shapes, a sheet of paper and text paper.

This then had washes of Mud Splat, Snowflake and Chalk, stamping using the mash up Ink and the Dog plate in Watering Can and water colour pencil mark. Quite a few layers of wash went over the top to soften it all don so that the heart would stand out. In the centre I added some watered down Mud Splat which acts a bit like burnt umber to get that stained aged look.

 

Once glued the heart was edged with water colour pencils to further define the heart. 

Some close ups to see all that lovely grungy texture!

 

 

Really pleased how this turned out and Id now like to have a go with a neutral palette for the heart, off white, grey, silver or possibly gold, umm Ive got lots of sparkly Frantage stuff I could use ....

Hugs

Jo

xx

All you'll need is ....

Well I have to say it hasn't been the start to the year I'd envisaged, by now I would have been to the gym a 3 times a week, planned our meals weekly, dragged my husband into the study to start de-cluttering (we have different working styles, I like clean spaces and no clutter, he likes to be surrounded by piles of what appear to be waste paper). 

But no it wasn't to be the planned for January, that month of new starts, reflection, cleaning the decks, planning, setting goals in motion hasn't happened Instead the past two weeks have been sort of on standstill as I tackle my tooth abscess. It's finally going down (fourth lot of antibiotics) my face is almost back to normal as in not looking like I have a grapefruit trying to push its way out from the inside.  I'm still in some pain and achy, but no where near as bad as it was, thanks to everyone who has sent best wishes, social media is fantastic when you are cooped up in your personal pain riddled insular world.

Anyway enough of the maudlin. 

The past couple of days I've actually felt like I needed to do something, I'm not very good at standing or even sitting not doing anything, the mind starts churning, ideas pop in and the fingers are itching to "create".

The theme at the moment at PaperArtsy is hearts (ummm, I wonder why as we hurtle towards February)) and this is my contribution using a empty grapefruit tin, PaperArtsy paint, some card, Grunge Paste, embossing powder, rusty wire , ribbon and string. Yes I know I sound like Lesley Judd but as a kid I loved Blue Peter especially when they did craft!

The tin was painted with Little Black Dress all over and then I stippled Grunge Paste that had been mixed with Cherry Red. Over this I stippled Burnt Orange, Garnet, Plum, Chartreuse (just a little bit) in various places. Lots of water was spritzed and paints allowed to drip to soften.  I then went to town adding texture and contrast used a variety of embossing powder.  I used some WOW powders, Frantage and Distress to get the effect and colour I wanted.  I just lightly sprinkle pinches of powder onto the tin, have the heat gun very high up until it starts to stick and then move in closer to melt.

The hearts were stamped using Emma's new stamps EEG13 and EEG15.on a master board using the same colours (and lots of background stamps) on the tin. I really love the circles, that squiggly graphic really appeals to me.

I couldn't decide whether too stamp in white or black, I'm glad I went with the white, it looks good and I think it makes the hearts stand out more than the black. I used some rusty wire for the stems attached with some staples.

In the can is some flower arranging foam so that I can stick the wires into it,  Finally some ribbon and string around the can for more texture, I wasn't sure whether to add this last element as it would cover up the can, but it works.

 

So there we go, and in true Blue Peter style "I'm sure anybody would love to receive such a beautiful gift on Valentines Day"

Hugs

Jo

XX

Transparent layers

Well over at PaperArtsy the theme has been transparency. I completed this last week and then I came down with the mother of all toothaches and subsequent infection that has swelled my face to well, my husband dear man he is just called with Sloth from the Goonies. I'm chucking pain killers down my throat every two hours and antibiotics every six, my constant companion is a hot water bottle to my face. I have to drink tepid tea through a straw and I have to have a dribble cloth. Have I started old age early?

Anyway so transparency.  I'd had an idea of using layers of acetate with various elements on each to achieve a layered see through effect.  It's sort of worked, the depth between each layer needs to be bigger, but I'm quite happy.

Moving from back to front (all paints used are PaperArtsy):

Layer 1: text page stuck in and strips and bits removed. A light sponge of Elephant and White to tone the page down.

Layer 2: Elephant paint sponged on quite thickly and opaque, some stamping in Slate and Black Stazon.  The grey in the centre was scared back to reveal layer 1 and a white paint pen to create a frame.

Layer 3: one of photos (dandelion) image transferred on the sheet and some more stencilling in a light grey. Once the image had dried gently rub away the backing paper.

Layer 4:  white stencilled through small dot stencil and butterflies stamped in Stazon from HP1109.

You can see in the individual layers on my Instagram account @jomyhill, I often post WIPs here.

I crackle glazed an old frame with Slate and White and added a touch of Walnut Stain Distress ink.  I used a hot glue gun to stick layers 4, 3 and 2 togetherness. The frame and layer 4 was stuck over the clips.

Looking at it completed layer 3 needs to be less opaque in the centre as its stops the ethereal look I was after.

As an experiment it worked quite well.

Hugs

Jo

xx

Take time.

War is all encompassing  and long wars such as WW1 and WW2 involve everyone, not just soldiers and airmen and sailors, but civilians caught in bombing raids, working on the land, in factories in mines, doctors, nurses, ambulance crews, air raid wardens, Red Cross, WRVS, volunteers, the list is endless and today as well as those armed forces who gave their lives I like to think of everyone else caught up in those wars (and subsequent wars whether they are called wars or not) who did their bit.

Thank you.

And for those interested in the "art", some close ups (click on the photo to enlarge) :

Jo
xx

Shabby poppies

I'm not sure this is how I wanted this to look, but then again I don't know how I did want it to look, so perhaps IT IS how I wanted it to look! The main thing?  I'm thinking too hard!

So this is an A4 piece of card that had Sage paint slapped on and spread out with an old credit card. I then used some gel medium and a really manky brush to spread some thick lines of gel medium to give texture and resist.

 

Over this Hint of Mint.  I then added some book text with Gel Medium.  I let it dry a bit and then rip away sections that haven't stuck or partially stuck.  I also use my thumb nail to push and tip bits of the text to create tears and rips.

 

Added some more Hint of Mint and Sage to tone it all in and spritzed some Walnut Stain Distress Ink as well to give the "old look" effect. Added some stamping from the Hot Picks 1505 set.

Now the bottom half of this was an experiment.  Because poppies are such a strong image of war and remembrance I wanted some gravestones.  My library at work looks over St Mary's Church in Luton and right by the back of the library are some old gravestones.  so I went out early one morning took some snaps on my phone and then came back and manipulated them to create a long horizontal image.  I used the photocopy of the image to image transfer on to the background using gel medium.  You can't actually see the grave stones, but it added another layer  of texture and contrast colour.

Time for some stamping, I used Hot Picks 1505 to stamp the poppies in Sepia and then heat embossed Old Photo Distress powder.  The seed heads were stamped in Sepia and the stalk from the poppies added.  I did some colouring in with water colour pencils.

Then I used Art Basics clear crackle paste.  Never used this so wanted to see what I could achieve.  first layer too thin so added a second thicker layer.  Became impatient so started drying with heat gun and that gave the white bits on the right hand side (see below at the bottom of the photo over the poppy head).  So I went away and let it dry naturally. 

 Finally I added some white pencil, just scribbling here and there to add more texture, add shading  and lighten up some parts of the page. The crackle paste gave a grainy texture in places and if you look closely the white pencil has "coloured" the cracks. as well as the Walnut Stain I added. 

so as I said not sure it turned out how I was envisaging, but I think it still looks ok in a grungy shabby messy kind of way!

Hugs
Jo
xx

What kind of an artist are you?

I'm not a neat artist, (yes I'm calling myself an artist, trying to get used to using that description of me), I like to splodge paint around, make marks, make and use texture in an abstract way (yes another label) 

And i like imagery especially in photographs, not broad landscapes and not people very often, but objects and close up objects at that, flowers, ironwork, decayed wood, decayed animals.  as a colleague said to me the other week, detail, that's your thing.  He was saying it bout work but I reckon it could apply to my art.  

So I'm a detailed abstract splodge kind of artist.and here is an example of my detailed abstract splodging.

 

I started with the central panel with my favourite neutral colour palette using PaperArtsy paints, lots of washes, candle resit etc. Added a sheet of text paper that I ripped and sanded to get a shabby look and added Walnut Stain Distress Ink to get the base I wanted. Added some scrunched and inked brown paper again sanded and ripped. 

I didn't want to use stamps for this layer so I got the pencils and watercolour pencils out and drew some lines and shapes to look like naive art flowers (they are naive I can't draw figuratively at all)

The rose photograph which had digital layers on it was stuck down, sanded in places and some washes of chalk paint added over the top to allow it to fade into the background.  I added white pencil marks around it to act as a frame.
 

 

I'd left it at this for a while put felt it needed another layer behind it especially if I was going to frame it in one of my A3 frames.  So an A3 piece of white card had some Distress Ink and paint added to it a small amount of stamping. The A5 art was stuck to this base and some more pencil lines.

I'm glad i was brave enough to add my own marks and its something I'd like to continue doing, they may not be expertly  and neatly drawn but the perfectionist in me can just about live with it if I remember its naive folk art not botanical drawings!

Hugs

Jo

xx

Homage to Hermione

This year I've decided to tackle the garden, bit by bit, focus on certain areas because its a big garden. Its only taken us 10 years but who's counting!  The first space was the border near the patio and conservatory, we like cottage gardens so there are lots of cottagey plants and the bees and butterflies are certainly enjoying it.  We planted three new David Austin roses, a white (Winchester Cathedral), a pink (Gertrude Jekyll) and a pinky mauve (Gentle Hermione).  They all smell divine and the Winchester is a gorgeous repeater.

So the theme over at PaperArtsy is flowers, so I made some flowers and the colour scheme was chosen by the beautiful mauve of Hermione.  

I started by colouring an A4 sheet in Dolly Mix and Chalk, stencilling in Elephant and stamping in Watering Can.

I then cut out as many flower shapes as I could with a PaperArtsy flower die, these were then put together in fives with a coloured brad.

 

Spritz the shapes and carefully scrunch up, the water allows you to do this and it soaks in the paper and distresses the fibres to give a shabby look.

Carefully unfold the flowers and leave to dry.

Now you could use the roses as they are, put I wanted to put metal stalks on them and "put in something" (I hadn't quite decided what).  I took some metal wire, flattened it by bashing it on a metal block and shaping one end into a spiral, bent the stalk at right angels so the spiral would sit on the base of the flower.  The stalks were stained with alcohol ink.

I was thinking of painting a glass jar to be a vase but in the end decided on wooden blocks, sanded and painted in Chalk with some small scraps of text paper and walnut ink.Drilled some tiny holes and put the wire in and glued the flower to the spiral (I have to say I'm rather in love with these wooden blocks)

 

So just a few more shots of the roses, so you can see the texture.

These are really fun to make and it made me laugh that Jennie over at Live the Dream was doing the same thing! Nothing new in art, just interpretation and variation. 

Hugs
Jo
xx

A study in grey (but not that "Grey")

I made this a little while ago and just haven't got round to sharing.  It's a return to some of my favourite things, paint, layers, distress and image transfer all in a monochrome palette with just a hint of pink pulled out from the image transfer. 

Lots of layers of paint and washes, candle resit work, scratching, sanding more layers of paint washes, stencilling and stamping. to get a really subtle background of layers and contrast, nothing too jarring on the eye.

The tulip image transfer was on top of some book text which you cant see but I wanted there just in case the image didn't take and I wanted the contrast of the text peeping through the image.  Once the backing was removed, some sanding to distress and then stencilled the circles, these has pencil on them s well in green and grey just to give some shadow and contrast.  White pencil round the edge (still loving this shabby rough framing) and a lot of layers of Gloss glaze to seal and brighten the image.  

I didn't want the image transfer to sit too proud of the work and be the final top layer, so hence the stencilling over it and the text stamp in grey embossing powder.  Just to bring the colour from the tulip out I ran over the text embossing in a pink water colour pencil and just "washed it" to spread the colour gently.

Sometimes its nice to just work in your comfort zone of techniques and colour and create in "your style".

Hugs
Jo
xx