Two more index card done!
I drew the fungi then coloured them with the Chameleon Color Tones and Color Tops pens. Cogs have appeared in the background once again – gotta have a lil bit of steampunkishness!
I’ve used 3D Crystal Lacquer on the fungi caps and on the stars in the background.
I’m liking the slightly bigger format of the index cards compared to ATCs.
This morning, I woke way too early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to do some more ACEOs/ATCs – two sets of four this time!
I’ve spent the last four or five hours creating this set of four ACEO/ATC cards. It’s been a while since I did any mixed media work, but I felt the need to get a bit messy.
Each card measures 2½” x 3½” (approx. 6.5 cm x 9 cm) with the substrate being some fairly thick Kraft card.
I started by using some yellow Frog Tape to hold the cards together so I could make the background at the same time.
I started by applying PaperArtsy Fresco Paints to the kraft card until I had a finish I liked. The colours I used were Cheesecake, Rose and Sherbet.
The next step was to add some Windsor and Newton Modelling Paste through a couple of stencils (one was the dot fade stencil by Tim Holtz, the other a mini dragonfly stencil by Creative Expressions).
Once the modelling paste was dried, which I hurried along using a Tim Holtz Heat Tool from Ranger, I watered down some Alchemy Waxes from Imagination Crafts (white gold, tulip and apple green)and used a paintbrush to colour the dragonflies. I then used the wax and a piece of Cut and Dry Foam from Ranger to apply some of the waxes over the dot patterns.
Once I’d finished applying the wax, I wasn’t happy with the result on the dragonflies, so I used Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic paint in Rich Gold to re-colour them. I was much happer with the results, especially the dragonflies that I’d coloured pink/red.
The next step was to have a furtle through various coloured diecuts I have in my stash. Every now and again, I spend a day cutting out various die cuts (mainly cogs, flowers and foliage, but sometimes other things too) and then colouring them to add to my stash. It saves on time when I have the urge to do some mixed media work. It also makes use of my rare urges to do die cutting, which I find a very tedious process.
After a good furtle, I found some cogs that would work on two ACEOs that had just the dots on the background. I couldn’t find anything I’d want to add to the dragonflies; I was just happy with them as they were.
The die cuts were applied with Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue from Creative Expressions, then some Vintage Photo Distress Oxide Ink with a wet brush was used to add shadows.
I used a Quickie Glue pen from Sakura and Gold Superfine Embossing Powder from WOW to add some gold dots and to areas where there was no embossing paste. Following this, I edged the cards using a piece of Cut and Dry foam and black Archival Ink from Ranger.
I then chose some words from the Tim Holtz Chit Chat stickers and glued them down with the Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic glue, and used a damp brush and a China Black Inktense pencil from Derwent to add shadows around the stickers.
The very final step was to add some sparkly gems, and they were done! Once all is dry, I can add my information to the back and so on, and I have some ACEO cards to use on other mixed media projects or in my art journal.
Over the past week I’ve been keeping myself artfully busy learning a bit more about Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and how it works for me; you could say I’m building up a relationship with it.
For now, I’ve been drawing LOTS of mandalas! I’m keeping them back from t’internet as I hope to publish them (some are already spoken for by the Colorist app), and other people asked if I was going to make some available for purchase. So, I’m building up a collection of them for that purpose – either with a publisher, or I’ll self-publish if necessary. I’ve also done a couple more small mandalas that work nicely as designs to be coloured and made into greetings cards, kind of like digital stamps.
Talking of digital stamps (digi stamps), there are some ideas rattling around my noggin that I’d like to try out, so there’ll be more news on this later on no doubt.
It looks like I’m going to be doing a colouring book of spooky templates in the near future, so if anyone has any ideas for ‘spooky’ or ‘eerie’ then feel free to share!
I also have a few ideas for written books rumbling around my noggin; however, it’s really hard for me to do something with them as I doubt myself so much, think they’re silly ideas, and so on. The ideas aren’t wholly in my noggin, I do have notes on them on the ‘puter which need tidying up…but I’m finding it difficult to do this because of all my self-doubt and self-criticism. I just need to keep saying to myself, ‘But you have recorded these ideas so they are there for you, so you have made progress).
A week ago, I finally had the hedge at the front of the house removed, as well as the back garden completely cleared. My garden is tiny, but it’s amazing how much space was hidden by the cotoneaster and forsythia! I do have some clean up to do, but there’s no great rush on that. I also need to consider what to do with the back garden.
The process of getting this done has caused me great anxiety, but there was an ah-ha moment when I realised that some voile panels in the windows in my front room would help me to feel ‘safer’ and more ‘private’ while letting in daylight. For a long time I’ve hid behind curtains; well, I still am, but at least I can see out through the voiles even if people outside can’t see in! Why I didn’t think of this a long while ago, I don’t know, but thank goodness I did!
I’ve done a couple of anti-stigma talks for Time to Change Wales, and I’m seriously wondering if I’m really making any difference as my story is so bland and ordinary … after all it’s not a dramatic tale to tell, and I really don’t think it’s anything people haven’t heard/seen on TV on the soaps and so on…so I’m really feeling quite downhearted about that at the moment.
I know it may very well pass, but at the moment … it’s difficult….my therapy? Art of course!
I have this piece of artwork on eBay to raise money to help send a little girl to the USA for cancer treatment not available in the UK.
Mia Chambers, Rainbow Warrior Princess has a facebook page . She also has a Just Giving page where you can also read more about her journey.
Please either consider bidding for this artwork, making a donation to her Just Giving page, and/or sharing this post far and wide so other people can help get this brave little girl the treatment she needs, as well as helping other children with similar cancers.
Thank you.
Yesterday, I posted a picture of this mixed media work. I thought it was most probably finished, However, as I looked at it, there was something not right about it, something, or somethings, missing. I didn’t know what.
When I woke up this morning I knew what to do, kind of. So, after searching through my stash of bits and bobs, I sorted it.
I think it is now finished, apart from some shadows around the cogs which I can’t do until the glue has set.
Much happier with it now.
A second mixed media work from me. Texture paste through stencils, distress inks, diecuts, various papers I’ve coloured, some that have been embossed. Metallic and iridescent paints. And gems.
I’ve mostly finished this piece of mixed media art. I think I need to add some pearls or similar, maybe some shadows around the flowers and foliage, but it is, in essence, complete.
I’m quite pleased with it, especially as I kept to a mainly monochrome colour scheme of blues and greens, but pinks and purples had to make a little bit of an appearance just to add some accents.
It’s another big one – A3 in size. Lots of Foamiran flowers have been used; I used Distress crayons and a baby wipe to add colour to the white foamiran before heating and shaping each layer. The colours are the same as some used in the background.
My focal point is an ACEO or ATC that I made a few weeks ago at the start of my mixed media explorations.
In places you can pick out the subtle sparkle on the background and foliage – achieved by spraying with a mist of gold perfect pearls.
Many of the coloured papers I used in the collage were created using a Gelli Plate and PaperArtsy fresco paints.
A fair amount of metallic and iridescent paints from Pebeo, Liquitex and Daler-Rowney have been used too.
Back to playing with mixed media today, and this is the result…
It’s around 8″ x 6″ in size and 300lb Smooth watercolour paper by Daler-Rowney is the substrate.
First, I coloured the paper using Distress Oxide inks, with a light spray of gold mica mixture.
Once that had dried, I added the diamond motif and text to the background using texture paste through stencils. Once the paste had dried, I used a rich gold System 3 acrylic paint from Daler-Rowney to paint the texture paste.
Yesterday, I had used embossing folders with my Big Shot from Sizzix to emboss coloured card which I then added metallic and iridescent colours to. The dark red-brown layer of cogs is part of one of these papers. Behind it, there’s a piece of patterned paper. Both have had their edges roughed up (distressed) and then inked using black Archival Ink from Ranger.
I next chose an ACEO or ATC card from my stash to act as a focal point. I also firtled through my stash of steampunk diecuts to find some cogs and a clock dial to add to the background.
The diecuts were all made from kraft card and I used Distress inks to add the base colours of a rich blue, an intense blue-green and a red-brown before dry brushing metallic and iridescent acrylic paints from Liquitex over them to give the appearance of old metal.
Finally, I assembled everything together in an arrangement that pleased me. I used a Payne’s Grey Inktense pencil and a water brush to add shadows, and finally a few sparkly gems (I can’t resist the use of sparkle!).
I thought I’d finished, however, the postman brought me a box that contained some Foamiran sheets I’d ordered a couple of days ago, and I just had to have a go at making some flowers. You can see one of the flowers on the mixed media piece.
The flowers are quite easy to make. I die cut flower shapes from the Foamiran. I then used a couple of Faber-Castell Gelatos and a damp baby wipe to apply colour the the front and back of the flowers.
Next, I used my heat tool to warm the foam so it curled up a little and then shaped the petals before using hot glue to stick the layers together to make fluffy flowers. Finally, I used an alcohol marker to colour some clear gems in so they complemented the flowers and attached to their centres.
I think I’m going to be making more of the flowers, they are easy to make, if a little fiddly given the current manicure I’m sporting. Next time my nails are done, I’ll make sure they are kept fairly short!
My previous blog post about a mixed media work in progress is still on hold, although I have added a crackle paint to it in places, which has added some texture to it. I’m pleased with the result, but I still am not sure what else to do to complete it.
I have completed a very textured background for some mixed media work; you can see it above. What I’m going to do with it I’m not quite sure, but I’m sure it will all come together at the right time.
I’ve been drawing more ‘Doodle Worlds’ images from time to time and now need to gather them together to see if there’s enough for another ‘book’ for the Colorist app.
I also turned my attention to colour and pattern and the two images above are the results of around three to four days work.
I used A4 300g/m² smooth watercolour paper and applied distress inks to create the coloured areas. I wanted to create the illusion of shadow and light in these areas. Next, I used various drawing pens to add the patterns. On the green piece, I’ve added copper and gold coloured metallic highlights. The pink one isn’t quite finished yet.
As the days are becoming lighter and warmer, my thoughts are going to getting out to visit places and to do some sketching/drawing (intense anxiety and intense self-consciousness allowing).
With this in mind, I’ve prepared pages in an A5 and an A4 sketchbook. I’ve used Distress and Distress Oxide Inks.
The image above shows the first page in my A4 sketchbook, a page full of daisies, worked using different media, trying out different styles and degrees of detail.
I like to work on a coloured background, I don’t know why, I just do. I think it may be that I like to add shadows and highlights to create and image from the colour on the page.
I’ve not done much in the way of sketchbook work for a long while, but the need to revisit and to continue to explore different ways of expressing myself artistically has surfaced. I think this is a much over-due response to the surfeit of work on colouring books in the past three or so years, as well as the struggle I’ve had with my mental health.
My energy, when mentally able, has been focused on completing the work I was contracted for with various publishers. I enjoyed the work, the subject matter pushed my boundaries in the subjects I tackled. I’m so grateful for that work as well as it allowed me to make changes in my working life that helps me to take care of my mental health. It was/is also an activity that helps me manage my mood. I lose myself in drawing/creating, finding myself ‘in the flow’ where my mind stills, or, rather, where I no longer pay attention to the inner critic.
However, the colouring book work was the focus of my artistic energies for much of that time, and I had little energy left to explore other areas of artistic expression. I didn’t mind that at all, as I’ve said, I enjoyed all the work I did, and I will continue to create templates. However, that is not all I want to do or to create.
I now have time to revisit ways of artistic expression I put to one side in my focus on the work for publishers, and I have the chance to see how my skills and expression have developed/changed. I also get the chance to explore and discover new ways of expressing myself, using new media.
In this way I can continue to discover, practice and refine my artistic voice and vocabulary. I still feel like a toddler in the world of art. I wonder if I’ll ever progress from that state.
The biggest obstacle to me doing this is the lack of belief and confidence I have in myself and my artistic abilities. I also have a problem in deciding on what to draw. Then, there’s also the issue of finding themes/styles/media to explore that will challenge me just enough that I feel I can make a good attempt at them and gain confidence in them, but not so much that it overwhelms me and I fail before even trying.
The most important thing for me, however, is to enjoy my artistic journey, no matter where it leads me. The pleasure and peace I get from creating will be something that will serve me extremely well throughout the rest of my days on this planet.
This one is mostly finished. I need to add shadows around the elements and some shiny patterns to the layers I think. Oh, and the hole in the tag needs something added.
The fungus I drew and coloured myself. That was enjoyable to do! In fact, the whole thing has been satisfying.
Angela Porter 