Saturday 7 October 2017

" Imperfections "

Had a really lovely couple of days going a bit mad with mixed media work!
This is a reworked canvas, so there is still a good bit of texture left from the previous working. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it to be honest but was having a tidy up and reorganising my stamps and decided to have a go with ones I haven't used in a while. Chose the Patchwork Butterfly set from Chocolate Baroque simply because it's a gorgeous set and the main butterfly is massive !!

To start things off I used some texture paste through an alphabet stencil and crackle effect stencil then set aside to dry. While it was drying I stamped the butterfly onto acetate with jet black Saxon, then used copper gilding flakes on the back.  Set that aside to dry off and then painted the canvas with black gesso. I did a dry brushing over some of the textures with metallic paints and then over sprayed using cosmic shimmer sprays. I cut out the butterfly and added some fancy pins for the antennae.

The above photo is a close up of the textures and metallic effects as well as the butterfly.

I used the smaller butterfly and stamped directly to the canvas using a versamark clear pad and then heat embossed in copper  embossing powder. The stamping is imperfect because of the texture on the canvas but that is what I wanted as they are in the background and when you think about what butterflies started out like it just seemed to fit with the idea behind the whole imperfection theme.

I added some paper flowers which were painted and dry brushed with metallic paints to tone them in with the project.




Above are a couple of photo highlighting some of the detailing in the texture, colours , stamping and embellishments.

As this was a reworking of an old project I wasn't really expecting perfect results, and it was just an experiment but it turned out better than I thought it would and I had fun in the process so it was all good in the end.

Thank you for dropping by,

Jackie 








Saturday 30 September 2017

The Altered Book

This is a reworking of a project I started a few years ago. It was my first attempt at doing an altered book but I was also very new to the mixed media and journaling scene so perhaps I bit off slightly more than I could chew. I really wasn't happy with anything I had done in this book so I put it away. I didn't  really want to throw it away but felt i could go back to it at a later date when I felt a little more confident in what I was doing.

Anyway, I think it worked.
The first photo you see is the cover. This was done using crumpled and wrinkled tissue paper, stuck down with pva glue then covered with a layer of white Gesso. I then coloured it with acrylic paint mixed with matt medium to blend the colours as I wanted an old worn look. I added a couple of hinges cut from a Tim Holtz die, as well as a little square frame to act a book plate, these were then weathered and dry brushed over to give them a slightly rusty look. The little square is some stamp board which was coloured with Distress Ins and then stamped. I punched a whole, added an eyelet and some old wired ribbon I had in my stash to wrap the book and keep it closed, as this was my frist  altered book I didn't realise how bulky it would become. If I do another one I will look into trying out bookbinding so the will lie flat and close properly.


The inside cover was created by randomly dabbing distress paint for the background as well as using a stencil I created myself, this was also a first attempt so I wanted a pretty basic one.

This double page spread was fully reworked as the original was just awful!! I painted over the whole thing with a coat of white gesso and then when dry, I proceeded to experiment with collage and some stamping. I used up bits and pieces from other projects, left over scraps, some die cuts and some experiments from previous project while attending college. There's also some random stamping and the whole thing was finished off with some distress inks. This page is actually my favourite from the whole book. I just had so much fun with this one and i'm really pleased with the way this turned out.


This page feels a little 'odd' and out of place as this doesn't seem to fit with what I was trying to achieve with the book, but you know what, it still kind of worked so I kept in there. The background was created using two sheets of the same patterned paper only n different colours. Sprayed over them with some spray inks and then randomly stencilled using a Seth Apter stencil. The lady is a magazine cutting which was doodles over. used a white Uniball Sygno  pen to add detail and highlight the writing.

This page I did not do anything to. It was an experiment in creating backgrounds and using colours I don't normally use so I left it alone as I quite liked it. A gesso background with lots of brush strokes, Acrylic paint randomly applied and blended. The letters were created by drawing round plastic templates  then coloured using Aquamarkers.Again I used a white Uniball Sygno pen for highlighting.

This another fully  reworked page and it's done using Seth Apter products. These were a purchaseni made a few months ago and never got the chance to properly try them out. There are lots of layers in this piece but sadly the photo really doesn't show them up very well. I used his signature colour paint by PaperArtsy for the background, started off roughly applying the dark colour first, then filled in the gaps with the other colours, Using a dirty brush I then randomly stenciled over the page. I also used a background stamp which I then embossed with silver embossing powder. I had cut the die cuts from an old piece of paper that I had used to alter other embellishments and thought it fitted well with the grungy theme. I then just highlighted a few things on the page with a Uniball Sygno white pen! I really like this page as I do like lots of different layers and textures!



This was another page that was left alone, I only needed to highlight the images and die cuts to give it some depth as it looked very flat. A magazine clipping of a giant pocket watch and some die cuts from Tim Holtz dies. The small pocket watch is a rubber stamp from The Artistic Stamper.


This was anther completely reworked page and again another experiment in collage. It was difficult to cover the layers underneath so it needed something fairly random cover it. Again using two different main colours and again, they seem to be blue and brown! This whole page has a very 'Robert Rauschenberg' feel to it! {he is one of my favourite artists actually}. Again just some random bits and pieces of left overs from other projects as well as some corrugated card, over a background of acrylic inks. I added some random stamping to finish it off using stamps from The Artistic Stamper. Quite pleased with this page as I had no idea how it would turn out let alone what I wanted to do!

This page was another completely reworked page and was a ton of fun! The background for this piece is...believe it or not....baby wipes!!! I go through these things by the bucket load! I use them for just about everything in my art work. These were used for blending acrylic paint and gesso so were quite hard, that made them easier to stick down. I used pva glue for that and just left them to dry. I tired stamping over the top and it worked to an extent but was very faded as I only used a Memento inkpad. The rest of the pieces are collage and are cut outs from experiments with encaustic wax art.

Now this is where we come to the previously unworked part of the book. This book is a really old book and was purchased from a charity shop for the princely sum of 10 pence! The pages are very yellow and a little brittle in places and do not like water very well. Thankfully the left hand page of this spread was very thick as I had used collage baby wipes on the previous page and knew the ink wouldn't bleed through. I used Dylusions spray inks on these pages with Visible Image stamps. Quite simple and because the pages were very yellowed the colours weren't as vibrant.


Because I had used spray inks straight to paper on the pages before they bled through on the left hand page so I had to have a think on how to to disguise it. I decided on using some torn pages from an old thesaurus I have. Covered them with white gesso and then dried off. I used the Harlequin Rose stamp set from Chocolate Baroque for these pages. I stamped the main harlequin rose onto a separate piece of paper with a Versafine black inkpad then coloured it using Inktense pencils. Grunged it up a bit using Distress inks then stuck the whole thing down onto the page. The images on the right hand page are direct to page and again coloured using Inktense pencils. A bit different and grungy loom to an otherwise very ornate set f stamps!


This is another page I feel is out of place in this book but again I left it in. I was having a really tough day and just needed to art, couldn' fave doing something big so just went for it in this wee book! Was mainly an experiment with textured gesso, acrylic paint and matt medium. I had created this gorgeous background but had no idea what I was going to do from there! Seeing as how I was feeling pretty miserable, frustrated and 'caged' I went with that. I roughly painted a tree, used the caged bird die from Tim Holtz and a Uniball Sygno white pen for the writing. Not one of my favourites to be honest but again it works.

This page is one of my favourites. All very grungy and eclectic, just like me. This was a 'no thinking' page and was an exercise in using up bit from the I'll-put-this-in-this-wee-box-because-it-will-come-in-handy-for-something-box! Bits of old lace, chipboard shapes, paper flowers, die cuts, paperclips and old scrabble letters. lots of layers of random stamping, some scribbled journaling and some distress inks to finish off. Had a lot of fun with page.

This was one of those pages that went a little wrong. I had just bought some Distress Oxide inkpads and was experimenting with them. As the paper in this book is really old and yellow the colours didn't show up too bright. I had also tried stamping something direct to the page but because the pages were so lumpy from previous pages the stamp didn't turn out right, I had a rummage through my stash and found some seriously old handmade paper cards that I didn't really like so I decided to tear them up and cover over the messy stamping. Ads the paper was handmade it didn't take the watercolour pens very well as the boy and girl are supposed to be sitting on red hearts. Those images are the Tim Holtz paper dolls (ancestors). I tuck some paper flowers and some old lace down the side to make the image look less like it was just stuck there and more like it was art of the page. I added a couple of torn pieces of paper, some phrases from the Tim Holtz small talk phrase pad and some paper flowers and embellishments to finish off. Love the vintage feel to this page though.


I had an absolute blast creating this page! I just love these stamps from the Artistic Stamper!
This page took a wee bit of time as it was quite involved. I used the Ranger Distress inks on the background and then randomly stamped over the background. The jars on the left hand page are stamped onto separate card, cut out, coloured using distress inks then embossed with clear embossing powder, highlights were added using promarkers and a blending pen. The light bulb was stamped, coloured using distress inks and then overstamped with a background stamp from The Artistic Stamper. The two jars on the right hand page are just stamped and coloured using inktense pencils. I added a couple of phrases from the Tim Holtz small talk phrase pad and a few embellishments to finish off.

And now onto the final page and the 'niche'! I had no idea what I was going to put in this cut out to be honest but seeing as the book was looking very eclectic I decided to go with that.
I used some texture paste through Tim Holtz alphabet stencil and then let dry, painted over with acrylic paint and matt medium to blend. I then added some butterfly stamps to fill in the gaps. I used uploads of bits and pieces and small embellishments i had lying around on my craft desk. Old lace, broken jewellery, paper flowers, mini playing cards scrabble tiles, as well as another image from the Tim Holtz paper dolls ancestors pack, and, a chipboard pocket watch from the Artistic Stamper.









And that is the end ....... or is it?

I honestly thins post took longer to read than the book!!! BUT I will definitely be doing another one of these at some point in time. I am so glad I went back to this project and took another look at it as I really enjoyed this one. Sometimes it pays to take a step back once in a while!

If you have lasted this long then I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having the patience to read my ramblings on how I created this project.

Thanks for dropping by,

Take care

Jackie x

Sunday 6 August 2017

'Lost' ......

Yet more mixed media .... I'm on a roll here!!
This project was totally fascinating as it started off as an experimental piece. It was an old 'painting' (a not very good one lol) which I painted over with white gesso. I decided on some collage background which consisted of some thin card that had been embossed on my big shot for another project and again unused. Tore them up and stuck them down randomly. I wanted to make the texture a bit more interesting so raided the recycling bin and found some netting that had previously contained satsumas!!


Because it was coated and bright orange I smothered it in gesso as it would give it a good Base to colour later......and this is where I got a bit 'stuck' and 'Lost' with what I was going to do next!!
So, went off and had a coffee and a good think!
It was then I remembered I had bought the Seth Apter Spellbinders 'Broken Maze' die a few weeks before and thought it fitted well with the getting lost part. So cut that out on the big shot using an off cut of card that I had been spraying and distressing other embellishments.....was a great colour and lots of random 'stuff' on there!!





One side of the canvas seemed a little bare so I added some lace to give it a bit more texture. Because of the different textures they all took on the colour differently when sprayed so this whole took a completely different direction colour wise! I wasn't  sure about the colour to start with but thought I'd leave alone to see what happened when I added the smaller embellishments of buttons and generally stuff that gets lost.

I decided it needed a bit more blending and then used the Cosmic Shimmer antique wax just to finish it off.
This project took me on a bit of a journey but I was an interesting one and at least I didn't need to 'fight' with it to get it to work! Loved the learning process in this piece and SO wish all my projects were like this.

Thanks for dropping by

Take care

Jackie x

More mixed media madness!!

Woah !!! COLOUR!! Something a little different colour wise from me this time! Turned out a little stronger than I thought it would and not my usual choice of colours but I am pleased with it anyway.
I started off with texture paste through a small Tim Holtz stencil (alphabet), then when dry I set about building up layers of colour using Cosmic Shimmer sprays and Pebéo Dyna iridescent paint in blue and green. The door hinge,  key and keyhole are alterations dies from Tim Holtz which were painted with a rusty look for a previous project but left unused so I painted over them to try to blend them in a bit better.
I also painted and stamped onto a chipboard tag, then stuck that down over some printed calico tape that was sprayed to change the colour. Paper flowers were sprayed with Cosmic Shimmers and stuck down over a distressed tag.


The frame was created by using UTEE in a silicone mold as was the gem in the centre. I was going to use resin but I was a bit too impatient  (us crafter usually are lol) as it takes a few hours to set so thought i'd experiment with the UTEE to see how it would turn out. Really pleased with the result so i'll be using that technique again at some point!





The paper butterfly was cut from patterned backing papers from my stash and stuck stuck down over fusible fibres. I added a couple of decorative pins for the antenae.

Really pleased with the way this turned out despite the strength of the colour.

Thank you for dropping by
Take care

Jackie x

Mixed media madness....

Many apologies for the lack of blogging recently but I have been busy creating!!
It has been thoroughly enjoyable being able to get back into my style of work and just generally  doing what I love best. This was quite a large a project but a fun one.
After spending three years at college studying contemporary art it was nice to get away from how things 'should be done' and be able to experiment with all my craft stash that I have accumulated over the years as well as experiment with some new things as well.
I have only recently discovered https://www.craftbox.co.uk/ ...yes I know ... where have I been?!! Well wow! What a stunning box to receive.  All beautifully presented with the most scrumptious embellishments, ephemera, charms, resin frames and card and papers, all wrapped in a beautiful quality box!
I REALLY need to get my budget in order a bit to get more of her gorgeous products! Especially the paints and sprays!!
Anyway....I digress.... back to the project...
I used a mixture of two craftboxes for this project. The Apothecary Box and the Steampunk box..... I just sat and played and had some serious fun mixing and matching the contents of both boxes to decorate each individual little box.


Above is a photo of the book style box, the inside cover is decorated with tissue paper and then painted with acrylic paint mixed with matt medium to make it transparent as I wanted the images to show through slightly.



Here is a better view of the seperate boxes within the main box itself. Lots of different embellishments and techniques used creating them.
This little box was fun to put together and just slightly quirky! I used a tiny balloon shaped jar embellishment from the Apothecary Craftbox , I turned it upside down and created a little hot air balloon using some string, a tiny crown embellishment from my own stash and hot glue. Has a bit of a Steampunk feel which fitted with some of the other elements from the Steampunk craftbox.


Another fun and quirky box. This embellishment is simply gorgeous! It is articulated and also headless (a bit like me most days)! I used a paper flower for her head and a metal flower to further embellish as well as a quote sticker. It always makes me smile this one!!

This box contains a heavy wooden quote whit was then sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer inks and then stuck down over backing papers and stickers which also came with the craftbox.


This is part of a set of three and was the first one I tried. This embellishment came in the box and I had planned to 'set' in CLEAR UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) but I lifted the wrong pot and ended up using interference blue instead, which was opaque and obliterated the charm. I managed to salvage it though by adding some copper coloured embossing powder to kill the colour slightly. The other little boxes I did with clear UTEE! That'll teach me to pay more attention next time!!

All in all this project was really fun and I enjoyed it immensely.  Was so good to get back into my crafting style again.
Thank you for dropping by

Take care
Jackie x

Thursday 29 June 2017

It's been a while....


Many apologies for the lack of blogging but life just seems to have got in the way.
Anyway, I managed to take some time out to do some art journaling.
This page was created using the Spellbinders ' Broken Maze' by Seth Apter. The background is a palette  clean up (not into wasting paint lol) and I just finished it off using some old plastic stencils from my stash. Added some paint splashes for a bit of extra 'grunginess'.

Thanks for dropping by and hopefully it won't be quite so long before my next post.

Take care
Jackie x

Monday 24 October 2016

Abstracts


Hi Everyone, again many apologies for not being around much, just been a tad busy with 'life stuff'.
Anyway I decided to take a little time-out from the miserable 'life stuff' and create a couple of abstract paintings.
They are both reworked canvases and created using texture paste, matt medium, acrylic paint and gilding foils.
I had a a whole load of fun doing these and i'm rather thrilled with how they have turned out.
Thanks for dropping by and apologies for the short post.
Jackie x