Thursday, October 10, 2013

Mixed Media Fun


I was out cruising the net - actually Facebook led me here - to a challenge on the Faber-Castell site.  October's challenge is to create something that represents your cherished secret dream!

Today - after the last 45 minutes of work - my dream is to retire - so today this canvas really is important - believe that I will be able to retire.

A person should never give up on their dreams - no matter how big or little they are.  You just need to keep believing.

I made the canvas with many Faber-Castell products:  Gesso, Gel Medium, Gelatos, Big Brush pens, Pitt Artist pens, White Pitt Artist Pen.  It is amazing how soothing being messy creative can be.

The base of the piece is two pieces of an old book glued together with gel medium.  I used a ruler after the pages were dry to do a tear on all the edges.  The piece is approximately 6 x 8 inches.  I gessoed the pages and then I did a wash with some acrylic paints to give a base for the gelatos.  The flower was a stencil I have had forever and I just rubbed some gelatos in each opening and then rubbed it with my finger to blend the colors.  Several different colors were used.  I outlined the petals with an PITT artist pen.  The dots were done with the White artist pen through another stencil.  I stamped the word background with a Hero Arts Stamp ad brushed the Big Brush Pen across the lettering.  The butterfly and sentiment were stamped with black ink.

I had so much fun with this project.  One night I even had to get out of bed and go smear some gesso on the pages.  Oh me - oh my.

I have some more pieces started.  It is funny how the piece feels with all the layers of gesso, paint, gel medium, gelatos.  It feels like heavy wallpaper.

Gee maybe I could retire and become an artist - oh yes - I do like to eat, live in a house and drive a car - guess I had better go back to work tomorrow.  

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