Piece can be displayed in any direction.
Cardboard and newspaper paper mache using Mod Podge original. The kitties and speech bubbles are cardboard shapes layered over the base image which gives the piece a highly textured, dimensional feel. Painted with latex and acrylic paint and clear coated with matte Mod Podge. Measures approximately 4 x 7 inches.
Piece can be displayed in any direction.
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Painting a border around the entire mural is one of the final steps. I had considered using a stencil, but since the entire piece has been hand-painted in a loose style I thought a stencilled border might look too prim. However, before tackling the border cold I painted a test section on clear plastic and lay it over various sections. It helped me visualize the effect before actually painting the floor. When I did get going, I went with smaller brush strokes than in my test section. All there is left to do is finish the border and paint a couple of little snakes. After that is done I will wash the white floor and coat the entire space with two layers of clear Verathane in a satin finish.
Foxgloves and Poppies Before painting any flowers I had to prep the floor, starting by washing it twice with Simple Green, and sanding the entire "rug" area with a power sander. I wanted to remove only a little bit of the yellow to reveal more blue streaks while also roughening the entire surface. Then I swept the dust away and wiped the floor down with TSP Substitute. In a plastic cup I mixed a very watery batch of butter colored paint, using Gripper for the white and yellow latex paint. With a large brush I then coated the entire mural space, which served to spruce up the existing yellowy area and make a nice fresh surface for my flowers. Started with a wash of green paint around the perimeter indicating the location of leaves for all of the different plants. For now, I've decided to focus on painting the flowers, and finish the leaves after. I will probably bop around, but that is how I'm starting. For reference I am using volumes I and II of The Random House Book of Perennials. They have great photos of the plants in their environment, and also specimen pages where the focus is on the flower heads and all their varieties. Poppies in progress. As much as I love a fiery orange oriental poppy, I will be restraining myself and my palette on this project.
Medusa and child,
Sun sets over crystal fire. Subtle, I am not. Preliminaries & Preparations A project I am really excited about is a fanciful painted rug for an in-home library. This is an interesting space: it used to be an open floor plan with the living room and hall connected. Its floors had been a very dark blue color so the homeowner, in order to brighten the area, quickly painted a pale yellow 'rug' with green leaves over most of the floor. In the intervening years a wall was built to make the living room into a more private space which has bisected its original yellow painting. Now the room is being converted into a library. The plan originally was to paint the entire floor white for a fresh clean look. But as I got underway I was lamenting covering the interesting yellow area. I had a new idea to paint over all of the blue areas, and make a white border against the new wall to create the appearance of a smaller rug for the library space alone. I love the interesting finish this floor has, so for all of my paintings I lay a base coat of deep blue and roughly brushed on a pale yellow so I could truly create a realistic rendering of the finished project. Above is a practice and idea page. Design on left would be humongous when scaled up to full size. Paintings above and below are not to scale; I just wanted to have examples of different variations on the same theme before creating my final sketch. Roses in the middle surrounded by lilac, pansy, forget-me-not, foxglove, wild strawberry, dandelion, queen Anne's lace, morning glory, and daisies. Also included are a salamander, a snake, bees, blue moths and a couple of little frogs. My previous paintings had me creating white flowers with hints of color; in this third piece I experimented with painting flowers in full color and then washing over the entire piece with watered down paint. It ended up too green, but this was my favorite method. After my paintings were reviewed, the final design is a combination of sketch 2-b with the border of flowers growing toward the center, and large roses free-floating in the middle from sketch 3, but without branches. This is also to scale, so I can draw a grid over this piece and transfer it to the actual floor. However... it is still difficult to envision what this is going to look like full size, so I am going into this with the understanding that my design might have to change on the fly, and I'm okay with that.
Alt Titles: Get On The Sole Train! Hey Sister, Sole Sister Curse My White, White Sole Before I really don't like white soles on my sneakers. (Technically I am talking about the midsole here.) Since I've been wearing this pair of Asics for a few months I felt comfortable experimenting with painting over the white using latex and acrylic paint. Step 1: Wash soles with some dish soap and a magic eraser Step 2: Paint I chose to paint and blend directly on my shoes. The orange and green were mixed in place, and I worked quickly to fade each color into the next while the paint was still wet. Blue and purple took two coats before it was fully opaque. The midsole on this pair has an interesting design molded into it so I did my best to work with its design and enhance it with my colors. After totally free-handing one shoe I used it as the reference so my other sneaker would match. Easy! In order to see how my paint-job would wear I decided against using any clear coat. I also couldn't decide which to use: clear acrylic paint, matte Mod Podge or original Mod Podge. I might test out all three on my shoes and see which works best. One Week Later Hey, my work is holding up surprisingly well! Important to know that it isn't holding up perfectly-- small areas closest to the ground have scraped away as well as in the creases where I have crushed the foam down. Still loving how they look.
I think if I had painted my sneakers when new the flaking would be more catastrophic. Remember, I've worn these most of the summer, you can see where the foam has creased in the heel area from my stomping around. Paint on new shoes before compressing the foam would probably have flaked away sooner and more visibly. Just a theory. Also I didn't use a primer, so I'm wondering if I had coated it with Gripper first my paint would stick better. Something to try next time! Medusa and child This image came to me around a week ago, a woman with multicolored projections emanating upward from her eyes and running down her body. I had been thinking a great deal about silk painting and psychedelia. The original sketch. I used Derwent Inktense blocks by wetting my brush and picking up the pigment, then laying it down like watercolors. The black outlines are with a Pilot Precise V7 pen. I love this drawing; her three-quarter turn, her small chin and big eyes looking up, her serene smile. I was almost finished when I really wanted to have her holding a cat, but since this is the bottom of my page I didn't feel there was enough room. Second painting. As with the first, I free-handed the whole thing with paint instead of laying down a pencil sketch. I gave her a bigger chin this time and made her body more substantial, also added red eyes to her snake hair. I think she appears stronger facing the viewer directly which also gives her Ocular Emanations/Power Tears a nice symmetry. I liked giving her a soft waist with a little bit of a fold. Third drawing with "the full monty": pencil sketch, pen lines, erase pencil lines, paint, marker, ballpoint pen and lastly colored pencil. This round I drew her leaner and more muscular, and hers is my favorite face. Now she looks like Amanda Peet in the last Halloween costume she would ever wear. This incarnation is totally digital and as such I tried to make the image as crisp and clean as possible, an effect I am unable to achieve with paint. Created exclusively in Gimp using my Wacom drawing tablet-- though the Wacom is not a necessity, without it my hand would have cramped into a useless claw long ago. I decided against adding her Ocular Emanations this time when they covered her beautiful hair.
Of my three pieces the first and second are most likely to translate well into silk paintings which often have a loose and vivid watercolor look. The third has my favorite face and I like her cat, but I prefer it blue like it is in my second and fourth piece. Often when I am struck with an artistic image I will explore it in a single medium until worked out of my system. This time I chose to experiment with working through a theme in various mediums and exploring new looks for the same art. I am not finished with Medusa quite yet, just as I am sure she's not finished with me. Glass seed beads sewn with polyester thread onto wool felt. Beads are couched over most of the eye and the lashes are sewn using a method for beaded fringe. To make sure the fringe on the top lashes stands upright the threads were pulled very taught while sewing; the bottom lashes were intentionally left loose for a subtle wiggle effect. I could provide you with the historical precedence and significance of eyes in art, but why don't you do the research yourself. What I love about eyes-- regardless of your artistic skill-- is how they are an approachable and universal subject yet can still offer different meaning or significance for every individual. I peeked through some of my little sketches to show a taste of my own interest in eyes (and mouths, but let's save that analysis for another day). I want to plaster everything with eyes to fill my life with the impression that someone is always watching. Everyone likes that feeling, right?
Reviving Faux Leather - 2 Real Leather or Suede It is inadvisable to attempt to sew directly into real leather or suede. With the polyurethane items we are sewing its fabric backing; even brand new leather cannot have too many holes punched into it or the material begins to fall apart. The illustration below shows my suggestion for sprucing up an old leather or suede piece: 1. This is the jagged edge of the hypothetical rip. I think it would look best not to trim or clean up the damage so it looks like your fix is "pouring" out of the original garment.
2. This is a piece of fabric that has been tucked into the hole and the edges of the rip are traced. Now you can remove the material and sew or glue whatever you choose. 3. After your insert fabric is embellished insert it back into the corresponding tear using glue on the front side so it makes contact with the leather. (The dotted line shows the boundary of the backing fabric, those aren't sewing stitches.) |
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