Friday, November 21, 2014

Apron makeover

After ruining many nice clothes with paint I have been wearing aprons when I make art for sometime now. I was looking at my favorite paint splattered apron and decided to paint it. I was not covering up the mess, just making it prettier for myself.

I started by gathering up all the sparkly fabric paints I have. They are mostly Lumiere paints and some Stewart Gill fabric paints. I decided to go with a variety of color but it would look awesome too if you did a monochrome or two color scheme. I also got out all my favorite stencils to use, picking the ones that had a small overall design. I wanted to cover a lot of the background of the apron.

I then got out half a dozen stencil brushes to use so I wouldn't have to wet them until I had finished. Wet brushes makes the paint run under stencils so if you only have one brush and have to wash it out between colors then make sure you dry as much of the water out of the brush each time.


 The fabric paint is fairly wet but I wasn't worried about creating perfect lines so I used it as it was. If you want a crisp image you need to blot the paint onto a paper towel after you load the brush each time. I just put down a stencil and colored it in with paint using the brush in a circular motion. I then added another stencil overlapping the first one and filled that in too.


Here you can see how I left the first stencil in place while I did the next one. When I finished with a stencil I took it away and put it straight into a tub of water. I didn't want the fabric paint to dry on the stencil and ruin it. If you allow thick paint like this to build up on your stencil you will no longer get a good outline when you use it. I kept adding stencils until I had filled in the whole apron. If you really look you can still see some of the original paint marks but I don't mind that. I am sure it will get more paint on it in the future, haha. 


 I tried to overlap the stencils so there wasn't a clear outline of the border. The stencils with thinner lines didn't work as well as the bold lines did. This idea could work on lots of items like bags or scarves as well. I let it dry for a couple of days and then heat set the fabric paints to make them permanent.


A close up where I tried to catch the shine of the paints but you can't really see the sparkle here. All of the paint I used is metallic so you can imagine how shiny it looks. I did a thick application of paint to cover up the dark background but you could go for a softer look if you wanted to, especially if your fabric is pale.

When I go into my studio now and put on my sparkly apron I feel so happy that I want to get creative right away. I hope you have fun with this technique.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Final cards of the challenge.

I have finished the 52 card challenge ahead of time because my hubby is having a major operation on Dec 1 so I don't think I will be able to get much art done for a while after that. I will share my final cards today. 


 Week 41 - miniature. I wasn't sure what to do for this prompt so I looked through my  image collection for inspiration. When I saw the farm animals I decided to use them. I wanted to make them look tiny so I put them onto the hand. The miniature farm idea came when I was working out what to write on the card. It is mostly acrylics and collage.


 Week 42 - enchant. I used an old piece of painted paper for the background and added the image. You can't read it but the writing is the dictionary definition of enchant. I added gold embossing around the edge of each piece.


 Week 43 - stem.  I used another prepared background for this card and a cut out image. the stitching was done with a pen.


 Week 44 - mask.  I covered the card with gesso and used a pen to draw the pattern. I cut the mask out of previously painted paper and glued it on. I used a pen to do the stitching on the mask.


 Week 45 - night. I know I have used this image before but it is a favourite. This is another painted paper glued to the card. I used a credit card to spread the paint over the paper. I added stars and dots around the edge with a white gel pen.


 Week 46 - honey.  The quote on the back says "If you want to gather honey don't kick over the beehive."  Acrylic background, pen sketching and coloured with pencils. Simple but fun to do.


 Week 47 - feather. A simple background from painted paper and a collage of birds.


 Week 48 - vanilla.  My favourite type of vanilla is ice cream. Painted paper background and I glued on a separately sketched (with coloured pencils) ice cream cone.


 Week 49 - jingle. Painted paper background and a sticker. The stitching is white pen that I have outlined with pencil to make it look like real stitching.


 Week 50 - love. Painted background, collaged image and fine-liner quote.


Week 51 - stencil. I used texture paste through a stencil for the background. I painted it with acrylics, highlighting one key.
 

 Week 52 - loop. I chose to interpret loop as the infinity symbol, endlessly looping around itself. The card was stamped and embossed then coloured with sprays. The infinity symbol was cut out of cardstock then embossed in a machine. I painted it gold to stand out against the background. 

I am glad that challenge is complete, and really happy that I have a stack cards to look through when I need some inspiration. I haven't done a lot of art journaling this year but I have completed the ICAD challenge and this one so I feel like I have done some art. In total it is 113 cards. I like to think of them as mini journal pages.  

I am currently working on some textile art that I will probably share in the new year. I have also signed up for the documented life project for next year so I will be sharing a lot more art journaling then, along with techniques (I hope). I should still be posting over the next couple of months but it won't be as often.
 

Monday, November 10, 2014

Art with playing cards.


 Week 36 - paint.  I love to paint daisies so that was how I decided to do this card. I used acrylics and bubble wrap for the background then painted in the daisies. I outlined them with black pen and added some white highlights with the quote.


 Week 37 - ticking.  Acrylic background with pencil stripes. I used thin liner markers for the clock and more acrylics.


 Week 38 - garb.  I used a dictionary page for the background and topped it with cut outs of late 1920s fashion.


 Week 39 - concentric.  I used my cuttlebug machine to cut out the shapes that I layered over an acrylic painted background. I wrote the word on the other side of the card.


Week 40 - pencil. I used watercolour pencils to draw and fill in all the little squares on this card. There is a quote on the back that reads: "A #2 pencil and a dream can take you anywhere. " I love drawing and using pencils.