2016 #6 Abstract Wall Art {by Ingrid Vichova}

2016 Topic 6: Liquid Sculpting Medium

Hi everyone, Ingrid here, joining you here with a post about creating with Powertex and PaperArtsy products. These two are like bread and butter! I’d like to show you today, how simple it is to create a rather minimalist and simple abstract art full of texture and interesting features for your home. If you have been following my work you’ll know I absolutely love textures and I had a real blast working on this project. 

The idea was to create something rather unconventional, non-traditional, minimalist with full of interest and expressing an emotion of some sort. I’m a great believer that art should speak to you in one way or another. I decided to alter a couple of elongated pine frames rather than create on a canvas. You could however use a couple of canvases instead. It would work well too so don’t let anything stop you. 

Prep: My workspace was covered with plastic as I knew this would be a messy fun. The raw pine was coated in a primer (white gesso) so that my pastes and paints would go on really well. Don’t spend too much time on this, but priming any surface you’re about to work on is a must. Your paint or other products won’t penetrate the surface and therefore you will end up using less than you would have to, if you didn’t prime first. It doesn’t have to be perfect and any ridges will only add interest. Allow to dry or heat dry so that it is ready for your next step. 

Step 1: Spread the Grunge Paste using a palette knife randomly here and there. Use a water spray to lightly mist over rubber stamps and stamp into the grunge paste alternating stamps. For this technique I used the gorgeous stamp set EEV05 by Ellen Vargo. I chose this set, because I knew I wanted to more or less create marks and interest on my abstract wall art. I didn’t want anything specific and this set is absolutely perfect for the job! I can guarantee you it will get used over and over. I fell in love with it so much. I can totally see myself using it whilst journaling. But to continue, once you are happy with your stamping allow both pieces to dry naturally. This might be the hardest part, but it really doesn’t take too long so no biggie.

 EEV05 

Step 2: Choose your colour combination. I am so indecisive sometimes, it hurts. How could you possibly choose just three out of all the wonderful Fresco Finish paints? I knew I wanted to use cool tones on my art. What made the decision process really easy was the fabulous colour paints chart that arrived with my paints. PaperArtsy cleverly created groups of colours that are either warm or cold or complimentary. This really helps you to pick the right paints for your project. The colours I chose were: Bora Bora, Baltic Blue and Slate. Again, don’t worry about painting the frames neatly. A little bit of paint goes a long way. These paints are opaque so one layer is enough plus I didn’t mind showing a little white here and there. In fact, it was my preference. 

Step 3: Spread Transparent Powertex Fabric hardener with your palette knife onto random areas and before it has a chance to dry spray the dark brown Bister also by Powertex over the entire frame.

In this instance I worked on one frame at the time so that one wouldn’t dry by the time I was finished with the first.

 Whilst the Bister and the fabric hardener are still wet blast it with your heat gun. You will start seeing crackles and because you are using a transparent hardener you will see the painted colour in the crackles. That was the idea! This is so much fun! Once the crackles are there you can leave it to finish drying naturally. Repeat the process with the other frame. You might feel at this point that this is looking bit mish mash. But don’t worry, there will be the ‘ugly’ phase before it will get to ‘oooh, I love this!’. 

Step 4: You’ve added the darks and now it’s time to add highlights and the Snowflake Fresco Finish Chalk Paint is perfect for the job. However, there is a knack to it. Don’t over paint it, but gently dry brush it. Simply add a tiny dab of paint onto your craft sheet, load some on your brush and then remove a bit on a tissue before dry running the brush lightly over the frames. What will happen is only the raised areas and any lumps and bumps you created previously will suddenly appear. What will also happen is you will over paint some of the mish mash areas, but that’s what you want. It is called ‘Addition by Subtraction’ or in other words by removing some areas you will add interest to the overall look. Repeat this step with the other frame and allow to dry.

Step 5: It’s time to create your dolls. This is super-simple.

Twist a wire into a shape of a doll, add silver foil to create ‘flesh’ and tape the whole thing over with a paper/masking tape.

I mixed my transparent fabric hardener with a Grey Pigment powder or Powercolour by Powertex, cut a piece of rough cheese cloth into thin strips and ‘wrapped’ their bodies in them and whilst shaped I allowed them to dry naturally.

As they were drying I mixed up a little bit of the Easy 3D Flex by Powertex into the leftover grey mix and spread this over the back of each doll.

One was intentionally made bigger and one smaller to represent a woman and a man. I wanted to create simple silhouettes with no ‘clothing’ so that I could manipulate them into certain positions so that it would be apparent that they are expressing emotions.

Looking at the figures, how do they make you feel? Are they sad, are they taking a moment to reflect or is there a story behind it? That’s up to you to decide… let me know your thoughts!

Some final photos showing this amazing texture.

I hope that you enjoyed reading about the process of creating with the wonderful Paperartsy stamps and paints together with the fun Powertex products. It is amazing how easy and how well these two brands work together. They complement each other well and it was a real joy for me to create this. I do hope that you will take a moment to give this a try! You can make yours as simple or as complex as you like and if you like. You can choose brighter colours or a more natural look for your art. Create fabric flowers instead of dolls, add more elements to your canvases or frames… There are no boundaries or rules so let your imagination run wild and give these products a go! 

Thank you for stopping by and spending some time with me here! I hope that you truly enjoyed the post! Please feel free to leave a comment, share it or get in touch! 

Big hugs, stay creative! 

Ingrid xxx 

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Thankyou Ingrid, and welcome to the blog. these are stunning pieces of home decor. Your figures do intead have character and emotion, how could they not seating amongst such amazing texture. We love the colour palette chosen, so very elegant. ~Darcy 

We would love to see how you interpret this topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #6: Liquid Sculpting Medium, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas, particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Liquid Sculpting Medium link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, April 3rd. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.