2016 #18 Sculpted Leaves {by Sue Carrington}

2016 Topic 18: Autumn Leaves

Hi everyone it's Sue here with a project for the current theme Autumn Leaves. 

Tonight I'd like to share with you some more dabbling with the Sculpture Medium and painting it with Frescos. 

This theme is right up my alley as the colours of Autumn are my favourites to work with, and the Fresco range blend so beautifully. As Summer cools off and Autumn arrives it's time to take a breath before the onslaught of the festive season. I once heard it said that the earth gives a huge sigh of relief when Summer is over and Autumn arrives, so the quote I've used sort of reflects this. 

Step One: I found this frame lurking in the bottom of a box so decided to give it some attention, I discarded the glass and am now left with the 2 main parts. 

Step Two: I painted both pieces with Snowflake then created a MasterBoard from tissue paper and stamps from VID09. This was torn up and glued over the frame. 

VID09.

Step Three: My idea was to create Autumn leaves around the edge of the frame and I wanted them to hold their shape but also look moulded to the frame. So, I die cut several leaves using the PaperArtsy Oak Leaf dies from Egyptian cotton then soaked them in Prima Sculpture Medium. While the medium was still wet I sprinkled on Mini Art Stones. The medium needs to be left, at least, overnight for the fabric to set hard and I wanted more shape so I scrunched up some thin wire and pushed it underneath the leaves and left it to set.

Step Four: I then started to layer up Fresco colours, reaching for all the wonderful shades that scream Autumn to me. First up is Pumpkin Soup, I made sure the leaves were thoroughly coated but only gave the frame a light coat. Tango was next and I concentrated this mainly on the centre area of the leaves and then blended it out on the frame. 

Step Five: Autumn Fire and Brown Shed were next and again I concentrated on the centre of the leaves. The final colours were Claret and French Roast, this is a fabulous colour to create that burnt look, as it's translucent it allows the previous colours to still be seen. 

Step Six: I'd got some of the tissue Masterboard left so covered the back panel with it and then using the same Fresco colours layered up the colour using a baby wipe. I used Haystack on the centre area as it's opaque so knocked back the text on the tissue paper ready for the main image. 

Step Seven: I stamped the main image directly on to the board and also onto some tissue paper. I then cut out the man with the leaf and glued it over the top. 

Step Eight: I rubbed some Florentine Treasure Gold lightly over the top of the leaves. The quote was stamped using one of those little alphabet stamp sets onto Smoothy Card, cut out and edged with Fresco paint. 

The idea of Autumn leaves can send you in so many directions but for me it was mainly about the colours. Frescos work so well together even if you cross over your colour families, like I do all the time ! Layering up the different shades really gives your project depth as well as the combination of translucent and opaque shades. I hope you've enjoyed my Autumn Leaves project and hope you've got time to jump into Autumn too ! 

Sue Carrington
Blog - StampingSueStyle.com
Twitter- Ink_and_me

Thanks for joining us Sue, those sculpted leaves are just fabulous. You captured the colours of Autumn perfectly and the texture and movement really adds high impact tot he frame. ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this Autumn Leaves topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #18: Autumn Leaves, 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 Autumn Leaves link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Oct 2nd 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.