Reverse Canvas {with Hot Picks Stamps by Alison Bomber}

Hello everyone, Alison here from Words and Pictures, and delighted to be back at PaperArtsy to share a little something with you that didn't really go as expected!

I set myself the challenge of using only two Fresco paints to create my little reversed canvas, and had a wonderful time playing with one of the new Hot Pick Plates, number 1301.

I turned the canvas round to use the recessed space as a shadow box, and started by layering my two paints onto it.  I used Pea Coat (but mine is still the old translucent version) and Limelight - also a translucent - double the challenge!

I stamped the gorgeous butterfly and text from HP1301 onto some tissue paper.  I'm lucky enough (or hoarder enough) to still have a few sheets of the original Crackly stock.  I stamped in a combination of Potting Soil and Coffee Archival inks for a dark but not too dark look. I then used the same paints to layer washes of colour over my butterfly and the little flowers in the corner.

Once that was done, I glued the tissue paper into the canvas using lots of Satin Glaze under and over it, as well as all over the edges of the canvas for a nice sheen.  Rather than spend time tinting Grunge Paste, I decided to use up some leftover Ferro paste that I had to add stencilled vines and butterflies around the edges of the canvas.

At this point I was planning to leave the metallic look to go with the brown stamping and my metallic embellishments.  It was going to be all nice and golden brown in look, with just some blue and greens in the background... that was the early thinking as you can see below, but that all changed in the end!

The reason it changed is that I decided to alter all the metal using my two paint colours.  I allowed myself some Gesso in the mix so that I could pre-coat the metal before adding colour.  I did lots of layers and washes and dry-brushings of my two paint colours over the various Finnabair Mechanicals Flowers and Numerals.

Once the embellishments were all painty, the textured leaves looked wrong in gold, so I started to build up layers of washes and dry-brushing over those too - still only using the same two colours, mixed in various proportions for different colour shades and finishing with some pure Limelight dry-brushing, and Treasure Gold in the end too.

I sanded back the flowers with one of the fabulous Sanding Blocks to create some metallic accents.  I liked the look so much that I decided to accentuate it with some Treasure Gold.  I used both White Fire and Florentine to gild the metal and the vines...

... even adding some shimmer to the main butterfly with brush...

...as well as the little textured ones on the frame, which I also decorated and outlined with a PITT pen to add definition.

So, there you go... just two paint colours (plus some Gesso for the occasional touch of opacity), lots of altered metal, and some tissue paper stamping in my reverse canvas.  I hope there's something in all that to get your creative juices flowing!  Thanks so much for stopping by, and I'll see you again soon.

Alison.

A huge thanks to Alison from PaperArtsy, another beautiful project. It is always so amazing to see what can be done with a limited palette, and these two colours are stunning together. Building subtle layers like this is such a brilliant way to achieve depth and gorgeous blending. 

If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE you will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by17:00 (London time) Sunday 13th July 2014

GD: Ellen Vargo Project #3 Fresco Finnabair Inspired Canvas

Hello everyone, Ellen here, back for my final project as a guest designer for this semester - the time has flown by but I have had the *best* time ever! Let's get straight to today's project... a large canvas loaded with embellishments!

I started with a 6 x 16 box canvas.

Using the colors below, I created a blended background with a bright center and dark edges. I used a combination of techniques - some finger painting, some baby wipe blending, and brush blending until I was happy with the background.

Here are a few pix at various stages... first Snowflake and Cheesecake mixed together.

Then I started building up layers of colour.

And the final blended background ...

Next I added some stamping to the background using the scratchy rectangle from EEV02 and some Venetian Orange Archival Ink.

And now the *real* fun begins ... I chose to embellish this canvas "Finnabair" style, using her Sunrise Sunset collection of metal embellishments with Prima, as well as some other goodies and paper flowers.  If you've had the pleasure of taking one of her classes, you know that she loves to load on the embellies ... 

I did a dry fit of all the embellishments first, then carefully set them to the side, in the same placement as the dry fit. Then I broke out the heaviest, nothing-is-gonna-budge adhesive I've ever come across ... Golden's extra heavy gel medium.  And I used the best tool ever (my finger) to apply it to each embellishment.

I applied a generous, well, GLOB, for lack of a better word, to each embellishment, layering the largest embellishments at the base and stacking more on top, ending each stack with a paper or script flower. And then set it aside to dry over night. Thick coats of heavy gel take a *long* time to dry.

The next morning, I added some stems to my ginormous flower arrangement with a black sharpie paint pen, and added some little grassy stamping to the base with the line/dot stamp from EEV05.

Then I added some dotty circle accents around each small metal flower in the arrangement using a white paint pen.

I needed something to "ground" the flowers so I added some script tissue paper across the base of the canvas using Glue 'N' Seal (told ya I was addicted to it...the script tissue AND the glue 'n' seal... LOL!).

Next I used the long line stamp from EEV05 in certain areas. I used Snowflake paint on the stamp, and used a baby wipe to wipe away certain areas of paint so I only got portions of the lines. Then I wrapped some fibery twine around the base to ease the transition between lines/dots and script. And finally, added some dotty stamp (EEV06) texture to the very bottom of the canvas.

And here's the finished Fresco-Finnabair canvas ...

I think I will hang this in my office at work, which I recently rearranged and redecorated so it's more relaxing and "pretty".  I spend 8 hours a day there, so it's nice to have a cozy office with nice things. 

Well, folks, that's a wrap!  I've thoroughly enjoyed being part of the guest designer group here at PaperArtsy and I can't say thanks enough to Mr. and Mrs. PA, the entire PA family, as well as all of YOU for giving me such a warm welcome, for embracing my style of mixed media/abstract/painty art... and for giving me a chance to have my stamps made!  What a dream come true!  Who knows where the road will lead next. Until I see you again please feel free to follow along on my art journey on my blog. 

~ ellen.

Leandra Says: Ellen thank you for another great week of inspired projects, love the statement piece using the metal embellies. Look forward to seeing you again soon. x

Gillian Says: Great size canvas. Love the simple stamped background against the centre piece, again loving the boldness to this canvas. Thank you Ellen for sharing your techniques and inspiration with us all. Look forward to seeing you here in the future. x 

Darcy Says: Do you want to know a sneaky secret? Really! you do? Come closer then, and I shall whisper... We have loved having Ellen on the blog and her stamps have been a huge hit. We know you would love to see more of her work so we asked her to return next semester.... She said Yes!.. so watch out for her, you never know when she might pop up. 

If you would like to join in this week's challenge and play along with Julie Ann's techniques, then do link up your creativity here, and go in the draw to win some PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by 17:00, Sunday April 20th 2014

This weekend {Ally Pally} So much new stuff to show you!

Hi everyone

Well really struggling to keep my secrets this week as the most amazing stock has been pouring into HQ all week, so thought I would give you a sneek peek of what we will have on the stand at the show! Suffice to say, I think the stand will look the best it ever has, but then I might just be a bit more than HUGELY excited!!!

So first up the important thing - don't forget you are all welcome to come and meet us in the bar on site after the show closes Saturday evening for a drink! We are having our #tweetup while the traffic settles down, so come and join us. It's so nice to relax and catch up with everyone at the end of the first day and see what everyone has bought !!!

Second, Lin Brown will be demoing with me on Saturday,check out her show prep here... and Gillian Simson {our own Blog (phat) controller} has offered to demo on Sunday and that is going to be a lot of fun! Normally JoFY does the Sunday, but she will be off teaching the lovely people at Pink Tuilip Crafts! So we are looking forward to Gillian being around, she has been playing about a lot with spraying fresco paint, so she will be the queen of all things Finnabair and resist canvas .... see what she did at a recent Finn class here 

I will be demoing with Darcy and Jo's new stamps, and doing anything else you ask of me!

So what ELSE have we got (as if that wasn't enough!!)

Well remember we have Darcys new stamps, the new JOFY stamps, the many new minis that last month's semester people launched in August, Lin's new stamps.

We also have new chipboard, tags, journals.

Lots of new wooden items for altering...so you know and expect most of that kind of thing from us....

But we (fingers crossed) should have all the new paints. We are expecting a delivery tomorrow, and its going to be tight getting it all bottled. This is what 72 Fresco paints is going to look like on the stand! What's new...well I'm going to make you wait...but we have some steely blues, a wicked sunshine yellow and tango orange, caramel and toffee....and more besides!

I also found this cool Kraft wrap that is only £2.50 for 2 rolls

And some Prima canvas sprayable journal covers, they are padded so you can sew onto them, and the insert pages to get you started...

Some old faves, and plenty of new stencils from Crafters Workshop, a crafter can never have too many stencils, and Crafter's Workshop are lovely quality, which is why we have been selling them for many years now!

Prima flowers galore, in neutrals for you to spray with fresco paint! And more resist canvas to spray with paint or dye inks.

 More flowers...told ya! LOL
Oh now, these Lin has been nagging me to order these for a while. I have about 40 different types of resin embellishments. they are huge to teeny-weeny. Flowers, birds, cameos ...and sooooo cheap...no need for costly mould and pour/ UTEE, these are the best price ever! We will be painting them, and tickling them with treasure gold, then using them as flower centres! Gorgeous!

But next.....Tadaaaaa the entire prima mechanicals line...and Anna Dabrowska (Finnabair's) sunrise-sunset embellishment range...so that's about 2 massive racks of this stuff. And you will NOT believe your eyes, nearly everything is £3.95 Such an awesome price I am thrilled, I had to check my calculations so many times, but its correct! Wahey!

I have been so excited about this range since I did a class with Anna October last year. She has created delicate, feminine embellishments that layer up perfectly, and can be used in so many ways. And now she has even more stuff this year that we have on the stand, can not wait to play with it! Some items are enormous. Look below...just £3.95 Don't miss out!

And Anna's stuff fits beautifully with other Prima items of the same genre, as below, and their resin bellies are beautiful with Fresco paint and TG....

I expect this stuff to go fast so don't miss out if items like these are on your list....

There is more...we have memory box dies, the new Fresco paints (12 colours), and I have another order arriving tomorrow with more journalling papers, pads, etc...Plus new chipboard large format white coated, also some lovely new large canvases....I keep thinking of stuff....but you get the drift....a LOT of stuff. I am not sure how we are going to fit it all on the stand!!!

See you there, Saturday and Sunday, Alexandra Palace, London, tickets and info here..

Leandra xx