2019 #8 Put a Brush on it: Puddles of Paint with JoFY {by Alison Bomber}

2019 Topic 8: Put a Brush On It

Beautiful dripping brushes creating painty puddles is a real delight from Alison as she takes us through the process from concept to reality.

Hi everyone, it's Alison here from Words and Pictures here with you today, and I'd like to share with you some Puddles of Paint.

Who knows where creative ideas spring from?  And sometimes I slightly wish they wouldn't !  When one of those ideas pops into your head that seems really great, but then you realise you're going to have to try to turn it into reality... well, this was one of those.  But I am glad it did pop up, because I enjoyed the challenge and I'm so happy with the end result.

I loved Leandra's "Put a Brush on it" theme, and originally envisaged all sorts of vintage layering and detail.  But then I happened to glance at the new JOFY stamps and a whole other idea popped up - quite a long way from my vintage comfort zone.

I immediately saw those fabulous layered splodges as puddles of paint, spreading out onto a canvas.

And above all, my imagination saw the paint itself dripping from the brush to create the swirling puddles on the canvas...

... as though you'd just laid down the brush for a moment to do something else, and the paint decided to create some art all by itself.  Now all I had to do was make it happen in real life.

I've used not only the large splodges from JOFY 75, but also the flower heads from the stem on the right to create my puddles.

I stamped the puddles onto plain card and had a wonderful time layering up paint colours and white pen doodling.

There are lots of paint colours involved from the Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic range - opaque, semi-opaque and transparent, but all applied in watery washes to get nice layered shades.  Rather than list them all, it's probably simplest if I just show you the photos of the bottles I had lined up on the craft table!

I gesso'd a couple of very cheap paintbrushes and worked out where I wanted to perch them around the rim of the reverse 12x12 canvas (also gesso'd). I cut out my puddles and arranged them so that they could be "dripped into" by the brushes.

All that got glued down and while the glue was drying I started experimenting with various mediums to see how I could create my dripping paint. I'd originally thought of paperclay or Fimo, but in the end I worked with some heavy semi-gloss gel medium.

That meant I could brush it onto the bristles to get some texture like real paint, and then form the columns of paint "pouring" onto the canvas so that it really looked like a continuous stream.

I left my "paint" to dry overnight, so that it would be fully set. The next day, according to where it "landed" in the splodge, I painted my dripping paint the right colour to match the puddle area it was pouring into.

I toyed with the idea of adding a gloss glaze finish to the paint puddles, so that they would look as though they were still slightly wet paint...

... but the semi-gloss of the medium already gives the paint on the brushes a slight shine, so in the end I went with adding some glassy bubbles to catch the light instead. I think it somehow tricks the eye into believing there's a glossy wetness to the whole piece.

I added the words freehand. I should just have gone straight to the Copic marker in bold turquoise, rather than going with a fine pen version first, but I wasn't quite brave enough. Ah well, maybe next time!

And the words themselves formed from that first idea of the paint creating art by itself as it drips from the brushes. Who ever thought that watching paint dry was boring anyway?!

It's a much cleaner, fresher look than is usual for me, but I really like it. There's something so summery and light about the blue, green and white, and I love the light on the glass and the shadows of the brushes creating lots of depth.

I'll admit it was a bit sticky and fiddly moulding the gel medium, but so worth it.  I couldn't be happier with my flowing paint pouring from the paintbrushes to create the puddles of paint. I hope you'll be inspired to play with incorporating your paintbrushes into your projects as well as using them as tools. 

Thanks so much for stopping by to watch the paint dry with me. I hope you had as much fun as I did!
Alison x

Blog: Words and Pictures
Pinterest: butterfly crafter

2019 #8 Put a Brush on it: Brush Doll with EAB {by Etsuko Noguchi}

2019 Topic 8: Put a Brush On It

I love how in this post Etsuko has totally transformed a brush into a 'doll' The bristles look like her skirt/legs an there's a wonderful transfer technique in the mix too, it is fabulous! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Etsuko My Favorite Things with you today, and I'd like to share with you Brush Doll using Alison Bomber 'Words and Pictures' fabulous new stamp set.

I chosen the wonderful love quote from 'Wuthering Heights' of her love stamps edition. I made the doll that Catherine's lonely face and she drift to the moors with her wings.
Jane Eyre, Wuthering Height and La Petite Fadette were my favorite books in my early teens, and always imagined the scenery of the scene as there were no forests and plains near us.

At first I prepared 2inches painting brush and Heavy Gray White Board for the doll body and dress.

Next I stamped by Ink the Dog Mini10 on Smoothy Heavy White Card and colored the doll's face. Then I scanned and printed it.

I used the Clear Tar Gel to the printed doll face for transfer and left it overnight.

When Gel dried the face transferred to a book paper. ---Sorry this book paper was not from Wuthering Heights.

I usually use some design paper for a doll dress, but this time I used PaperArtsy stamps and Fresco paints to make collage. All papers was brushed brayered and stamped.  This is using Double Denim, Glacier Ice and Snowflake Fresco paints on the Smoothy Regular White Card. These stamps from Courthney's new stamps ECF06.

I made wings and upper part of dress from this paper.

This paper using Mud Splat, Eggshell and Steel Gray Fresco paint, and ECF04 Courthney stamp.

This paper was sober when it was put together, so I used a stencil and added Vanilla Fresco color.

Used Blue Lagoon, Smurf and Glass Blue Fresco paints.

This bottom of the dress paper, I want need some texture but not much, so i used Seth's baked texture and some embossing powder.

I added wonderful love quote from EAB09 by new Alison's stamp, used black embossing powder onto the painted Glacier Ice Smoothy Card. I cut it and put on the top of the dress and this is from the bottom of her heart.

Finally I added red heart and flower hair ornament to her and hanging wire.
This is a finished Catherine Doll. I made very simply and few steps. I think that anyone can easily and fun to make various your own Brush Dolls.
Please try and enjoy.

Thank you so much for visiting.
Etsuko xxx

Blog: My Favorite Things
Facebook: Etsuko Noguchi
Instagram: Pixienest
Pinterest: Etsuko N

2019 #8 Put a Brush on it: Life's Great Canvas with Hot Picks {by Nikki Acton}

2019 Topic 8: Put a Brush On It

We are still playing 'spot the brush' here on the blog, and I love Nikki's interpretation! I'll leave you to figure it out...Plus she has made one strip stamp into something much bigger. Kind of like making tiled wallpaper! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Nikki from Addicted to Art here with you today, with my take on our current theme.

I have used one of the most recent Hot Picks stamp sets and created a tiled background, before adding my paint brushes as an inner frame to the canvas. It's all a little busier on the eye than I intended - but with the fabulous word stamp from one of Emma Godfrey's stamp sets, I think the craziness matches the sentiment!

As I seem to be doing a lot at the moment I started with a colour theme and some gel- printing, getting a little carried away - creating more than I needed with more detail than I needed as most of it was going to be covered! I do love these prints and you will see later how I used some scraps to decoupage too.

I selected Glacier Ice, Spanish Mulberry, Little Black Dress and Steel Grey Fresco Acrylic paints.

It's fun to make marks with random items (above) and PaperArtsy Stencil PS102 from Sara Naumann. 

Such a shame to cover lovely prints but that is what I did! I selected darker ones for stamping in Versamark and heat embossing with white embossing powder and lighter ones for stamping in Black Archival Ink.

I hope you can see how fabulously the detail stamps!!! The stamp is from Hot Picks 1902.

  I cut all the little squares out - so I could tile them onto my canvas (8 inches square). 

There was still no final plan at this point except the addition of my 'paint brush frame' but I remembered the words on Emma Godrey's stamp set EEG15, so began to work on this as my focal point.

The rest of the gelli prints came in handy to decoupage some greyboard squares and as the background to stamp on.

I was getting a bit carried away now! I painted my old brushes black but they needed a little something so I added dots of paint with the end of my brush and also did the same on the decoupaged squares.

This project is a good example of where I have a vague idea, start something and let it evolve. Many years ago I studied art at college and this was a big learning point for me - having a more scientific background I expected to plan for an end point, but with art the process is SO important in influencing the final outcome. 

Nikki

Blog: Addicted to Art
Instagram: @Nikki_Act
Pinterest: nikacton