Happy Easter to you all.
Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media
Ive used a new stamp of this sparrow and made him a little bird house....its quite a long post so you may want a cup of tea or coffee....thankfully we can type these posts up little and often as my brain is still like marshmellow so i hope it actually makes sense😁
See below for how i made the background etc...
I stamped the bird 4 times onto white card and the flowers many times and watercoloured with my derwent inktense pencils, added white highlights, covered with modpodge and cut out. I took one base image and decoupaged on top of it, 3 layers for the bird and 2 for the flowers. I coloured the 4th stamped bird to look a bit more like a female and just cut out the body section so i could tuck her in behind and create a pair of sparrows.
I raided the drawer in which I keep die cut foliage which Ive die cut from left over inked backgrounds etc...and picked out a variety. I then arranged the foliage and birds to the right over the birdhouse.
To finish I dug through a large pack of chat stickers by aall&create to find some suitable, I went with 'Blossom''Glow''Shine''Thrive'&'Live' as felt thats what all birds are doing and we should attempt the same in our lives.....we can but try! I covered them with glossy accents to give an enamel look and adhered in place.
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and onto the how I made the background
I cut up a stiff cardboard box to a rectangle to start with and then cut one top edge at an angle, the offcut i then flipped over & used to draw the other side so that the angles matched for the roof - hope that makes sense!
I then cut stripes of the cardboard and adhered 2 together to give a double thickness, these I adhered to make the roof. I then trim the ends to the desired length.
I added grit paste through a brick stencil and concrete paste on in blotches as i wanted an old wall feeling - once dry covered in white gesso - both these texture pastes i won last year when i won a mixed media box from tag along challenge - i also won the chipboard frame used on this project.
I added a layer of purple, pink and green paints picking up on the colours used in the image and then added vintage white over the top concentrating on the sides, I wanted the middle to be darker to give the effect of a hole in a bird house, where its darker inside and my frame would sit over the top.
House Sparrows love to live in an old wall, So technically they don't live in birdhouses but thats why i wanted the old brick wall effect. My mum has a colony of them living in a tumbled down building opposite her kitchen and while they aren't the most exciting bird to look at they are such happy birds always chit chattering away and good company.........certainly more melodic than 'my' seagulls - which are also always chatting away but its more like screaming and they are always company too, when im out in the garden Mr & Mrs seagull always come down to join me to see what im upto.....It always amazes me how they know my cats from the hundreds of other neighbourhood cats....you would think to them one black cat looks like another black cat🐈 ....they are the advanced warning system to strangers about - 4 or 2 legged!
A close up of the lovely texture, you can also just see the pink paint underneath showing through which helps tie it in with the pink cherry blossom...no layer of paint is a waste, even when mostly hidden it plays an important role in the end result and it all being cohesive.
I took the chipboard frame and again painted it with the same pink and purple paints used on the background and then dry brushed on a paler lilac to soften. I then covered the whole thing in matt mod podge to varnish and seal.
Items Used:
Carabelle stamps
Derwent inktense pencils
Folk art acrylic paints
Daler Rowney heavy bodied acrylic
Cadence dora paint - fuchsia pink
Icraft texture paste 'graphite brown'
CraftTreat Speciality paint 'concrete effect' CTMM008
Mod Podge gloss & matt
Aall&create chat stickers
Chipboard frame
Foliage dies
Brusho & pixie powders (on foliage)
Cosmic shimmer airless mister (on foilage)
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I have plenty of substrates in my stash but it is fun seeing how you can completely change a piece of cardboard box destined for the recycling bin and it shows those starting out in mixed media that you don't need alot of expensive kit to start. I often just use cheap polyfiller as my texture paste and in the past have even used up left over grout which also worked well, once its covered up with a layer of gesso and then paint it all looks the same. My new fav paint is folkart matt acrylic and this is great, a little goes a very long way and covers and layers beautifully - its mid range in price. I have found matt and opaque much easier to work with than transparent acrylic, so a few little tips Ive learnt as i go to encourage you to give mixed media a go - if i can do it anyone can but you do need to accept that the middle section of working usually looks a mess but stick with it and know it is a process and you will create a little work of art that is unique to you. Start with something small so its not overwhelming - atc's or postcard size are good for that.
Do hop over and join us at Creative Artiste to join in and for more inspiration, hints and tips from the design team, we all have our own style so something is sure to inspire you to give Mixed Media a go....
I hope you all have a good Easter weekend whatever your plans. Emmax
Id love to enter the following:
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