Monday 22 April 2013

For The Love Of Colour

All colour mediums have one thing in common; they allow us to truly customize our creations and this week Simon Says Stamp and Show has a simple challenge for you this time around, simply use any colour medium in your creations and share. What could be more fun, time to get those fingers inky, pull out those pencils, markers, distress paints, alcohol inks or whatever takes your fancy and join in the fun this week.

A mixed media canvas held my attention this week, using sprays, kitchen towel, charcoal pencil and more.
There are so many colour mediums to use but Dylusions Inks Sprays were my colour choice this week using fresh lime and vibrant turquoise. Looks can be deceiving, there are many layers to this project adding into the mix Wendy Vecchi's White Embossing Paste, PaperArtsy Beach Hut Fresco Finish Paint, silver Paint Dabber and a charcoal pencil. When creating these type of pieces I always find it as easy to make two as I do one piece of art, so I have created an extra little piece to give away to inspire our readers too.
I have added a few step by steps to showcase the layers that were involved in creating my mixed media canvas.
  1. Colour canvas (I decorated two) with Dylusions Ink sprays. Spray the canvas with water first then spray the inks, the colour blends beautifully this way. Mop up any excess colour with kitchen towel. Repeat with more spays of colour if desired and mop up the colour once again. Do not throw away any kitchen towel that is now coloured with ink, we can use this later. Nothing wasted here!
  2. Place Wendy Vecchi's Lovely Leaves stencil onto the canvas and spritz with water and remove, dab with kitchen towl and you will be left with a shadow, the water gives a bleached out effect, removing colour from the sprayed area.
Now time to use that coloured kitchen towel that we now have from all the mopping up of colour from the canvas.
  1. Tear a heart from scrap paper. Adhere the heart to the canvas using multi medium matt.
  2. Take the coloured kitchen towel and tear into small pieces and scrunch up each piece, this will add further texture to the heart. Mix PVA glue with water (appox. a 50/50 mix) and adhere the pieces of kitchen towl to the heart. Once completely covered set aside to dry overnight. Be warned you will have extremely inky fingers lol.
The next step is to add yet another layer of interest. Apply a little PaperArtsy beach hut Fresco Finish Paint to a non-stick craft sheet, place the background stamp from the Birds Of A Feather Stamp plate uppermost onto a flat surface. Using cut 'n' dry foam apply beach hut paint to the text area of the stamp. Please note you do not want to overload the stamp with paint.
Add the text randomly around the canvas. Use the stamp as is, do not mount onto an acrylic block, this way you achieve a more random effect, perfect for a mixed media canvas.
From this picture you can see the subtle stamping from the Fresco Finish Paint, adding yet another layer of interest to draw the eye into the canvas.
I continued the random stamping around my canvas until I was happy with the arrangement.
Now for my next layer, I used Wendy Vecchi's Wildflowers and A Bird stencil, applied embossing paste through the stencil, applying with a palette knife. If you are not too confident with applying the paste you could cut the flowers so that you have two separate stencils.
I love the texture this adds to my canvas, creates such a tactile piece.
I decided on two flowers, I felt they fitted perfectly in the bottom corner of my canvas.
I added a further layer of stamping, adding more random text using black Archival Ink this time around.
There was still something missing for me and after much thought I decided that I needed a little definition around the edges of my canvas so I added black charcoal around the edges using a pencil and smudging with my finger.
This is my completed canvas, I added more charcoal around my flowers along with a touch of random stamped text to the flower heads.
I added charcoal around my heart to lift from my background, adding silver Paint Dabber to the raised textural areas on my heart, to highlight further how tactile and textural the heart really is.
I stamped "Spring is here" onto white card, coloured with salty ocean Distress Ink, adding more charcoal pencil around my sentiments for definition. I also added one of Wendy Vecchi's black crows, highlighting with silver Paint Dabber.
To complete I added more charcoal pencil around the flowers for added definition and added a touch of salty ocean Distress Ink to the flower heads.
I have created this mini canvas as a giveaway to anyone who would like to give it a home. Simply leave a comment saying you would like the canvas and I will draw a winner at the end of the week.

For more great ideas please pop over to the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog and take a look at my fellow team members they have created some inspirational projects. Remember there is also the chance to win a $50 prize from Simon Says Stamp.  I always look forward to seeing your creations each week.


Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment, much appreciated.  Enjoy your week. Tracy x x 


Products Used:

Dyan Reaveley Dylusions Ink Sprays - Fresh Lime, Vibrant Turquoise
Artistic Outpost Birds Of A Feather Stamp Plate
PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint - Beach Hut
Paint Dabber - Silver
Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium Matt
Wendy Vecchi Stencils For Art - Lovely Leaves, Wildflowers and  A Bird
Wendy Vecchi Embellish Your Art - Crow
Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste 
Non-Stick Craft Sheet
Cut 'n' Dry Foam
Archival Ink - Black
Distress Ink - Salty Ocean




31 comments:

Inkypinkycraft said...

A really vibrant make, this is full of layers and texture and I love how you do these shades hugs trace x

...the yorkshire fox... said...

...how cool is this Tracy, the colours are so vivid and that heart is a jaw dropper!! love it...Mel :)

Brenda Brown said...

Wonderful zingy colours Tracy combined with great tactile pieces to produce this beautifully vibrant canvas. I love how you have used the smudgy outlines to make the heart pop.
Have a good week.
Hugs {brenda} x0x

Helen said...

As always, just gorgeous - but this is more gorgeous than usual! I love the amazing ZING of colour, and the texture - everything really!

Carol Q said...

beautiful Tracy. your photos make you appreciate all the work that's gone into building up the layers.

Marjie Kemper said...

So beautiful! Love the texture in your heart and the way you've perched the bird on the sentiment.

Anna-Karin said...

This is beautiful Tracy! Love all the layers and the wonderful textures. The heart and flowers are so pretty. Great colours too!

Sue said...

Loving the texture on that heart:)

Unknown said...

Hi Tracy, Wow love love love this canvas. The colours are so vibrant, just beautiful. The first one is complete with the crow and looks great with the silver highlight on it. The mini canvas, which I would love to have hanging on my front room wall, is just as stunning. Not overly fussy, beautiful. I am defiantly going to try and recreate that heart, looks amazing. Have a great week hugs Debbie R xx

Words and Pictures said...

Delicious colours, and wonderful seeing the layers build up with the stamping and stencilling. The texture on that heart is so stunning - a really fabulous make, Tracy!
Alison x

Suzanne C said...

Gorgeous colors! You really make the greens and blues sing! Love the flowers addition as an added layer of detail! Sweet canvas!

Candy C said...

Tracy...this is such a lovely canvas just filled with all sorts of fun techniques. The color is so vibrant and fabulous! I love the blues and greens! I love how you removed color using the leaf stencil...very cool. Love the textured and dimensional heart idea. That looks so cool! I love the addition of Wendy's flowers using the embossing paste. They look fantastic and I love the dimension they add to that corner of the canvas. I also love the random stamping of the words all over the canvas. That was a wonderful addition as well. You did a great tutorial on your steps, too! Thanks for sharing. It's a great piece! <3 Candy

wendy vecchi said...

this is so P R E T T Y!
LOVE the texture...LOVE the awesome colors!

cissi said...

This cancas is just so beautiful I would love to have one on my wall here in my home.

Suzi B said...

Hi Tracy thank you for the step step info.. I love the colours and all the texture.
Suzi B x

Sandra said...

Gorgeous piece, Tracy! So much texture and dimension! Love the colors too! Hugs, Sandra

email: Steph@SimonSaysStamp.com said...

Gorgeous canvas, Tracy! I love the blues & greens and the texture in this piece!!

*mwah*
Steph
Simon Says Stamp!

hazel said...

A beautiful canvas - lovely colours and great textures.
xxx Hazel.

Kate Yetter said...

Lovely! I think the texture on the heart is amazing and the perfect focal point.
Kate

Nadine said...

Fabulous! I really love the colours and how you made the heart..I have been procrastinating on doing my 1st canvas but you have inspired me to give it a shot. Thanks for sharing.

Redanne said...

A brilliant step by step Tracy and the result is stunning. I love the gorgeous colours in the heart and flowers and the way they pop from the wonderful background. I too, would love to give a piece of your art a home.... Hugs, Anne x

Trulyblessed said...

love your tutorials. wonderful result

Dianne said...

WOOHOO what a gorgeous piece of art. The colors a fabulous, the hear ti fabulous, I love using paper towels. Just an amazing piece of work, thanks for shaing and all the inspiration is awesome. have a wonderful day..

mark gould said...

Absolutely stunning and eye catching. A beautiful canvas.

Anonymous said...

A stunning mixed media canvas with that special heart stealing the show.
Amazing.
Wishes
Lynne

Sue said...

This is amazing Tracy, thanks so much for the step by step, it was great to see how it all came together, and the difference a smudge of charcoal can make - definitely something to remember. I too would love to give your mini canvas a home :-) xx

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

What a fabulous canvas Tracy!I LOVE the kitchen towel heart! Amazingly cool design there! Gorgeous color too!

Jenny Marples said...

Seriously clever ideas here Tracy. Love that heart and the paste flowers. Hugs, Jenny x

Dawn Darlene said...

wow look at those details!!

Anonymous said...

Such lovely blues and greens - Gorgeous, as always!!!

Annie said...

What a fab canvas Tracy................and I love the textured heart...Genius!!!

So glad I checked out the posts I had missed and believe it or not I have just purchased some charcoal pencils

Would love to give this wonderful make a home !!


Crafty Hugs

Annie x