Creativity Takes Courage

I spent some time yesterday just playing for fun. I wanted to challenge myself to do a piece that was completely out of my comfort zone. I have two friends, Sue Roddis and Lesley Walters who alter many dolls, so inspired by them I wanted to create my own assemblage piece. This piece is also inspired by an on-line workshop that I am participating in called Tinytopia and the Magic of Little Things run by the very talented Mary Jane Chadbourne.

This piece is all about just enjoying the process of doing something completely different for me, spending a day just playing and seeing where inspiration takes me when creating something that is completely out of my comfort zone. I began the process with two old embrodery hoops; the smaller of which I added the dolls head to and the larger hoop houses the complete piece.

The smaller hoop and the dolls head were decorated first; painting the dolls head with a coat of PVA glue to give the surface some tooth, once dry I then began to layer my paints, firstly applying a layer of Gesso and allowing to dry. I now had a good surface to add paints. I began with a coat of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Cobalt Teal Hue and then dried lightly with my heat tool. I then repeated this process for two more coats and allowed to dry naturally. I then added scratches to the face with a pair of scissors and then added touches of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Burnt Umber and Quinacridone Gold, adding a layer at a time and drying with my heat tool before adding a further layer. I tend to pounce the paint on lightly with my brush rather than brush it on, and I also used a piece of Cut 'n' Dry Foam in some areas so that I did not have brush strokes on the face. Once I was happy with the face I then added layers of colour to the hoop.

I decorated my little house with Tim Holtz papers, added Carbon Black Fluid Acrylic around the sides and touches of Quinacridone Gold to the edges. I also added a couple of Remnant Rubs, Glass Beads, Hitch Fastener and a metal flower I found from a hair grip. To add a touch more interest I then housed my little house within a vintage tin and added coiled flowers to the inside. I added torn book pages from an Alice In Wonderland book but did not want to paint the pages as I like the plain pages against the painted backdrop.

I love adding layers to my design and again this little house was no different and I always love to see each layer in the design.

I also find it fun to recycle pieces like the old vintage tin and the metal flower from a hairgrip, makes these pieces even more fun to create.

I added touches of Titanium White Fluid Acrylic just around the eyes so that they did not look too dark and once again I added a second one of those metal flowers from a hairgrip to her neck. I added Chitchat Stickers to her head and then painted them with a dirty wash.

The larger hoop was also painted with DecoArt Fluid Acrylics and I added a piece of Canvas to the centre which I painted with Cobalt Teal Hue and Cobalt Turquoise Hue Fluid Acrylics, applying with a baby wipe to blend the colours. I then used a small alphabet set to add the text 'DOLLS HOUSE' to the canvas. I also included cheesecloth behind the dolls head which I dipped into a wash of Quinacridone Fluid Acrylic. Once dry I then applied further layers of paint using a piece of Cut 'n' Dry Foam.

I recycled an old pocket watch and added that to her head along with coils of rusty wire.

I really enjoyed the process of this piece and taking time out just to create for the fun of it.

I would also like to enter this into the That Craft Place Challenge which is Mixed Media Anything Goes.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Tracy x x x