Wednesday 5 August 2015

Making Magic - Guest Designer, Anything But Cute

I am absolutely thrilled to have been invited to be a Guest Designer over at the Anything But Cute Mixed Media Challenges and I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Pamellia and her team for inviting me along, I am absolutely thrilled.
The Challenge Theme is "Making Magic" set by hostess Georgie and the challenge description is to "create a magical mixed media project strongly inspired by the colours and textures of the images in the mood board below"

I loved Georgie’s challenge theme “Making Magic” which conjures up so many thoughts, especially when combined with the imagery, colours and textures in the mood board.

Once I saw the mood board I was hugely inspired by the colours, textures and gold highlights. The first thing that hit me was the bottom middle picture, it looks like the texture from leaves to me, and that is, as they say where my piece began. I included a leaf from my garden which adds texture and life to my piece, nestled in the backdrop amongst layers of texture and paint.  The droplets in the picture inspired my use of a glue gun in my magical piece and I added touches of gold, dry brushed over the whole canvas to give a touch of opulence and light to the design. The browns, turquoise and greens showcased in the mood board greatly inspired my colour choices achieved from DecoArt Paints and Lindy’s Stamp Gang Sprays which give a real touch of shimmer to my design.  The mood board also conjured up thoughts of secret forests and hidden treasures for me and the facial image in the mood board inspired me to add a Sandra Evertson Relic piece for centre stage, which I aged with DecoArt products. Finally I added a feather to the background, applying Crackle Paste through a stencil, again inspired by the imagery in the mood board. The sprays, layers of paint, texture, shimmer and a touch of the garden really add a touch of magic for me and remind me of my garden which is a daily inspiration for my art.

I began my piece with a leaf from the garden, those veins and the texture from the leaf were greatly inspired by the mood board. I sandwiched the leaf between two pieces of wax paper, lay a cloth on the top and then ironed over the paper, I then removed the top layer of the wax paper, some of the wax remains on the leaf and so preserves it. I left the bottom layer of wax paper intact. I cut around the leaf and then adhered to my canvas.
I then applied a layer of DecoArt Matte Medium to the top of the leaf to protect it from any further layers I would add later. I then set it aside to dry completely.
I then placed the Climbing Vine stencil onto my canvas and applied DecoArt Crackle Paste over the leaves and set aside to dry.
Whilst my canvas was drying I took a Sandra Evertson Relic piece and applied DecoArt Crackle Paint randomly and set aside to dry. 
I then began to build my layers further. I added Glass Beads randomly around the central focal piece, inspired by the gold highlights in the mood board. I also added twine for added texture. I also added a feather, applying Crackle Paste through a stencil, again the feather was inspired by the picture in the mood board.
I imagined the relic piece to be nestled in a forest, amongst leaves and debris and again this was inspired by the mood board. I applied a dirty wash to the face using DecoArt products, I wanted the relic piece to resemble an aged piece that had been aged from the elements of being surrounded by woodland.
I added paint in layers, beginning with a light coat of DecoArt Green Gold and touches of Cobalt Teal Hue and allowing the first layer to dry. Once dry I then added a further layer of the same colours with a dry baby wipe to give a more random feel and to remove any hard edges. I also highlighted the leaves and feather by applying Pitt Pen around the edges and smudging with my finger. "magical" has been computer generated, again aged with a dirty wash to blend with the backdrop.
The droplets shown on the mood board inspired my use of a glue gun to add droplets to my canvas. I also dry brushed over the canvas with DecoArt Gold Metallic Paint to add gold highlights to represent the gold shown in the mood board.
The 'woodland' text is torn from an old book and adhered to the canvas with Matte Medium, adding a coat to the top of the paper too so that it is protected from any further added layers.
I added 'found art' using a Remant Rub and added rusty touches using DecoArt Quinacridone Gold Paint.
At this stage I allowed the canvas to dry completely and then took some time to add further touches of Quinacridone Gold Paint randomly around the canvas and then dry brushed once again with the Metallic Gold. I added delicate splatters of black paint for a contrast.
Adding layers of paint, twine, beads, a leaf from the garden, torn paper and embellishments really adds so much texture to this piece, it is so tactile; I love pieces that encourage you to want to reach out and touch them!
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope I have inspired you to create some kind of "magic" for this challenge! Tracy x x 


22 comments:

Pamellia said...

Tracy, you have blown me away with your magical canvas, WOW!! I have been scrolling up and down just trying to take it all in! LOVE the leaf idea and your leafy vine stencil is a perfect match! As always, your colours and textures are out of this world incredible! It is such an honour to have you with us today as our Guest Designer, you are an inspiration to us all! Thank you so much, big hugs. Pamellia DT :)

Samra said...

Stunning work of art Tracy!!! I love all the crackle and gold you added to this masterpiece!! The gold drops are like icing on the cake :)
It is so wonderful to have you with us at Anything But Cute!!
Hugs:)

Samra DT Anything But Cute
Paper Talk with Samra

Cec said...

Tracy, this piece is stunning and has so much to catch the eye. Love the leaf technique and the crackled face is such a great focal point. Thanks for sharing your creative process and so glad you could join us as Guest Designer.
Hugs!
Cec

Vintagehandmade said...

Absolutely magical piece of art, Tracy! Your colours and textures are out of this world, as usual! Love all the crackles and gold accents! So many fantastic deatils to look at! It's a textured heaven and a feast for the eyes! It's so wonderful you could join us at Anything But Cute!
Hugs! Branka xxx

Redanne said...

This is a truly stunning piece Tracy, I love how you showed us how you layered it all up and that central face is gorgeous! Congratulations on your Guest spot at Anything But Cute too! Hugs, Anne xx

Unknown said...

So much jaw dropping texture Tracy, your canvas is just such a perfect fit for the mood board! That face in amongst all the greenery is just mystifying and magical. I love the feeling you have bought to this piece!! Thank you so much using my board as your muse! huge hugs, Georgie xx

Julie Lee said...

Tracy, this is such a beautiful piece! I love the use of crackle and you incorporated Sandra's Relics and Artifacts so brilliantly! How lovely the greenery is. This is the spirit of springtime! xx

Unknown said...

Love it! loved the crackle on the central feature, its haunting! The colours are lovely - the whole thing looks fab! Cxx

Deb said...

Gorgeous Tracy, amazing colours and textures and love that you included a leaf from your own secret garden!

Suzanne C said...

Stunning! The colors the play of gold against the earthy tones, the beautiful aging on the resin face. Gorgeous!

Juliz Design Post said...

Totally stunning, your colours, textures and design love it all. It was great to meet you at the weekend.
Julie x

Anonymous said...

The relic along with the use of paint and other media, actually conveys a sense of age, as though I am taking a stroll through a garden estate where there is beauty mixed with deterioration of the stonework and I stumble across a figure emerging from the greenery.
A sublime piece of art.
Wishes
Lynne

Marci said...

This is stunning!

Marci said...

This is stunning!

Unknown said...

Fabulous, Tracy!! This is a truly magical piece! XOXO-Shari

sarascloset said...

Tracy, it is such a delight and honor to have you as Guest Designer at Anything But Cute. I am in love with your canvas that you magically created for Anything But Cute--it truly depicts a magical forest. I loved reading about your process and staring at the lovely layers, beautiful colors, and texture. What a great idea to add the natural leaf and thank you for sharing your preservation technique. I remember preserving fall leaves like that with my kids when they were little, and I had completely forgotten that technique. I love the relic, and it really does appear to be a forgotten piece laying on the woodland floor. This piece really evoked so many memories from my childhood. My sister and I would walk through a magical forest of birches behind our farm, and these are the scenes I saw as a child full of imagination. Of course, they didn't exist only in my head. Thank you for sharing this treasure with us! Hugs!

(Sorry I'm so late to the party...I could have sworn I left some love earlier! Glad I checked back!)

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

LOVE the use of the leaf! So cool, and oh my gosh, the transformation of the head is AWESOME!!!! Gorgeous piece!

Lou Sims said...

Adore everything about your canvas. Especially like how you have incorporated something from your garden in to the final project. Lou x

Pawsitively Creative said...

Holy toldeo Batman! This is fantabulous and so awesome sauce Tracy! So many magical layers and the texture is breathtaking! What a wonderful process you have shared with us. Your first leaf layer is genius, very very neat way to preserve the leaf and brilliant! I have never seen that before. Your crackle on the focal inage, as well as the surrounding canvas has me at hello dearie! I love that you incorporated the gold water drops with your hot glue gun. Stunning make and magical way to portray Georgie's mood board! Thank you for being our Guest Designer at Anything But Cute, such an honor and fun to boot! Hugz to you! ~Niki

HMax said...

Tracy, I love how you started with a leaf from your garden and wove your magic from there. Lovely texture and all those little bits and bobs make it really interesting! It's easy to see you were having fun making this too. :)

Suzanne C said...

Just wow... I love the magical forest feel to this! I feel like I was wandering in the forest and stumbled upon a magical scene!

Julia Aston said...

Well, I'm going to add my 'WOW' to the bunch here - your beautifully creative piece was inspired by so many parts of the mood board - Love the face - using a real leaf, the glue gun, the beads - all come together to make a very magical scene! Julia xx