Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #17!

Oh yeah, time for the October Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #17!!  Find a word in the word search and make it into your mixed media challenge project for the month!!  Whoohoo!! So much fun!!! So click on the link ... and come join us!!  You will be so happy you did because this month's prize and sponsor are amazing!! One random winner will be drawn to win this prize pack from Grumbacher!!

LOVE these products!!  I didn't get as much time with my art as I would have liked in September - but in the time I did - I had a wonderful opportunity to work with these awesome Grumbacher supplies!!!  I used the colored pencils, the ink and the paint to create my fun Halloween Witches Hat!!  Here is my project for the #17 Challenge!

I stated out by sketching with the the woodless color pencils!  I fell in love with the idea of creating a witches hat!!  At first I started out with four .... but narrowed it down to my favorite curly brimmed hat!

I got the hat started, but wanted to create a tissue paper flower for the hat.  I mixed the blue and red acrylic paint to create the perfect purple that I wanted! 

And then I painted it onto tissue paper.... 

 And after it dried I made some random flowery shapes and put them together to make my hat's embellishment!

I got the canvas ready with a coat of gesso and a mix of white and black paint through a favorite stencil.  I wanted to create a grungy background.

Then I sketched on the hat shape and filled it in with the Grumbracher black acrylic paint.

 

I splattered it with Grumbacher inks and printed out a fun Halloween quote!!  I doodled and highlighted to finish her off!! Fun times with this challenge!! 

 

Please, come and join us at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!! October is such a fun month to let your art go to places you didn't think possible!! 

September Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!! #16

Wow, Wow, Wow!! Ladies and Gentlemen what an AWESOME month .... this month's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is going to blow you away!!!  Seriously, giddy here in Atlanta!!  Why??  Well, we have an AMAZING inspirational photo, an AMAZING prize and an AMAZING Guest Designer!!  All 3 - AMAZING!!  

So, first off... our inspirational photo ... for your challenge this month create something inspired by this photo!! SO much fo be inspired by here!! But keep reading because it gets better ...

 This month's random winner will win a one month gift certificate to the Brave Girl University that starts, TODAY, September 1st!! And keep going ... 

 Brave Girls University

Our amazing GUEST DESIGNER this month is none other, than the awesomly talented JULIE BALZER from Balzer Designs!!!  To see her amazing challenge piece, visit The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Page and also make sure to stop by Julie's page and tell her THANK YOU for joining us this month!!!

http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com

And now, finally, my pieces for this month.  There was such a wealth of inspiration in this photo for me ... color, shapes, and little details.  But what I really wanted was to see close-up ... I wanted to know what was really in those tires.  And I  zoomed in ... there were plants and little statues ... and I thought, 'those are little fairy gardens!'  So there you have it, I had to make the fairy gardens!! Seriously, my family thought I was crazy - it really amazed me how the picture spoke something else entirely to them!! So enjoy, my Fairy Garden Trio...

I actually used old canvases that needed some new life.  And I thought those tires on the wall had been re-used too, so that inspired me!  I painted over the canvases with acrylic paint, tore and cut paper to make the houses and the plant/flowers.  Then I twirled paper with matte medium and my paint brush to make curly cues that jump off the canvas!  SO much fun!! Each 'tire' a little different but the same! 

Before ...

During ... 

A bunch of gelli prints ...

And you saw the finished pieces at the top!!

SO come and play with us ... it is so much fun! Our Design Team is super nice and friendly and we love newbies and newcomers!! See you soon!!! 

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!

Using different mediums ...

Well, I went a little crazy this week and created the same 'picture' three different ways!  It all started with a tiny little sketch in the bottom of my sketchbook and changed into three different projects.

The first time I created this pic, I used paper.  I tore up scrapbook paper, glued it down and doodled. Okay, sunrise. 

But after looking at the paper for a little while, it seemed like I could have used paint instead of paper.  And I was just going to paint over the paper, but instead, I took over the other side of my journal and created a paint version.  I used acrylics, silks acrylic glaze and some paper for the sun.  Loved it!

See, they are right next to each other in my journal! Just a great comparison of using different mediums to create the same idea!

Then out came the big fun!!  I had a wooden block, lightly gesso'ed sitting on my desk.  It was right there next to the Pebeo Vitrail and Prisme Paints that I recently got at Blick's. So I grabbed the Modeling paste and formed the base. Then the Vitrail and Prisme paints swirled on! So different!! I also cut a piece of hard cardstock into a circle, swirled the modeling paste onto it as well and created the sun. 

Here is the original tiny corner (not so great) sketch ...

When I was looking at the sketch I googled 'sunrise' and found this amazing and inspirational picture.

So there you have my last few days in the art room ... sketching, searching for inspiration and creating with several different mediums!! Try it!! It was a really fun way to create!

August Mixed Media Challenge Blog #15

Wow!! August already, where has this summer gone!!  I barely had a second to create in my art room!! Luckily, I did really enjoy this month's challenge!! The challenge this month at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge is - Get Texty!! All you have to do is use text in your project!  I might have done it a little differently, but all you have to do is use letters on your project!! SOOO that means, you can definitely play with us this month ... who doesn't have a big bag of chipboard or stick-on letters that you could put to good use!! I just made sure that my 'texty' was the main part - well, the biggest part of my project!

And one lucky, random winner will win a $25 gift card to Ellen Hutson ... awesome!!!  Great store, great selection!

Here is my Get Texty project for the month!

I started out on with gesso and dark blue paint.  Using a credit card, I smeared the paint down the canvas to look like a storm.

Then I played around with one of my favorite new mixed media tools (well, new to me) Pebeo Vitrail paints.  They do some pretty awesome effects! The light blue paint that I used made a shimmery glossy look and the silver liner, gave some amazing texture.  LOVING this paint!

Then I made my tree ... yes, I know I have been obsessed with trees lately. I just think trees are amazing, their texture, their colors, and their shade on a really hot day. I could go on and on, but I think you all should know by now, I just love trees!!

Then I took some tissue paper and printed my saying (I found the saying on Pintrest) for the canvas.  It is easy to print on tissue paper, well, it takes some practice and you need to talk nicely to your printer, but you can do it!  I tape a piece of tissue paper to my regular printer paper and then put it into the paper loader like there is nothing different about it.  Sometimes, the ink smears.  This is usually because I put the glossy side up.  So make sure, if you try this, you put the dull side up for the ink!

I used gel medium to put the tissue paper onto the canvas.

The leaves are burlap painted with matte medium and green acylic paint. 

Then I doodled and highlighted to finish off the project!! 

Come and play with us at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog!! You will be so happy you did!! Grab those letters and Get Texty!!  

The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #14! - Summer Days!!

Ah, Summertime!!  We are definitely in the middle of a Hot'Lanta summer here in the south!! Humidity and heat can really start to get to you ... but cooler evenings with the sound of cicadas humming makes the days heat just melt away!!  (And luckily, so can sitting in my air conditioned house playing with mixed media!!)
  So here is July's Mixed Media Monthly Challenge ... #14 Summer days!!  Come and PLAY with us!! 

 This month we have an amazing sponsor!! I think Butterfly Reflections Ink, is a wonderful online store to buy a huge variety of supplies for my mixed media!! So be sure to click on over to the store and check it out - you will be pleased you did!!

And here is my Summer Days Challenge Piece! My ideal summer day - a picnic!!

Started it out with a scrap of wood board and a brown paper bag.

 

I started thinking about summer and all the things I love about it ... the pool, sprinklers, fireworks ... and all the picnics we have!! Love picnics! I am a foodie - I'll admit it - so picnic food! Yummy - makes me SO happy!  Then I doodled on the board as I imagined my perfect July picnic!

For the background, I  used blue and white paint smeared with a credit card.  Then for some dimension, I used a text stencil with more white than blue.  I liked the words, but I really wished that I had this is in a 12x12 stencil.

I ripped up some brown paper bag for the trees.

  

 A couple of weeks ago I did another tree project and had created some tissue paper leaves with my gelli plate. Luckily, there were a few extra gelli prints still hanging around! But when I laid them down into the trees, the placement of the text stencil looked odd.  It looked like the words were framed and they were the most important part of the piece.

So, using the stencil repeatedly, all over the background, it faded in more like texture.  Much better.  Then I coated the letters with blue paint.  

Then back to the leaves and onto my picnic!! I cut out all the little pieces I wanted to have at my picnic plus a festive bunting for decoration!   I watercolored the pieces for the table and used gel medium to put them all in place.  

Doodles, highlights, Stamps and rub-ons .... to complete the piece!

 Now, really, come and play with us at The Mixed Media Monthly Challenge!! We are super nice and we just love seeing what other artists create!!!  You know you want to come and join us with this 14th challenge!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!! And I love it when you leave me comments - they make me smile!!!

-Karen