Stimulating ...A GOE Challenge

One of the members of the GOE group gave us a container with some odds & ends and a word for inspiration, for us to use in our challenge. I've been pondering for quite some time & finally I had to just have it done because today was the last day I had to work on it. No more messing around. I always seem to run out of time and pressure to finish seems to be my best friend lately.

The word in the box was Stimulating. So I just did something that I find stimulating...that's working in encaustic. I used a wipe up tissue that I kept from a day of dying at a friends house for the backdrop. The colour matched perfectly with the rovings that were in the box. I added Pearl X, beads, a crayon coloured bottle cap, a tyvek & copper bead, along with some felted trimmings my daughter gave me last Christmas.

This is just a detail shot.

Valentine ATC

This is an ATC that I did for the Group of Eight exchange last week. I was struggling for an idea so I decided to do the Valentine theme. I'm really not one for the commercial crap and pressure of these types of holidays so I decided to do "Love Life".  It started off as art cloth that I painted, beaded & waxed. I attached a piece of melted sheet protector in the shape of an L. Whenever I'm struggling for an idea, I always end of reaching for some of the art cloth that I already have on hand. I'm really into texture right now so it's a great way for me to start. Then everything seems to come together quickly. I already had the melted sheet protector as well.

Mr. Boston ATC

This ATC (Artist Trading Card) was made for the GOE monthly meeting exchange. I was playing around with a different colour for me. I really wanted it to be red but for some reason it looks more pink. I started off with card stock, overlaid with white & printed tissue. Then I added a Boston postage stamp that I had in my stash & worked water over the tissue until it framed the stamp the way I wanted. I then dry brushed some bronze Lumiere paint for accent & used some rubbing alcohol to remove some of the excess paint so that some of the printed tissue would show through. I put it aside at that point because I wasn't sure it was finished but didn't know what I could do to be more interesting. So the next night I added some random hand stitching and then it was finished. I really love the texture you can get with the tissue. I should know who the person on the stamp is...but sorry I don't...at least not at this point. Maybe someone will enlighten me.

Mah Jong ATC

This is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) that I made for an exchange that the Surface Design group organized. The background was actually a piece that I made in the previous open studio get together. I've been trying for quite some time to get a particular effect using paper in which I have not been successful in achieving. If you follow my blog, you will know what I'm referring to. It was, once again, a Quilting Art article. I started off with canvas that I gesso'd and painted. Then added torn papers, Sudoku, in this case and then laid distressed cheese cloth over it. Dried it with a heat gun...because I'm very impatient and then added more paint. I didn't like the piece and it sat in the corner of my studio for months but when I broke it down into smaller sections, I ended up liking it much better. It's very ironic how I had trouble doing ATC's in the beginning because of how small they are and now I'm quite happy to break it down into a manageable piece. At least mentally breaking it down. The Lapis beads were purchased when I was on vacation in Turkey and they seemed to be the only beads I had that matched the blue denim paint. And I have a lot of beads....a LOT!!

Surface Design Continued

This is another section of the 2nd Surface Design Challenge. I started off with a piece of wool from my stash and started painting it. I painted this fabric before and just love the texture I get. I also love the green that I get because the background is dark. I used Lumiere paints again...which I really like at the moment.

 Then I textured it a little with sequin waste and Citrine Lumiere.

 I added some Burnt Orange along with some Pearl X powder and paint. I started second guessing myself and thought...oh why did you add the burnt orange. But my husband encouraged me to continue and so I did.

I added freestyle flowers in Grape Lumiere and Pearl X powder to give it a little glow. I forgot to get an overall picture of the project but the green, orange, hint of blue and flowers were already a theme in some of the other blocks and I was working to continue the overall composition. The black outline was done with dimensional fabric paint. Again to complement another block that had a thick black outline on the flowers. I really like the way the fabric glistens but the picture doesn't capture that detail.

Poppy Cock

Poppy Cock has now been completely beaded. I have posted previously but I didn't have the painting done and the beading had not started.

Poppy Cock

Australian Opal's and the Wish Bone

Sheet Protector ATC

Today I felt like playing with heat.There is a technique in the Creative Embellishment book that I believe I've mentioned before on my blog. I just love this book. Apparently you can sandwich fabrics between a sheet protector and heat it with an iron for a great look. Well I was very unsuccessful with the iron. My iron and I just don't get along. So I left it and started melting some painted Tyvek for beads. Then I thought that maybe I could try the sheet protector technique again using my heat gun. So I grabbed a saved paper napkin from my basket of odds and sods, layered it between a photograph protector and heated it. I didn't want it to be square so I kept melting until the edges got really rough. I then added Citrine Lumiere to the rough edges. I didn't mind the look so I figured my little sample could be my next ATC. For the background I started with a Bristol ATC card. I had some saved paper towel with left over inks on it that seemed to match the flower, so I just started layering paper towel with watered down white glue until I thought that it was enough. I think it was three in total. I'm very impatient so I rolled my paint brush over the paper toweled ATC to take out the extra glue...put it between my teflon sheet and that's when my iron came in handy. I ironed until it was dry. I then added gel gloss medium to give it some shine....dried it with my heat gun and added Citrine Lumiere to the edges with my finger. I think I'll play a little more with this technique. I really want to achieve the look that was presented in the book.