Still Art-ing (Result)!

"Be Fearless"

8 x 10 Canvas Panel

Wire accents & Swarovski crystals on wallpaper background

She's finished: I may not have my Christmas cards out yet, but hey, this is complete (and was much more fun to do!) . . . This little tightrope walker was inspired by the work we did in Willowing's class while at the same time (hopefully) being representative of me and the materials I like to work with . . .

"Be Fearless" was created on an 8 x 10 canvas panel covered in decorative wallpaper. I roughed it up a bit with sandpaper before adding water-soulble oil pastels, silver glitter and stamped stars (with gold ink) for depth. The figure of the girl was first created on cold pressed watercolor paper using acrylic, water-soluble crayons and glitter gel pens before being cut out and added to the background. The tightrope was made from a piece of wire which was tied to the canvas through punched holes and brads. I added both iridescent Swarovski beads to the wire and flatback crystals (in a deep purple) to the background. Final touches include a crown made from the scraps of the original painting and the words, "Be Fearless" stamped with gold ink (and enhanced with gold gel pen) on the bottom.

Thanks for looking! Now, onto those Christmas cards . . . xo

MMM: Buttons

"Cute as a Button"

9 x 12 Journal Page

(you may click to enlarge)

This week Mixed Media Monday challenges us to create a piece of art that in some way incorporates buttons. I wasn't sure how I was going to do that as, like most of us, my button collection is rather large and sometimes having too many choices makes it difficult to decide where to start. So I went with the idea of choosing just one rather simple looking button and building a environment around it. Since the first journal page in my wallpaper book featured a Mama Bird, I decided to do the same here. This piece symbolizes the hope to fill our nest again with a cute little button of our own . . .  

The journal page above was created with watercolor paper and decorative wallpaper that was distressed and "aged" using watered-down acrylic and brown and white acrylic splatters. I then added a pulled and painted ribbon to ground my little Mr. and Mrs. The nest was made with a more acrylic in addition to bits and pieces of string, ribbon, wire and fabric. The baby button was sewn with hemp and glued onto the nest. 

Thank you for looking! I look forward to seeing all the creative displays of buttons this week . . .

Kristin xo