BALL SEASON

Hi! October already!!!! Pixels and Paper, this month has gone shabby chic with frames as the additional criteria.

For this challenge, I went with the shabby chic feel and used a background paper that was patterned like lace. On this I stencilled overlapping oval frames, using a white pearl modelling cream.

In the corners, I added a lace diecut and then randomly added white and gold flowers. Some of these have ribbon and pearl centres, and on others I have added quilled roses I made from pearlised cream or gold paper.

 

 

The centres of the frames were cut out and photos inserted underneath. These were taken at  two different balls held in Lismore at the City Hall, 1973 and 1974. These are of my other half and myself.



Pop on over to:pixelsandpaper and check out what the rest of the team has done with this inspiration photo.

Catch you soon. Cheers, Di

CHANNELLING POSITIVE VIBES!!!!

Hi! It has been a while since I last posted, but I have a major health issue I'm coming to terms with at the moment. Doing what I love is helping greatly and today I'm sharing a couple of projects.
The first I'm entering  into the Kraft Plus challenge. You can see what the team has done over at:
kraftpluschallenges
This is the first time I've participated in this challenge, but when I saw that the criteria was to add the element of zentangling I couldn't resist!  This was done while recuperating  from my last lot of surgery..... very therapeutic.
I've created a fantasy garden, based around a Bird of Paradise plant.

 

The second was my August DT piece for ARTastic, using a black and white photo of one of my Tawny Frogmouth visitors to the garden. The additional criteria was to add texture so that it was a feature of the background. I've stencilled leaves using modelling paste and added gems and fibres.

 

 

 

Pop on over to: artasticchallengeblog  to see how  the rest of the team has interpreted this month's inspiration artwork.

 

 

Cheers for now. Di

JONATHON LIVINGSTON SEAGULL?

Hi and welcome. Wow! July already... where has this year gone!
This month at Pixels and Paper we have a fabulous photograph inspiring summery days, brilliant whites and blues and maybe even the ocean.... which is where I've chosen to go.
I had a particular photo, taken by my son, in mind (as well as a completely different layout idea to what I finished with), before the AHA! moment struck.

First, I painted a seascape on A3- sized heavy watercolour paper. This was done with a combination of mediums: modelling creme (brushed on with both wet and dry brushes as well as being scraped on), 3D stamping paint, acrylic paint and a touch of permanent black marker pen.

To this background I glued an A4 copy of the seagull photo I was originally going to use. I tried this as a whole photo, but decided to cut it out instead...... heaps better!
I haven't painted for a while so I really enjoyed doing this as a background.... opens up all sorts of possibilities with other photos!

This is our inspiration photo... what a stunning place. (Santorini, Greece). Pop on over to:pixelsandpaper and check out what the rest of the DT has done.... awesome pieces as usual!
We'd love to see your art here.
Thank you for popping by and particularly if you leave a little love as well.
Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

FAVOURITE PLACES

Hi and welcome. Today I'm sharing a canvas featuring some of the places I love to visit in my local area as well as an artwork by an indigenous Australian artist, Sally Morgan, as my DT piece for Anything But A Card. Our theme this month has been  "Inspired By the Masters".

This artwork by Sally Morgan is a screen print "Aboriginal Land" from 1995. This depicts images of  six different Australian landscapes including desert, rivers, mountains and trees. The whole piece has been encircled by a rainbow serpent to give strength and unity to the print. It is also a creation spirit in Aboriginal Australia.

I chose a 50 x 35cm canvas so that I could work a number of photos on a larger area. The background was sprayed with Dylusions Inks and Lindy Stamp Gang sprays. A border of leaves was stencilled on with Viva Modelling Creams and Ferro combinations.

I also stencilled on a water effect with the same products. The photos I used all have some significance with each other, as well as some Aboriginal significance. 
The top photo is an aerial view of Mt Warning, named so by Captain Cook and known as Wollumbin by the local Aboriginals. This peak and the rim of mountains around it are the remains of a huge shield volcano which covered this area. With the erosion over the millennium, the beautiful Tweed Valley, Richmond Valley and the Border ranges were formed.
The remaining photos are of the Nimbin Rocks, Whian Whian Falls (taken one very misty morning),  rapids at a creek near Protester's Falls, and overflow from Rocky Creek Dam, after a period of flooding rain.
Rain that falls in the Mt Warning and Border Ranges catchment area impact these creeks and dams, hence the water connection on the canvas.
Many of the towns and villages, particularly in the Tweed have Aboriginal names, including the home town of my childhood and teenage years, Murwillumbah.
They are all a part of rainforest areas and that is why I have chosen to use the leaves to connect them. My bright colours, inspired by Sally Morgan, have been used in the flowers that I've made. These represent lillypilly flowers which are a typical rainforest tree. These were painted onto card using modelling cream and then streaks and dots of pearl pens. Additional leaves were stamped onto mop-up card and cut out.
Pop on over to: anythingbutacard and check out what masters the rest of the team has chosen and how they've been inspired.

Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

STRIATED SUNSET

Hi and welcome. This month's criteria at ARTastic is to use a quote on whatever you create. As the colours in the inspirational artwork were reminiscent of some of my sunset photos, this is what I decided to go with.

A quote from John Ruskin, 'At sunset nature is painting for us... day after day... infinite beauty."   has been used for this, along with some of the colours, stripes and splotches from the inspiration artwork.

The features of stripes, patterning and colour has also been extended onto the black background through the use of stencilling with swipes of colour using texture pastes, sprays and dimensional pearls. Some of the background colour was also applied using the serrated edges of plastic knives. I have also used sprayed and torn tissue paper, again using the colours from this month's artwork.

Background showing stencilling and scraping. Coppery tones were added later.

Please drop by the ARTastic site and have a look at how the rest of the team has played with this month's theme. You'll be in for a real treat! Check it all out at:artastic



Thank you for dropping by. Your comments always give me a buzz and brighten my day.
Catch you soon.
Cheers, Di



FRIENDSHIP TAG

Hi again. This month Anything But A card Challenges has its theme centred around friendship. For this challenge I have made a very large tag.

The base is made from black cardstock. This was stencilled with modelling cream. The next layer is a wallpaper sample and then I've added a topper from Graphic 45 Botanical Tea Collection.
I'd been thinking that a number of my fiends are some distance away from me and though we rarely see each other, when we do have the chance to catch up in person, or on the phone, our conversations flow easily. I decided that I would make up a quote to say this... True friendship transcends time and distance.  I think that most of you would have friends that this is true for.
To complete the tag I added 2 of my new  and rapidly becoming favourite, dies and embossing folders from the Tim Holtz range. Both were cut from card I had sprayed with various Lindy Stamp Gang sprays and then stencilled with modelling cream.
The ribbon at the top is a gorgeous hand- dyed silk ribbon I purchased at a local craft fair.
Pop on over to: anythingbutacard and check out what the rest of the team has done for this challenge. We'd love to see your art here.

Thanks for stopping by.
Cheers, Di

ART JOURNAL FOR 2015

Hi again. This month at Anything But A Card, we are looking at new beginnings. This can be interpreted in many ways and I have chosen to start a new art journal for the year, in the hope that I can be more organised with my experimentation and discoveries.

I started with a plain A$  2-ringed folder / binder. I covered this with an application of gesso then sprayed and spritzed with various sprays and inks through a stencil as well as freely.

When dry I decided to use a new stencil (large flower)  using Viva modellier creme to create the flowers. These were then either outlined with glass effect gel (black) or dotted with viva decor pens in copper or sparkle.

Black stamping was also used....another new stamp from Visible Image.
Added also, were quotes stamped onto tissue paper and then applied to the folder.

Pop on over to anythingbutacard and check out what the rest of the team has come up with for this month's inspiration.
Cheers, Di

DORRIGO: DT Piece for ARTastic

Hi and welcome. I hope your new year has been everything you'd hoped for so far. ARTastic has a fabulous challenge this month, using as their inspiration, some street art by Fintan Magee. Fintan is an Australian street artist known for his murals throughout Queensland and later, in New South Wales.

 

I've taken the bricks from the mural as my inspiration for my layout.
The background has had double layers of stencilling. The first layer was a light coat of gesso was done over a smooshed  and sprayed background. Then I used a brick / stone wall stencil with Modellier Creme (Chocolat)

To this, I also added torn pieces of washi and Tim Holtz paper tapes and various stamps in black archival ink. Under the photo (which is of a mosaic tile mural on the wall of a building in Dorrigo, NSW), I have used torn cardboard from packaging. This was embossed and then smooshed with distress inks. The journalling was done on crumpled glassine paper. A white Sharpie paint pen was used for the writing.

There is still time to join us at  artastic this month, so why not pop on over to the blog and have a look at what the rest of the team has done with the inspiration image. We'd love to see your art.
Cheers for now.
Di

NERIDA WELCOMES IN THE NEW YEAR

Hi and Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2015 brings you much joy, good health, love, peace and the chance to indulge in your favourite pastimes.
The full impact of summer has hit us in the southern regions of our planet and in light of this, Pixels and Paper Challenges have for your inspiration a theme that will sure to have you searching for the summer fun moments.

My take on this can only be described as different, as it brought out the inner child and my love of fantasy.

Let me introduce you to Nerida in her wondrous under-the-sea grotto. With her you'll also see some of her close friends.

 

I've used a large canvas board on which to create this artwork. The surface was coated with gesso before spraying with various inks including; Lindy Stamp Gang, Perfect Pearls Mists and Dylusions Sprays. I use combinations of blues, aquas, greens, yellows, and silver before a final quick burst with Perfect Pearls "Perfect Pearls".

 

 

Once dried, the background was stencilled with Viva Decors Modelling Cream, again using sea-toned colours. The Mother of Pearl was the perfect one to use for the bubbles,

Nerida, a mermaid from a Chocolate Baroque set, was stamped, photographed and then copied onto A4 laser print paper, to give me the size I required. She was coloured using a water brush and the same set of modelling cream colours. I also used these for colouring the other stamped pieces (small seahorse and seaweed).
The dolphin is a photo of part of a large door feature I did while teaching. Again, the photo of this piece was printed onto laser paper and the dolphin cut out.
Chipboard sea shapes were inked with chalk edgers before decorating with Viva Decor Pens.
Strings of beads were added to make some interesting underwater plants.

Larger beads were added to the top of the grotto. These were placed to look as though they were swaying in gentle ocean currents.

I hope you enjoyed meeting Nerida and her friends.
I really had fun doing this canvas and I am loving the effects that can be done with a combination of sprays, modelling creams and stencils.
Pop on over to:pixelsandpaperchallengeblog to see what the rest of the team have done with our inspiration photo.

 

 



 

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers, for now. Di

CARNIVALE MASQUE

Hi and welcome.  It's such a busy time of the year so  thank you for dropping by. Anything  But A Card, this month, has been delving into the theme "Celestial", which has meant quite varying things to members of the team.
After a play day at  timetocreate  exploring different ways to change background papers, one paper in particular screamed.. Celestial!!!!  The whole piece, once finished, reminded me of some distant planetary system with moons, satellites, planets. I originally was going to do a mobile featuring such planetary objects, but after a very vivid dream, and one which oddly for me stayed in my mind the day after, I came up with the idea of a festival mask.

Completed mask with photo edited on a night setting to show the glitter.

The background was a glossy black A4 card.  This had been daubed with metallic acrylic paints in copper and bronze.  radiating from these were lines of Viva metallic pens. In between we stamped with silver  and added imprints from the end of our daubers with gold 3D Stamping Paint.

Close-up of mask how it looked at first

To the mask shape cut from this background I added some gold glittered stars, (these have come up silver on this photo), stars cut from gold and copper-coloured mirror board (finished with Kindyglitz bling) and tinsel pipe cleaners bent into star shapes . I added additional silver finishes around the outside of the frame and eye slits ( dabbed on silver ink).

Mask shown in natural light

 I thought that this would be the finish but after further contemplation decided to add another element.. a "Man in the Moon cut from pearlised white card and edged with Kindyglitz. Unfortunately the eye details and edging have not shown up on these photos. The mask is held by hand. This leg has been made from a thin piece of dowel, with tinsel pipe cleaners twisted around it.

mask with the addition of a moon.







Thank you for stopping by. There's still time to get your celestial muses working. We'd love to see your art at anythingbutacard so  why not drop on over and have a look at the amazing pieces done by the rest of the team.

Cheers for now.
Di



 

FIVE FINISHES FOR NOVEMBER FIVE SUNDAYS AT ABAC

Hi and welcome. This month again has five Sundays, and in keeping with this, Anything But  A Card Challenges is once more featuring the Number Five.

 

 I have made a small hanging using five different, simple and quite fast techniques to change paper / card into very different looking backgrounds.

The large 5 has been gessoed and sprayed with Dylusions Ink Sprays while the gesso was still wet. When dry I resprayed some sections. This gave an interesting effect with a combination of some white, and different hues of blue.

The smaller 5 has been stamped using a self- made stamp. For this I used scraps left over from mounting stamps onto backing.  These give great effects and you can change them to produce whatever patterns/designs you want whenever you want.

This 5 has again been stamped with a self-made stamp. I took a small block of wood and glued twine / wool on it in a design. They won't last forever, but it's surprising how much stamping you can do with just one application of ink or acrylic paint. If you like you don't have to glue the twine down. You can simply wrap it for an interesting effect.

The smaller 5 has been sprayed with various mists through a stencil The sprays were then fixed with a craft fixative spray.
The larger 5 has been done using a very interesting technique used at timetocreate, on one of our explore days. This simply involves using glossy photos (these can be the oops ones), Viva Modellier Creme ( a luscious, pearly / metallic modelling paste) and some alcohol inks. For this number I cut the photo into segments and glued them onto a backing piece before stencilling with the modelling paste. When dry I pounced over thew whole number with alcohol inks.

All of these techniques are designed to change paper to provide backgrounds for other projects. By using them you produce a piece that is totally unique and individual.
Pop on over to:anythingbutacard to have a look at what others in the team have created. We'd love to see what you come up with.

Thanks for dropping by. Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di

STILL

Hi and welcome. Today I'm showing a layout featuring a photo taken in Tasmania in 2011.

 After some research, we have discovered that the bird is a most likely a juvenile Pacific Gull and it wouldn't expect to have its adult colouration for another 3 to 4 years.
It was standing on one of many boulders overlooking a beautiful little inlet at St Helens  in northern Tasmania. My son took the photo and we were able to move fairly close to it. It didn't seem at all perturbed that we were so close by. For the 10 - 15 minutes we were in the area it didn't move from its spot... just its head, ever so slightly.

 

 

 

The background paper was already patterned but I decided to add some additional texture by using some new Viva Modellier Creme (a beautiful, lush modelling creamy paste)... just had to try this out! This was applied through a stencil and when dried. lightly pounced with some alcohol ink... just for some additional impact.

 

 

The photo was mounted onto a bought frame cardstock from the same company as the background layer.. I think it was an old Bo Bunny stock. To this I added stamping as well as distressing, snippets of wool, fibre, shells, mother-of -pearl discs and beads.

I'm entering this layout into Lasting Memories Scrapbook Layout Challenges  at:   http://kcclayoutchallenges.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/lm-215-only-one-photo.html

Thank you for dropping by. Catch you again soon.
Cheers, Di