The Studio’s Wonderwall

I’m not sure what came over me… One evening I decided that my cupboard doors in the Studio were looking a little tired and cluttered. Up to that moment, there was a collection of five year’s worth of samples, colour charts and reference material covering the doors. It took a day to strip off all the double-sided tape. I’d only discovered dual tack tape half way through… The blank canvas looked, well, very blank and very white. Thus formed the idea for my very own wonderwall:

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Art Journal Pages: Complementary Distress

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These pages were an exercise in complementary colours. Using the Distress palette, I chose a colour and then the closest colour to its inverse – a different way to find a complementary colour than using a colour wheel. Above, Stormy Sky meets Gathered Twigs, whilst below, Crushed Olive zings against Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord. Oh yes, one more thing – buckled pages do not make an easy surface to be stamping paint onto…

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Altered Art: The Key to Creativity

Creativity Key

One of my Tuesday night regulars, Hilary, brought amongst a whole stash of other things two sets of greyboard keys and fobs. ‘Can you think of anything you can do with these?’, she asked. This is what I came up and finished this morning.

The key is textured with sand texture paste, and then layered with fluid acrylics following Andy Skinner’s industrial paint recipe I learnt last year. The tag was sealed with black gesso. I cut a smaller oval and painted that gold, and two layers of black card were cut on the Silhouette Cameo and layered together before the top layer was dampened and hammered loudly and long to create the texture. Once everything was dry, it was all glued together and two coats of thick gloss spray varnish completed the look. I’m impressed with the triple thick glaze spray – it really helps the hammered card look more like a hammered metal enamel finish.

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