Tag Archives: acrylic paint

Sculpture: Here be dragons I

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Over the last month or so, I have been working on a new sculpture of a dragon. Made from scratch, I first start with a tin foil armature (the essential shape and skeleton of the beast) and then cover it in stages with Pal Tiya, a specialist modelling material that handles like clay but hardens in water. Once the Pal Tiya has cured for a week submerged in the pond, I let it dry. Fine details were modelled with an epoxy clay which sets rock hard over 24 hours. The fibres in the Pal Tiya make fine detail modelling quite difficult, especially at this relatively small scale. I finished off with dry brushed acrylic paint. The sculpture is designed to go outside and should be weather resistant.

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Art Journal Page: Layers, layers, layers

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Next month’s art journal session is all about layers. There will be an unofficial ‘challenge’ to see who has the most layers on their page by the time the session finishes. I think my example had upwards of 20 by the time I had finished. The layers include acrylic paints which were stamped, stencilled and monoprinted using textured wallpapers. Over that were stamped archival inks before the title was stamped and matted onto the page.

Layers upon layersIt’s a bit of a melange, but I guess that’s the point of the exercise. I wondered after if keeping to a complementary colour palette may have worked as well – perhaps something to play with during the session next month. Spaces are available if you’d like to get inky and paint-splattered!

Used in this layout

  • Various acrylic paints
  • Ranger Archival Inks – various colours
  • Darkroom Door stamps
    • Watery Washes [DDRS162]
    • Alphabet Medley [DDRS026]
  • Stampendous/Nathalie Kalbach stamps: Marks [NKCRS06]
  • That’s Crafty stencils – various
  • Hero Arts mounted stamp – Italian Poetry Background [S1832]

Art Journal Page: #PASC0219

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It’s time to share my submission to the February Pick-A-Stick Challenge #PASC0219. I’m working in my very first art journal started in 2011. There are lots of spreads where I was playing with backgrounds and which had never been ‘finished’.

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Art Journal Page: Hexagonal Monoprinting

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Hexagonal MonoprintingIt has been a little while since I have had my gel plates out, so I thought it was time to play a little with monoprinting into my journal. The experimentation was also inspired by the delivery of several texture printing plates made from rubber from Carabelle Studio. These are designed to be used with gel plates, and have text the right way round rather than a mirror image as found on rubber stamps. This means that text is monoprinted the right way round, and if used as background stamps in art journals, for example, it’s the wrong way round. The texture plates are very easy to use – just lay them across a painted gel plate, lift and then print with the gel plate.

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Art Journal Page: Cool or what?

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Next month’s theme for my art journal session (Monday 6th August, 7:30pm) is ‘tints, tones and shades’. I wanted to try a cool ombre effect as part of my suggestions (tint, white added, lighter; shade, black added, darker), so that’s what forms the background of this layout. Then a quick play on words for the shades and a suitable quote and this page is complete.

Cool or what?

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Art Journal Page: Tim Holtz Stampfest

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At next month’s art journal session*, we’ll be having a Tim Holtz Stampfest. I have a fair collection of his stamps and, as with most crafters, some haven’t been used yet. I thought it would be a great theme to work with, and lots of possibilities open up as we mix in the Distress line of products.

* The session on Mon 5th is fully booked, but if you would still like to take part, it will be repeated at the following Wednesday’s afternoon group.

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Art Journal Page: Large Scale Layout

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In tonight’s art journal session, we’re going to look at using large scale layouts. Though we will be working in our normal journals (mine is A4 spread), we’ll be using 12×12″ stencils and very large stamps to build our layers, only adding detail towards the end. This exercise is designed to encourage the breaking down of large patterns into manageable chunks… a lesson for life too!

Large format layout

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Art Journal: Gelli Tag Book

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It’s been a while since I have played with my Gelli mono printing plate, and inspired by the work of Birgit Koopsen and the latest copy of Somerset Studio featuring tag art, I set to. Twenty or so monoprinted tags later, I had the basis of a new art journal – a Gelli Tag Book.

With a quick cardboard cover, book binding tape and a few quotes (and several days later) my journal is complete. Overprinting and underpainting, outlining hand drawn typography create a cohesive whole.

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Commission: Castle Series, no. 1, Caernarfon

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I’m having fun in the Studio, actually playing with paints and canvases for a change. It’s also been a little while since I have had any commissions. This is the first in a series of six canvases, each requested to feature a Welsh castle. The main colour of the room is grey, and the accent colour is purple.

I’ve loved the ‘purple twilight’ type photo treatment, and there’s nothing more striking (I think) than a castle’s silhouette. It gives a much more solid appearance, and given most castle’s prominence on the horizon, a real immenseness.

Caernarfon CastleMy first is that of Caernarfon Castle. It took me a couple of tries to get the tonal shades right – my first go didn’t have enough contrast between the grey and black.

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TV: Sneak Peeks [for That’s Crafty!]

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It’s been a bit hectic here at The Studio, prepping samples and show demos for my TV appearance on Friday, on Hochanda (16th June, 8am & 2pm). That’s Crafty! have a huge new release including their own shimmer paints, lots of laser cut embellishments and the new giganTAGs. As usual, I’ve been a bit quiet online as I’ve been hard at work offline! So, here’s a quick peek of the project I’ll (hopefully) show step-by-step beginning to end in the first hour:

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