Tag Archives: DecoArt

Altered Art: Frosted Glass Vase

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I’m exploring different mediums available to me via the DecoArt Helping Artist Program – and yesterday had time to experiment with their Americana Frost Gloss Enamels. These are paints that create a translucent etched glass appearance, and stick to most smooth surfaces. Application is fast and easy, dabbing on with a fine sponge, and relatively quick touch dry time allows layers to be added without too much waiting. After curing for four days, the items can be baked in the oven to make the frosting dishwasher safe. Just one note: the finish is not food safe. Wash up is easy – just rinse with water. And if you go horribly wrong, I’ve found recently applied enamel can be wiped off with rubbing alcohol.

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Altered Art: Dream

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Dream

I chose to keep this little piece of altered art under wraps until I’d featured it on my DecoArt TV shows on Hochanda early last month. I’d also left the originals with John the floor manager/set designer to use, and had to make a second set with what was left of my prepped demos. Building on the 6½” high paper-mâché letter forms, I’ve used a lot of mixed media tricks to make this home decor piece. Continue reading →

Art Journal Page: Pick A Stick Challenge (June)

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I’ve snuck this creation in between finishing a commissioned art journal, and making the samples for tomorrow’s fabric printing/painting workshop. The Pick A Stick Challenge for the uninitiated is ten techniques or journal prompts pulled at random by one of the four coordinators of the challenge, and you must then create your page using those steps in the order in which they were pulled. This is what I came up with for June’s ten sticks 🙂

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Art Journal Page: Try Something New

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New

I love the translucency of a thin coat of gesso – pop that over a pointillistic background and I can almost imagine it’s a frosted glass panel. Reversing the stencil  direction and moving it into the spaces of the previous colour developed the pattern over a sprayed page. I sealed the Distress Sprays with the solvent based spray varnish – it doesn’t move the water-reactive inks and stabilises them enough to work over them with waterbased media.

For this layout:

  • Frisk LayFlat Sketch Pad (small)
  • Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Sprays
  • DecoArt Americana Sealer/Finisher Spray: Matte
  • Royal Talens Amsterdam Standard acrylic paints (24 pack)
  • Dutch Doobadoo Stencil: Faded Dots
  • Royal Talens Amsterdam Gesso: White
  • Woodware Mask-It sheet

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Art Journal Page: Glass Full Of Colour

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In tonight’s art journaling session, we’re going to be playing with paint films. This is my demo page – it’s one of those sort of pages that is inspired by the technique results rather than an artistic intent at the start. The glass is drawn round the paint film, which reminded me of sloshing Ribena and I went in search of a suitable quote. The full quote compares colour to be as essential as water, which is a great metaphor reflected in my layout.

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TV Debut: BTS [Behind The Scenes]

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It’s getting closer! My television debut is on Friday 3rd June, with live shows at 11am, 1pm and 5pm. I’m delighted to be showcasing DecoArt Media fluid acrylics and various mediums. Sneaky peaks will be up on the Hochanda Facebook page sometime in the next couple of days. It’s been a busy weekend for me as the products for the shows only arrived at The Studio on Friday morning, and promo pictures were requested about an hour later (to which I politely replied along the lines of ‘you must be joking’!). Want to know what The Studio looks like at the moment, with several concurrent projects on the go so that one is drying as I am working on the next?

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That’s the sample boards done; two 12×12″ panels; ten different 3D papier mâché letters; at least ten different paint and decoupage techniques; at least ten different mediums and a heck of a lot of demo planning, cups of tea and drying time. Oh by the way, the art journal is for the next shows on Thursday 16th June…

I hope you can join me online, on Sky 663, Freeview 39 or FreeSat 817 or even catch-up up to a week after: Friday 3rd June: 11am, 1pm, 5pm.

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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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Art Journal Page: Kind Words

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I’ve done faux leather, faux weathered wood and faux brass – here’s a fresh-from-the-desk journal page featuring a faux galvanised steel paint effect with faux rust. The sentiment is apparently a Turkish proverb. Is it immodest to say I’ve surprised myself again with another successful experiment? Next time though, I’ll not leave the studs until last, which somewhat annoyingly overlapped the end of ‘unlock’ – tI added the wording whilst I was waiting for the image transfer to dry, and I needed the image transfer uncovered to get the perspective right for the door studs.

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Art Journal Page: Opportunity Knocks

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There’s not many journals that won’t benefit from an undercoat of gesso. A thin layer helps seal the page, stiffen it and provides an excellent tooth for subsequent layers to stick to. A thicker layer adds texture and depth to the page.

This page is in the journal I’m testing, and started off with a gesso undercoat. Several layers of thinned Dylusions paint forms the weathered varnish, then some metallic gold paint with an image transfer over the top for the brass knocker. The ‘carved’ text is also an image transfer. Shading and ageing achieved with a combination of Pitt Artist Pens and Walnut Stain Distress Ink. Everything sealed with DecoArt Americana Spray Seal (Matte) – which just about fixes the Distress Ink enough to finish with a final sealing coat of DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish.

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Art Journal Page: What I see in the mirror [Wanderlust Prompt #5]

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I decided yesterday that I would catch up with some of the Wanderlust 2016 class activities, and watched Birgit Koopsen’s class as she demonstrated her signature style. This is my response to the fifth journal prompt from the beginning of March (‘what I see in the mirror’) using her techniques, albeit in a slightly different order! And it’s probably more of a reminder of what I should be seeing in the mirror rather than what I do… Anyhow, I wanted the background to show through the white layer (given I’d spent so long working on it!), so used I used thinned gesso for its translucency. I think the colours certainly zing against the white mask.

 

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