A Close Look At Amour...And Two Other Mixed Media Art Pieces

Hi There.

Here are the close-ups of the other three art pieces that'll be for sale (only $35!!) in the Petite Valentin art show at Zinnia, starting tomorrow.  Stop by and say "Hi"!  The opening is Sat, the 11th from 6-9pm, but the show will continue for the rest of the month, ... what doesn't sell right away that is!!  They're going to be selling the art right off the wall so you can take yours home right away!  Zinnia is an amazing little art store in South Pasadena.  I'm planning on hanging out at Zinnia for a while, then cruising around the area.  The opening is part of the South Pasadena Arts Crawl, so I want to check out some of the other galleries too.  I can't wait!  There's going to be lots of art, live music, and food in the area!  Yahoo!

Ok, speaking of art...

This is "Amour".  

It's made on a 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 piece of wood.  I started it off by glueing down vintage French book pages, then layered some heavy gel medium over them.  I used a stencil and the gel medium to create the word "amour", then when it dried, I painted over the whole thing. I drew the Eiffel Tower with graphite and glued down a piece of black lace across the bottom.  I added copper tacks, a tiny crocheted circle, and a heart I cut out from plaster cloth and painted red.  Then, as with all six pieces, I sealed it to protect it and keep things from smudging.

Next up is "Be Gentle".  

I love this one.  OK,  I love them all, (each one is a favorite!?), but this one doesn't look as great in photo as it does in person..the subtle colors and textures, etc..  It's done on a 4 3/8" x 5" piece of wood.  I also started this by gluing down the vintage French book pages and covering them with heavy gel medium and paint...

 I cut a piece of plaster cloth, wet it, folded it in half and layed it to dry on a piece of wax paper.  When it was dry, I used an exacto knife to cut out a heart (I used the inside heart shape on "Be Still") and glued down the "heart window" over the base.  I painted and antiqued it, and added copper tacks and twine.  I filled in the center of the heart with clear crackle paint (to show how fragile the heart is) and when dry, I antiqued it to show the cracks then used paint to stamp the message, "Be Gentle", on it.

The last piece below is titled "Treasured".

  It's on a 4 3/8" x 4 3/8" piece of wood.  I wet a piece of plaster cloth and wrapped it around the wood, smoothed it a bit then left it to dry on wax paper.  I painted over it all and scratched into it with a sharp tool, then antiqued it...

I glued down a stamped strip of paper across the bottom with heavy gel medium, and added a small crocheted circle.  I made the heart years ago by stamping the heart image then I covered it with glue and tiny clear beads.  I love that some had fallen off.  I added a few more touches with paint to finish it off.

So there you have it, the rest of the six art pieces that I made for the Petite Valentin art show.  To see my other three pieces that will be in the show and get more info (if you missed my last post) click here or just scroll down one post. 

Hopefully all will go well and you'll see me and my (not-so-Petite) Valentine David cruising the art scene.  Oh, and happy birthday Honey!!  I love you!!  You're the best husband ever! xoxo

Hope to see you all here!!

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday.  To join in or check it out click here.

Turquoise Crackle Bird Collage

Hi there.  I've got a fun little collage to show you.  It has tons of texture, turquoise, AND a bird.  How could you go wrong with that combo?!

It was a gift for my blog friend Mandy.  She won a drawing I had a little while back and I was so happy that she won.  She was with me from the very beginning of my blog and ever since then she's been one of my biggest cheerleaders.  I wanted to reward her with more than just the 4 greeting cards that she won, so I made this little birdie collage especially for her.  

I had enlarged and then printed out parts of my "Branching Out" painting onto watercolor paper for another project and had some left over.  I thought that it would be the perfect base to start a collage.  I glued down a small strip of a vintage dictionary page across the background.  I then drew out the bird silhouette onto paper and cut it out, then brushed Distress crackle paint onto it and set it aside to dry.  

What is that pretty strip of scalloped goodness going across the center you ask?  Sometimes I wipe excess paint from brush onto an index card, and if I like how it looks when it's all covered in paint I keep it to use in a collage.  Quite a while back after one was all covered and gritty with dark metallic grey and turquoise paint I used it to test out a new border punch that I bought.  I loved how it looked with the paint splotches so I put it aside in my scrap box to use later on a project.  I knew it would be perfect for this.

After that was glued down, I tinted heavy gel medium a dark metallic grey, then I troweled it through a stencil. The photo below was taken with my iphone while the gel was still wet to see where to place the bird.  It was a bit too busy so I wiped some of the stenciled gel away before it dried.  Then I glued down the bird, added a bit of paint here and there over the back ground bits and outlined the bird to make it stand out more.  Phew.  Done!

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday for the first time!!  I've been wanting to join in the fun but haven't been able to until now.  Whatever shall I wear? ;-)  If you'd like to join in with your own paint projects or just see what everyone's doing what click on the link above.  See you there!