One Lucky Day: Something Good is about to Happen

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Something Good is about to Happen

Hello friends,

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. Ours was peaceful and even included a drive up the coast because the weather was so beautiful and the hills were so green from all the rain last week. One thing about the mountains and the ocean, you can still enjoy the beauty just driving by.

I didn't have a specific idea for a project to work on so I chose to prep a few different substrates and see if any ideas flowed from there. I ended up painting a Vignette Tray, two flat canvas panels and one thick canvas panel, which is the one I used for today project. I had all the substrates in my art room, which made them not only easily accessible, but also a fun way to challenge myself.

I didn't take many step-out photos since this is more of a "gut instinct" project (meaning you work quickly without thinking too much) but I have a few just so you can get the basic progression. Follow along and I'll show you what I did...

The wood frame stretched canvas is 8 x 10 x 1 3/8". I used Collage Medium to adhere vintage paper to the surface and then added coat over the top to seal. You can see that there are a few bubbles and creases but you will never see them in the end so don't worry about that. Vintage paper is usually thin and can be very unforgiving compared to using todays patterned paper, but it's absolutely worth it to create the perfect base.

I added a postcard from the Layers Remnants pack. I picked this one because I thought it looked so peaceful and I love the color green against the vintage paper.

So here is a big jump! Let me explain what I did:
1. I cut random sized strips of patterned paper with my rotary cutter then used Collage Medium to adhere them to the surface, criss-crossing on the left side.
2. I cut out the girl from a Photobooth picture and glued her into place. The small flower is from the Layers Botanical pack.
3. One everything was dry, I scribbled Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the surface and rubbed it in with a damp finger, making sure I built it up at seam lines and corners.
4. With a 1/2" paint brush I brushed on some Tumbled Glass Distress Paint. The Distress Paint is thin compared to acrylic, so it lets the vintage paper shows through. Don't think about the paint too much. Just paint it on to balance the surface space and let the paint dry.
5. I wanted to add black circles but I was not sure what to use...I had just thrown away an empty jar of Collage Medium so I dug it out of the garbage and used the lid as a stamp tool. I just spread the black paint on my glass mat and pressed the lid into the paint and onto the canvas.
6. A few phrases from the new Clipping Sticker book (seriously where would I be without it?) we're chosen. I found enough to go together that I decided to separate them into two word blocks. Remember to adhere the strips close together so they read like poetry. I painted Collage Medium over the stickers to secure to the canvas.

When I was painting with the Tumbled Glass Distress paint I had some leftover on the small brush. This allowed me to paint around the girl and make her stand away from the surface of the postcard. Almost like her shadow behind her. I did use a Detailer Water Brush to tint the girl with Distress Crayons.
Cheeks: Aged Mahogany (remember...tap, tap, tap for cheeks)
Scarf: Mustard Seed and Aged Mahogany
Coat: Walnut Stain

Now to balance out some of the empty spaces...I added the butterfly and the flower dictionary cutout, both from the same Field Notes Ephemera pack. A layer of Collage Medium was added over the top of each so I could use Crayon to color (as in the case of the dictionary flower).
Large numbers from Typeset Collage Paper were added. I used the Detailer Water brush to cut away numbers from the roll then used Collage Medium to add them to the surface. You will see in the final piece that I ended up adding more numbers at the top and to the right. I love that with the right application, Collage Paper becomes translucent over the printed background (that is key). Such a great product no matter the pattern.
Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain Distress Crayon was rubbed onto the Tumbled Glass paint. This really added depth to the circles.

White marks were added with a Posca pen. Once dry, I sanded over the marks with steel wool and rubbed more crayon over the top.

And that does it.
I love the additions of the Collage Paper numbers, the Peeled Paint crayon over the blue paint and the Posca pen marks. This was a fun project to create in a short time. I think creating the canvas with the vintage paper one day and making the collage the next was key for me. Somehow walking to the art room with a substrate ready to go made everything seem easier and more fluid. Now to make something with the three other substrates!