Art Play

Off and on the last couple of weeks, I've been playing with some small 4x6 inch canvases experimenting with paints, stamps, book pages and other mixed media.   This is SO much fun playing with paper, mists and paint.  Right now, I'm not that concerned about creating any great masterpiece.  I just want to see what works and what doesn't.  Eventually, I'd like to do 3 or 4 larger canvases to go above the bed in my guest/craft room.

The first piece is based on this one from http://sn-exploringcreativity.blogspot.com via Pinterest.  The base is a book page.  The birdie is from the Straight from the Nest cartridge on the Cricut.  I stamped my clouds and filled them in with modeling paste after misting the background.    The misting over book paper worked well for me.

My selection of book paper wasn't so hot.  I took a page from an old novel that I scanned quickly for any inappropriate language.  What I missed is a phrase "enter country dead."   I don't know what that means but it doesn't really go with my cute little birdie. This is my second time having words show through that I really don't care for.

So of course that problem led to some shopping. :-)  We've really paired down our books over the years and have nothing left I want to cut up.  We get pretty much everything we read from the library.  So I went to an Antique's Mall where I found an old Latin textbook from 1908.   Then I stopped at the used book store and found an architectural textbook with lots of tables and line drawings and a book on sewing tips from the 1950's. The sewing tips book has great illustrations and is fun to read as well.  It is all about what the 'good housewife' should do to take care of her husband and children.  My how times have changed - thank goodness!  So now I have lots of pages to paint and mist.

Some other things I've learned...

Stamping over Modge Podge doesn't work so hot but rub-ons and Stickles adhere beautifully.  Finally a good use for rub-ons in my stash.

Mixing up the papers in tiny pieces creates a pretty background and solves some of the inappropriate phrase problems.  I went over these with various Color Shine mists.

I have a couple of other pieces in progress.  Besides being great fun, this is also a wonderful opportunity to use products like rub-ons, Stickles and some stamps that haven't gotten much use lately.

Thanks for visiting today!