Experimentation Piece - More Resin! :)

Some of you may be wondering how my big experimentation piece turned out with all the new techniques and materials I've been trying. Well, it is by far the busiest piece I've ever created, lot's to look at for sure! But I did experiment and learn a lot so it has served it's purpose!

Here is what it looked like from my last post:

 The above pic is the second layer of paint and during the second resin coating. I used some dimensional paint, sparkly paint pens and coloured Sharpies and some acrylic paint. After the second coat of resin had cured, I noticed that some of the coloured Sharpies ran and blended into each other and the background - any definition I had intended to create with them was gone. I tried to go over it again on top with this last painting layer but it kinda ruined the layering effect I was going for.

You can see what I mean in the pics below... :(

This is not just a crappy pic, the marker is actually that blurry and smudged! Sharpies are not lookin' so "sharp" anymore! =D

 It also turned my "dark green" stems and nice shade of "green-blue" lol! 

Ahh well!

 

The pics below show where I tried to "fix" the smudged look by going over it again on the new layer of resin...

Before:

After:

I wanted this flower to look like it was in the background (first layer type thing) but putting a new outline on it with the new layer made it pop forward a bit.  I thought I could get away with it but nope.  Lots of learning on this piece! =D

This is the final layer of paint (among other things :D) Some rhinestone embellishments, more dimensional paint, the addition of a paper butterfly I made and some more sparkles.  Way out of my element and comfort zone here, I am not usually this "girlie" with the sparkles etc, but it was fun! :)

(See what I mean by "busy"? lol)

 And here it is, all taped up and ready for the final coating of resin.  As of now, it has been curing for 6 hrs with only a couple of reoccurring bubbles that came out of nowhere (they managed to fix themselves once the resin thickened up enough - yay!)

So that is that for another day! I have learned so much so far these last few weeks it's crazy! I will be working on commissions for the next few weeks up until Christmas so my posts may be a little irregular. These commissions are gifts and I don't want to ruin any surprises by posting about their progress.  I am keeping photos though so in the new year I can show you all what I was doing. :)

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone, I hope it's nice and cozy and warm where you are! (it's -36C here with the windchill right now... brrrrrrrrr!)

Good night guys! :)

Cindy 

Resin Experimentation - Part 2! :)

Here are some results from my resin experimenting I mentioned in my last post. Sorry for the delay! It's been busy around here! ;)

First up, here is what one of the pieces looked like in the beginning with just oil pastel on wood - then coated with a matte fixative as a sealant.

After the first resin coating had cured, I went in to do some detailing over top of the resin with coloured Sharpies... (above)

Then I added some 3D paint to see what it was like and added some coloured rhinestones. It this pic you can see where I ran into some trouble with the resin on the bottom right of the piece. I'm guessing I missed a spot with my fixative and the oil pastel repelled the resin away. It just wouldn't stick no matter how many times I tried to go over it so I gave up and painted over it anyway and thought I'd see what happened with the second resin coating.

Ready for the 2nd coat...

 Freshly coated pieces! Eeeee!

 1 hour in and so far the resin is sticking to the problem spot, YAY!

This last pic is my major experimentation piece, trying new materials and techniques - paint pens, masking fluid, scratching designs into dry paint and more sharpies etc. It is definitely a style I am not accustomed to but we'll see how it looks in the end.  This piece is going to get more "doodling" once this 2nd coating has cured and then a 3rd and final coat. Hopefully the layering will have give it some funky effects when it is all done! :)

Drawing Lab Challenge #5

This weeks challenge from Drawing Lab was #19 - Picasso Dogs! :D

This was a weird one for me, I have never attempted to draw anything remotely "Picasso-like" before.  It turned out not too bad though... interesting to say the least. We were instructed to draw and eye, flip your paper 90 degrees, draw another larger eye, flip again, draw a nose, flip, draw a paw/leg, flip again and draw a tail. Pretty straight forward you would think, it took me a bit to get the hang of it!

Here are some of my results: (excuse the absolutely horrid photography!)

Once again, all in all a fun exercise to get your brain working! I am still loving this challenge, I can't wait to see what's next!

I also made some good progress with my resin experiments from Wyanne's course mentioned in my last post.  I will post about that one tomorrow and let you know how they are coming along! So far not too bad, a few things to be fixed up though, crossing my fingers that they are actually fixable! :)

Good night! Off for some much needed sleep!

A Day For Experimenting

It's now week #4 of Wyanne's Mixed Media Resin course and we are learning how to paint on top of layers of resin.  So, I thought I'd get started with a couple of "experiments" today.  I had some old wood pieces laying around that I know I will never use for anything - if I mess them up - no biggie. 

I loved how my little "Whimsy Doodle" turned out so much I thought I'd start another one in the same way.  I put a coating of clear gesso down first and then grabbed my old oil pastels and starting blocking in some colour.  I have no idea how any of these are going to turn out, like I said, just an experiment to see what painting over resin is like.  Hopefully I can turn them into something cool! You never know... ;)

After watching Wyanne's video today, I was inspired to use some of her techniques.  Below is an acrylic wash with salt sprinkled on it and drops of alcohol.  I can't wait to see what I am going to do with it!

In the pic below, the one in the front is also inspired directly from today's lesson... it is smudged charcoal on wood.  I loved the effect the smudging had in Wyanne's painting so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm kinda nervous, Wyanne makes it look so easy! I'm at a loss but diving straight in anyway! I always remind myself of this quote when I'm not exactly "feelin' it", "You shall not wait for inspiration, for it comes not while you wait, but while you work." (- Frederick Franck from "The Awakened Eye")  Wish me luck!

The little one in the dark in the back is my "Whimsy Doodle", I thought it would look cool with a shiny resin coating ;)

So, the resin projects are on the dining room table curing... so far not too bad. There is a little reaction going on with the oil pastel project even though I coated it with a matte fixative to seal it before the resin coating. I must have missed a little spot cause the resin keeps moving away from it.  Weird. Hopefully it will be fixable though as this is just the first coating and I will be painting over it.  I'll keep you posted on how these little projects turn out! I'm definitely learning a lot, Wyanne is great!
(Dust is from Satan by the way... impossible to keep a piece completely free of dust specs! boo!)

Have a great week guys! :)

Some Little Gifts From Scotland :)

Today I opened my mail to find a lovely little parcel addressed to me all the way from Scotland! I mentioned in an earlier post that I was a runner up in Love and Peas "Giveaway of Goodness" so I thought I'd share with you the goodies when they arrived! :)

So nice to receive a nicely wrapped little gift in the mail!

 She also sent the cutest little flower pin and little stuffed heart! I loved the handmade card too! It was nice to have a hand written greeting from so far away!

 And all together... with my sweet elephant cards! (thought I'd show you the back side of the card as well, pretty cool! :))

Thanks again Jenny! Such a great start to my weekend! *hugs!* :) :)

Zentangle Experiment!

I keep seeing these "zentangles" everywhere and after watching this video on Nutty's blog, I thought I'd give one a go!  Most of the ones I have seen are left black and white but I couldn't resist adding colour ;)

Here are my results...

I actually found it kind of challenging to fill in all the white spots with a pattern or something that I hadn't already used. Other than that, it was rather relaxing. I think it is a good way to get the juices flowing if you are having a creative block. :) I will be exploring these zentangles a bit further in the future I am sure!

On a bit of a side note, if you would like to see some fantastic "zentangled portraits", you have to check out the new blog of Rebecca Anthony here.  She is amazingly talented and so worth a look!


Enjoy the rest of your week guys!