Faux Rust Butterflies....Mixed Media

 Faux rust butterfly 40 x 40 cm.

Faux rust butterflies on fridge, 10 x 10 cm.
(raylee).

Fabric for Chairs

Poor tired old chairs...

fabric worn through...

foam stuffing getting picked at by littlies...

dig out the old pale jeans...

chop off the seams...and maybe they fit...

stitch them in place...

and a denim flower now adorns the worn...

then there are the dining chairs..

old patchwork chair covers cut..

and stapled to the straight...

a new life from the old...

Rusty Butterflies

 The butterfly shapes were cut from old watercolours, the canvas boards had collage & ribbon on them, then repainted with a fairly dry brush, & rusty nail & old wire to make the butterfly bodies.

Rusty  butterflies on canvas boards, 4" x 4", 10cm x 10cm.

Mixing Faux Rust technique ( find this technique at thicketworks ) with real rusty nail & wire to make the butterflies, then attached to repainted canvas boards.
(raylee).

Faux Rust Effect

 A very easy tutorial for this Faux Rust Effect can be found at thicketworks.

 This is my first attempt.......I started with a gesso undercoat on the paper/cardboard figure. Let this dry.

 Next I mixed Prussian Blue & Burnt Sienna acrylic to make a black & covered the figure.

 Tore pieces of paper napkin & stuck these on with heavy gel medium,

 Next I placed Burnt Sienna acrylic randomly, sprinkled cinnamon over the wet paint & pressed it in with my fingers.

 With a stiff dry brush I removed the excess cinnamon.

The big patch in this photo shows where I put gel medium on top of the Burnt Sienna & sprinkled cinnamon over it & again pressed it into the gel, this added more texture.
I like this effect, with some more experimenting this could become a favourite......many surfaces could become Rusty!
Thanks to Heather from thicketworks. A comprehensive  tutorial can be found on her blog.
(raylee).

Choices

Could have cleaned the fridge...... Chose to try out soft drawing pencils & crayons  in Moleskine art journal. The pencils are intended for land & seascapes, after doing a scribble test of the colours drawing  a face became more interesting to me. Mixed some crayon into the mix with lots of finger smudging to soften the colours. 

"Motion Drawings"......a bit of boredom busting while traveling in the car (as a passenger), Artline 200 pen on scrap of old book page. Holding the pen loosely allowing the bumps to contribute to the drawing lines.
(raylee).

Crayon, Watercolour Pencils & Pen Drawings & Doodles

Quick drawings & doodles on old book pages & over scribbles in a small sketch book.
(raylee).

Keep the Daily Flow Happening......

......Some days there are so many other things to do that art gets pushed to the back burner.
I decided in September that I would try to do something creative every day , even if it was only for a few minutes.
It is not always painting or drawing, sometimes a few rounds of crochet, sewing, or just taking photos, arranging a bunch of flowers in a vase.
Quick imaginary sketches on old book pages, or drawing over used sketch book pages are my favourites at the moment. Not thinking too much just letting a face appear.
 (crayon, pen & watercolour pencil).
Keeping a record of my daily bits of creativity helps to keep track of every thing I make/create.
(raylee).

Where does the inspiration come from?

A collage acrylic on canvas that I had forgotten to post. Out of sight out of mind as they say. The little deer was from a magazine & the trees I cut from a piece of scrap wallpaper. The texture of the design on the wallpaper was very soft to the touch. The leafy patterns worked well for the trees. As usual I started with an idea which was to incorporate the colours from the floral fabric I had made slip covers from for the outside chairs.

Add caption

After a lot of experimenting with colours the painting became a lot more snowy but included all the colours from the fabric used on the chair covers.

The fabric is so different from the finished painting but started the process that created the snowy scene. In some of my first art classes many years ago we were given pictures to paint from, not to copy but to interpret in our own way. A valuable exercise that I use sometimes when I am not sure what I want to paint. (raylee).

Gallery of Crochet

I recently had some sitting down time...

so had to do something to keep the fingers busy...

started with leftovers in the wool stash...

but had to end up buying some new stuff...

ta da...

the end results...

                              

 


                                        

Apron & Sheets

My sewing machine has had a workout over the last few weeks, here are some of the pieces I have made ...... a pretty country themed apron for a sister's birthday, used new material for this one but cut the lace from the hem of an old dress.
 Floral dresses & matching frilly  pants with pom pom trim for newest addition to the family.
 All materials & trims found at  the op shop.
(raylee).