Saturday 31 January 2015

"Talent" Canvas - Prima Product Pick January 2015
Plus How to get those pesky Microbeads to stick
& How to make your own Subduing Mist!






2015 Janury PPP

For at least a year if not two now, I've been taking part in the monthly Prima Product Pick
 & Prima Build-a-Page Competitions, so here I am again, very late in but not TOO late!!


I have really been enjoying Finnabair's art recipes & tried out her latest one for this piece.
  It was quite out of my comfort zone so ended up taking me a lot longer than usual
 as it's not the way I usually work {painting everything over with gesso & adding 
the colour afterwards} but I persevered & I am happy with the outcome.


I used plenty of Prima on this piece.  All the flowers as well as the mists & some
 of the microbeads & all the mediums, as well as the stencil.  The little birdie
 resins are actually fridge magnets I decided to use as I have WAY too many
 on our fridge & I wanted something with birds on it to tie in with the sentiment!


I mixed the some of the microbeads directly into the modeling paste for some gritty 
texture for my stenciling & used the Finnabair "Lace Flower" 9 x 7 inch stencil.  


I absolutely love this sentiment & found this wooden block when we were on holiday
 in Cape Town over Christmas.  There is far more arty stuff available there compared 
to Durban.  I bought quite a few different sentiment blocks to use on my canvases.


 I have always loved the idea of being confident with your creating & not being 
intimidated by the vast sea of talent in the world.  I am giving my office a
 "grown up" makeover this year & created this piece for myself, to go onto
 my studio wall as a positivity reminder. 


My advice for getting Microbeads, seadbeads, etc to stay put, is to buy an aerosol
 adhesive to spray over the top.  It is quite expensive here in South Africa but
 the can is 500mls & mine still feels full & I have used it quite a lot -
 so worth the investment I say.


I battled a bit to get the pale colours & in the end made up my own mist 
consisting of thin gesso (I have some by Mont Marte that I don't rate at all
 but it was great for this!) mixed with water (about 4 parts water to one part
 gesso & 1 part white pigment powder (LSG magicals) for shine. 


 Mix in a clear glass bowl then add to your spray bottle using a funnel
 because if you try to mix directly into the bottle you'll clog the uptake straw
 (learn from my mistakes!)  I sprayed the entire canvas with my homemade 
mist & left it to dry overnight.  Thankfully it was a lot paler in the morning!!



SUBDUING MIST IS GREAT TO HAVE WHEN YOUR COLOURS
 COME OUT TOO GARISH & YOU NEED TO TONE THINGS DOWN A NOTCH
- above you can really see the milky look it gives.  

If you want a matt mist as opposed to a shiny one simply do not add the pigment
 powder!  There are various white mists you can buy but I find my gesso recipe
 gives a better, more solid, coverage, which is what you need if you are trying
 to actually lighten colours quite considerably!  
LET ME KNOW IF YOU GIVE IT A GO!!




10 comments:

Jean Bullock said...

I love this! The colors, textures, embellishment clusters are fabulous. Love the sentiment too. Thanks for the tips about the micro beads and spray mist. Well done.

Sandi Clarkson said...

Love these soft, gentle colors! You did a great job! This will look fab in your office.

Unknown said...

Will definitely look cool with the new tranquil theme you're going for :) so textured and pretty x

Helen Wallace said...

I stunning project and lots of tips about creating Art and recovering from mistakes. TFS

Jaya Raghuvanshi said...

This is so very gorgeous Helen! Love the loads of textures.
Thank you for the wonderful tip.. :)

Di Garling said...

This is absolutely stunning Helen, a winner for sure. Love your idea about the gesso spray too, willhave to give that one a go. TFS.

Margaret Mifsud said...

Absolutely stunning canvas Helen and some fabulous tips too!! A really great post!! ox

nancy carroll said...

LOVE, this is so gorgeous. Thanks for all the wonderful tips. Awesome use for the refrigerator magnet!

Lynette Jacobs said...

Absolutely stunning Helen...a great reminder to have on the wall of your creative space xx

Denise van Deventer said...

So very pretty and beautiful! Love the greens here and the amazing little details! So gorgeous!