This is the finished piece of the sketch I shared a couple of days ago. I did take progressive photos while I was making this, so I could share a tutorial with you.

I shared the sketch I had started the other day of the flowers. This was done with a graphite pencil on the prepared masonite board. I was looking at a photograph, while trying to draw these.

 With all the frisket removed, I decided to use acrylics to try and paint the flowers.

I had lost most of the detail, so I went back in and used a charcoal pencil and tried to further accentuate the image. The trick is to use the charcoal, without smearing it.
I rubbed the charcoal a little with my fingers to blend it out. The final piece was coated with a matte finish acrylic spray.

I love the color of this piece, but wish I had done a better job shading the flower to make it look more dimensional. I'm planning to do another flower on the same size board and hang these pieces in my house somewhere.

They just say 'Spring' to me! Thanks for stopping by.

This post is for the frugal crafters out there. I just purchased a half sheet 28"x48" piece of masonite board from Home Depot ($5.50). This is a piece of 6"x9" that I have used to start a painting.
 My husband cut the board into various sizes for me, ranging from 4"x4" to 11"x14". I think I got 12 or 14 different pieces of substrate to play on. I read that if you apply 4 layers of gesso, with a sponge, it makes a perfect surface to paint/play on. These were sanded with a fine grit sandpaper between the 3rd and 4th coat and then again after the 4th coat. I now have several pieces of substrate to play on for $5.50.

Maybe when I grow up, I'll actually spend the money for stretched canvas, but until then, this works for me. I am taking photos of this piece in progress, come on back in a few days, we'll see how it turns out and I'll share a tutorial.

Have a beautiful week.

I was able to get photographs as I made this piece and thought I would share a tutorial. Normally you would do a piece like this on a canvas, but alas, I have none. This was created on a piece of 8.5" square cardboard that was heavily gessoed on both sides to give it a little strength.

Using basic scrapbooks papers, I cut various sized squares and just glued them down randomly using mat gel medium.

Then it was given another coat of mat gel medium. Let it dry completely. I made a basic sketch with charcoal to use as a guideline. This could be anything you want to sketch.

I used 2 colors of acrylic paint, blue and green. The paint was puddled side by side on a piece of wax paper and then I used my small brayer and picked up the blue on one end of the roller, and the green on the other. I rolled this all over the piece, outside of my sketch area.

Next, I took a damp paper towel and wiped away some of the paint until I was satisfied. In some areas I added a bit more paint, and then wiped away the excess again.

The next step was to paint a rusty red in the bodice, this time using a paintbrush, then again, wiping some away.  A rich brown was used in the dress, using the same technique. I took a bit of both of these colors and dabbed them on to the background, helping to integrate them into the overall piece, making it more cohesive.

Gesso was used to paint in the wing area, again wiping the excess away. The head and neck were painted completely with gesso to prep it for the face.  The face and neck were then painted with a pale beige.

Now comes the more difficult part for me, sketching the face. I had actually considered leaving her faceless...no guts no glory, or so the saying goes. I used a charcoal pencil to sketch the face and painted it with acrylics. To get different skin tones, paints were watered down quite thin.

The whole piece was then outlined with black paint. I used charcoal to create shadows along the body and in the wings. The words were stamped with black ink. The whole piece was sprayed with fixative. 

When finished, I was pleased. I have a long way to go with sketching, but it is a beginning.

Here's to new beginnings and to all of our journeys in 2011!

I see wonderful potential for this technique. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for stopping by.

The second tutorial for our Christmas in July, is a simple acrylic paint resist technique. Have you ever purchased a stamp that you just didn't know what to do with it? Well, perhaps get it out for this technique. For the purpose of demonstration, and because I love simplicity, I am only using two stamps on the card. You may choose to use several. Experiment and play!

I used these stamps from Inkadinkadoo. The image is so frilly, and the technique is quite rustic, striking a nice balance don't you think?

Choose cardstock, whatever color you would like you image to be, this will be the background paper for this technique. A heavier cardstock is recommended. I chose to use a heavy red cardstock. You'll also need your favorite brand of clear embossing ink, clear embossing powder, stamps of your choice and acrylic paint.

Cut your cardstock to whatever size your card will be. Use the clear embossing ink to stamp your image(s) and then clear emboss. This will act as a resist for the image.

After the embossed area has cooled down, it's time to make a mess. Get out a 1/2" or 1" paint brush and start brushing paint all over the top of the cardstock, and over the stamped image. I chose to brush in one direction, but experiment going in different directions if you like.

IMPORTANT: Let the paint dry naturally. Do not heatset the paint to dry it quicker, or your embossing powder will re-melt and the technique won't work. When I was making these I just set up an assembly line of a few cards and by the time I finished painting the last one, the first one was dry.

Take a rag, or a baby wipe that is damp and gently remove the paint from the embossed image. I don't recommend letting the paint sit overnight, or it may be more difficult to remove.

Now it's time to finish/embellish this card in your own personal style. This technique is fun to use in a variety of your other projects also.

Here is a second sample of this card. If you do try this technique, I would love to see it. Please leave me a link.