Monday, June 8, 2015

I seek to see the whole Me...

That you see!

I seem to always come back to faces. I love creating backgrounds and finding faces in them. I use the shapes and lines to pull out my faces. My fascination with faces comes from my desire to see myself the way others see me. I struggle with this daily, I hide myself at times in my art.  I am far from perfect and hardly consider myself an artist. However, I keep playing and practicing in hopes of finding myself and a style to call my own.

Here's the video of this piece as it comes together.


Mail Art Madness VI


Thursday, June 4, 2015

It started with a background...

Spark some Kreativity Saturday @ The Kraaft Shack

It's hard to believe that the first round of Kraaft Shaak design team projects are almost over. For the final projects, we attempt to "Kill the Kit." Don't worry, no crafty goodness was harmed or wasted during this endeavor. 

As I try to share with you what I created with the remaining bits and pieces of my Mixed-media kit, I have a song stuck in my head... "It started with a whisper" ... Except my song goes like this: "it started with a background...."
I used the back of an old paper pad as my base. Then I glued down some text book pages. 

The base was begging for color so I added some Prima golden yellow paint as my first layer of paint. I then used my go-to colors pink and teal. I added these colors in a few layers until I was happy with the color. 
I then moved on to adding some more texture by stamping. Full disclosure: I recently organized my stamps, so they are nicely put away and out of reach. The only stamps I had on hand were an alphabet set and dot border. So that is what I used. I didn't want to mess up my organized stash. 
I had my background, and I was faced with that " now what?" moment. My first instinct was to draw a face. But, I wanted to try something different. 

So, I began to create pieces that would work with a picture I recently shared on Instagram. I used a flower sizzix die and a Tim holtz tattered flower die to cut up as many flowers as possible. 
I then added some paint to add color. I layered them to give me some full dimensional flowers. Once they were layered, I crinkled the flowers up to give them a fuller look. 
I had art on my mind, so I created a paint pallet from the box the kit came in. It's just an oval shape with a smaller oval cut out for the handle hole. I then covered it with text pages.
And of course you can't have a paint pallet without paint.  Some Prima golden yellow  and distress ink gave the pallet a bit of interest. I then added some of the colors I was using in some blobs. 
And we all know a paint pallet is not complete unless you have some good brushes. I took some of my old gunky brushes and added some gesso to give them a unified look. I have always wanted to create something in which I could incorporate those useless brushes that I refuse to toss. 
With all my elements together, I was ready to assemble. I created a message/photo clip board. 

Assembled and close up pictures: 

Metal bits, shading and cheese cloth.

Brushes and metal bits.

Main flower cluster, yellow pearls in the center of flowers. Cheese cloth and copper glass glitter here and there.

Bottom accent flower with metal bits and copper glass glitter. 

Background Prima stencil.

Main cluster with picture.



Main cluster without picture.

I was super excited about how this turned out. I love that I can change it up if I want to. A tiny clip lets me hang whatever I want.  This final project was so much fun. The mixed media kit truly has so much fun stuff to work with. I still have bits and piece that I can add to my stash and use at a later time. 
Thanks for visiting my blog, as an added bonus you can get 
$5 off any Mixed Media Kit currently in stock at the Kraaft Shaak. No restrictions- expires June 30, 2015 use COUPON CODE: save5sandra