Deco Art Americana Canvas

Deco Art Products

Americana Acrylic Paints
Bright Yellow
Bright Orange
Sea Breeze
Bluegrass Green
Purple Rain
Royal Fuschia


Deco Art Media

Modeling Paste
Gesso (black)
Tinting Base

Deco Art Metallic Lustre

Majestic Purple
Champagne Ice
Cosmic blue

Deco Art Stencil

A Morroccon
(I can't find name)

Misc.

Design Memory Craft Gelatos
Ranger Stencil

Day 40- #90daysofblogging

Today I created an awesome double page in my Dylusions journal.  Again with no protective center or bleed through of products.  I laid down some color with my Dylusions paints and moved the color around with a slightly moist baby wipe.  I usually take my wipes out I anticipate using and let them air dry a bit, so they don't pull off as much color as they would if they they were freshly pulled.  Ten I used my Deco Art Media Line Matte Medium to adhere the magazine image to my page.  I also covered the page and the other page as well.. I adhered some colorful tissue papers to that side.  Once again covering the tissue paper as well..   Then I worked on my magazine face.  I can draw decent faces, even though my images may not look like the original person, ::laughs::  You still recognize that it's a real person. I have problems with learning to paint them.  I lack, shade, dimension, facial structure/curvatures.  I am working on that though.  by doing projects like these.  I took out some Deco Art Multi Surface Satin   Acrylics in Tuxedo Black and Cotton Ball..   Yes I only used 2 colors.
I laid down some white in the lightest areas and then the black in the darkest areas.  Blending in multiple shades of grays to pull them all together.  I actually love how it turned out.  Then I took those same colors and after making to odd ball shapes exposing the tissue paper print and colors.. and trying my attempt at muting those same colors..  Then I doodled with a white Design Memory Craft Artist Brush Pitt Pen and outlined with a Sakura Identipen - What is he going to do?  The choice is his.  This image to me is of a black man deep in thought.. It's mysterious to me to wonder what is he thinking about so deeply.  Is he wondering what his connection to the universe is.  What will he tell his son who is black?  Is he living the life GOD has chosen for him to the fullest? Is GOD pleased? What to eat for dinner? Will Jordan make a come back?  Who shot Biggie?  How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? ::giggles a little)

Day 22- #90daysofblogging

I thought I was going to get a chance to go out.  It didn't happen. So I have just been home playing around with some projects I wanted to try.  Tonight I finally got a chance to do a paint over.  What's a paint over?  A paint over is the technique I call when I do face matching and paints over magazine images.  I am not a portrait painter.  I seem to screw things up most once I add color.  My drawing needs work too, but I practice drawing a lot more then I practice coloring.

I took an large face from a magazine I have been holding on to for a very long time, a few months at least.  I think i got it from a GQ magazine I got from the library.  Once a year the library gives away some magazines to make room for the next year. Ha.. that means I have had these images 5 months!!  See how times flies?  Anyway my intent was to take the picture.. do the shadows in dark then color over and recreate what I see.  I don't use outright flesh tones.  So for this image I used Deco Art's Media Line matte medium to adhere face to 140lb wc paper.  Then I did my dark areas is Americana Black Tuxedo Acrylic.  I mixed my tinting base, dairylide yellow and naphthol red light until I got the flesh tone I wanted.  Used cotton ball and black tuxedo to recreate hair and face stubble.

Had fun, wish I had more photos to share.  This is my final picture although I think i may tweak it a little more before adding it to a pocket letter. :)  I set up 7 more portraits to paint over.  We will see how those go and I will post them.

Thank you for stopping by :)

Don't forget to check out my friends also doing the #90daysofbloggin Challenge!!

Sharon Estes 

Yvonne Armitage Gebauer 

Sandee Setliff

Sandy Beach
Donna Lueders

Day 17- #90daysofblogging

Well today is Sunday and I'm typing from my cell.. Hmmm.. Not sure how I feel about that, but it is what it is.. ::smiles::  I have been stamping butterflies with a set from Sin City Stamps and using Colour Arte to add some umpf!

I am also in the process of creating more and more paper beads ans glazing them with Deco Art's Triple Thick.  The glaze is exactly as described :::shakes head vigorously:::  I even so 2 layers on the batch I'm working on today.  Let me show you a few I have glazed.  Not the best pictures.. :(

Can't wait to so this again with my very own painted papers.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Don't forget to check out my friends also doing the #90daysofbloggin Challenge!!

Sharon Estes 

Yvonne Armitage Gebauer 

Sandee Setliff

Sandy Beach
Donna Lueders

Day 8- #90daysofblogging

TGI Friday..

Announcements first.. my blog post will be available on the Helmar blog some time today by clicking here.  Should be available sometime after 9am EST in most cases..

In the mean time, here is a sneak peak..
at my artistic process..

I took this corrugated board piece from Michaels and added book papers to I used Helmar's Decoupage paste to adhere book papers and the other half was Deco Art's Acrylic Gesso.  Then I colored using some Neocolor IIs.

I covered more than half the letter with neo IIs..   Took a wet brush and washed the color a little.  Painted the base of the letters with Deco Art's Multisurface Satin Black Tie.  I also sprayed my project with 1:1 Water to Ultra Matte Varnish to kina help act like a workable fixative for the water soluble crayons. I know i wanted to possible be able to stamp  and doodle on top of the letters.  I edged my letters with my Faber Castell, black gelato.   Once that was done, I decided to try my hand at someflower clustering.I adhered an assortment of flowers to the letters with Helmar\s Craft and Hobby PVA.  I actually clustered flowers.  I know I can do better.. but this was fine for this was fine for this sign.  Let me show you one of my clusters.  ::smiles::

  Well that's enough for now.. I need you to go to the Helmar blog and see it.. and leave me a NICE comment so I know you came by.. :)  I do appreciate YOU and YOUR TIME!!

Now I am on my way to check out the other lovely ladies of the #90daysofbloggin challenge:

Sharon Estes 

Yvonne Armitage Gebauer 

Sandee Setliff

Sandy Beach
Donna Lueders

Day 2- #90daysofblogging

Happy Saturday to ya!

Wasn't sure what I wanted to write about today.. I have a lot of things/projects on my mind over the next week.  I feel like I must get a free week once a month and the other weeks are creative chaos.. :)
That might sound like a complaint, but it is so far from it. The only thing that could put icing on it.. would be getting paid for it.. :)  Any who.. as I write.. I am playing with a few supplies I got from the Dollar Tree!  yes.. you heard me!  The Dollar Tree! Wanna sneak peak ?

This is a guitar I plan to alter (the dollar tree item).  It had super glossy paper on it so I tried to Deco Arts  Gesso, but it pealed too easily.  So I went over it with some Deco Art Americna Multisurface Satin in Cotton Ball and that seems to be working fine.. Now to use some Helmar's  Decoupage and craft paste on  my images and get some color down.. 

Another thing I have been working on is my loose face sketching. I am fine not being a portrait artist.  I personally think once you start doing portraits you put a level of perfectionalism (is that a word?)  on your work.  I don't want to do that! I don't need to worry about that.  I like painting whimsy faces and crazy colors.  Yes I would like my shadowing and such to be better.  Yes I would like my profiles, and head tilts to be less strenuous on me to create and on the finish pieces.  I will learn as it comes.. In the mean time I have a flipagram many of you have seen.. and some of you.. well have not.   

We have two more bloggers to join our circle.

Welcoming two newbies to the #90daysofblogging crew.. (smiles)

Sharon Estes 

Yvonne Armitage Gebauer (will update with her blog address)

****************

Sandee Setliff
Sandy Beach
Donna Lueders

As always.. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Fairy- Power of Thought

Playing with DecoArt's Media line.  This was a fairy I did over at the Frosted Design Blog  where we are promoting the Moonlit Dreams Mixed Media Kit.  I was able to use my choice of paints and gessos.  In my dylusions journal.. I first drew my image in pencil and then used a permanent pen.  I then used the Media line white gesso, which is smooth like butter cream frosting.  I added a little water because I wanted my image to show through the gesso.  I decided right away I wanted her to have a cosmic/starry background.. so I then used black gesso along the the edges.  I used my finger and Primary Cyan to create the dark blue sky color over the black gesso. toward the head.. I created a bit of a halo by using the DecoArt Neon in Electric Blue.. again with my fingers... I used Primary Cyan, Doxazine Purple, Primary Magenta and Titanium White to color her hair.

I am trying to be more cohesive.. and bring the colors used in my page together together by blending them, instead of going for direct color.  So when I chose to use the colors I have.. I knew the combinations of some of those same colors would get me shades of brown,, On purpose!  So the Primary Yellow and the Naphthol Red Light I used on the head piece.. I combined and added the Doxazine Purple to get a hue of brown..  Since I gessoed my page I need very little paint and these fluid acrylics are so intense in color it I wasted very little paint!  That I was most happy about!  Practice, practice will get me where I want to be as an artist. Can't wait to start my next piece!

Thanks for Looking

MIU AUG-SEP Challenege

This was the Aug-September Challenge for our Facebook Group

called Mixing It All Up.. Great group of folks.. You can find us by clicking here.

The challenge that Sandee.. our fearless Artist Leader gave us.. was to tell her where we were.. during 9/11/01 and create a journal page about it...   In this case it was easier for me to talk about than it was for me to draw.  I saw so much! Hard for me to ONLY create one page.  So I will begin with  with this...

**********

On 9/11/2001 .. I worked for an airline.. and I had just worked a lot of OT because we had cancelled all of our overnight and first flights departures.. due to some flight regulations issues.. which could be a number of things.. they never told us what.. Then I was up the next morning ONLY to see this.. across my TV screen.. A skyline I recognized so well.. up in smoke and flames.. and it wasn't some marvel comic movie trailer. It was real.. very real... The only thing memory that surpasses the planes exploding as they crashed into the buildings.. were the thousands and thousands of faces that came across my screen.. wondering who they were.. what their story was.. if family saw them long enough to know they were ok.. Power was down.. phone lines were down from Manhattan Area.. for a longggg time.. all we had was the media.. I volunteered and went right back to work and almost lived there. We prayed with panicking people over the phone. We sat and talked and talked and 3wayed phone calls. As I worked I thought of all my friends who lived there and wondered if they and their loved ones were ok. I found out my godson was on a trip.. so every little black boy I saw...I looked to see if it was him.. well after he got someplace and called his mom and told her he was ok.. and would have to walk home.. and would take a few hrs.. but he was ok.. My friends who drove trains..were finally home and safe.. It took weeks to hear from everyone I could think of.. Anyway.. a year later.. and for a few years after that.. coworkers and I..use to fly to NYC.. to show people we we not afraid to fly.. we were not going to let an incident, although traumatic as it was.. keep us.. closed from the world. Nothing wrong with being an alert traveler and ALL TRAVELING is serious business.. although the reason to travel.. may vary..

Tamiko here.. uhh like who else would be writing on my blog!!.. lmao  I love neons.. and I choose to Live in COLOR.. :)

A journal page I did with Deco Art Paints, using the  neons, the media line and multi surface satin... A Few Faber Castell Big Brush Pitt Pens, and some Sakura Moonlight gelly rolls pens and my forever trusted Unibal Signo gel pen in white.

In my Dylusions journal.. I first just took the neons paints and cover the page.. and walked away.. had no idea.. how I use it.. lol... Just knew I wanted to use NEONS.. I really love them!.. COLOR is NEVER too bright!!  :)  Anyway.. I got these gorgeous Bloom Girls stamps from Prima, well...   They are HUGE.. perfect for a journal page.. perfect for playing and learning to color/paint faces.. perfect for.. whatever your heart's content...  So I stamped her in archival ink.. then after the ink dried... (rather quickly)  I proceeded to lightly brush a lil gesso wash (gesso with water in it.. lol)  Then I took my paints and added some skin tone.. The gesso did well muting the neons beneath it.. (to me)  Then I added color to the adornments in her hair.. (you know she is a modern day Frida Khalo.. lol)  and I decided to give her a blouse.. just drew something loosely.. and used my big brush pitt pens and smudged it over the neons.. I liked how that named out..  Then last but certainly not least.. i took my moonlight gelly pens and added details back into my butterflies.. on top of dried paint... the PAINT MUST be DRY!! I love those Sakura products too!!  and added lil' accents with my trusty Signo Unibal gel pen in white :)  Anyway.. quick.. and fun page.. Hope to do more.. and POST more this week...

Thank you for stopping by.. :)

Its STAMPENDOUS & DecoArt PLaYTiMe!! :) - MM Card & Treasures Box

In the mail I received some products from STAMPENDOUS and I was elated at the opportunity to play with them!!  I got a Creative Palette and mono printing plate,  a large acrylic handle, and two cling stamps!  They couldn't have come at a  better time.. because I am now, all set to play, with some of my favorite DecoArt paints and stencils!

Loving the idea of creating my own prints.. I leaped into the idea of playing with the Creative Palette and generating some fun backgrounds.. :)  I love the idea that's slender and it space in my bag, which makes it easy for me to grab it and go!  This is a mixed media card I made using an Artistcellar Stencil from the Sacred Heart Series and my favorite DecoArt Neon Acrylics.

Loved the how the stencil was imperfectly perfect on the monoprinting plate.. I think next time I will add some DecoArt Drying Time Extender to my paints and see how that goes too.. :)

My message to myself for the month of June... Live Creatively...

I mean.. the possibilities are well beyond what I have done.. but I plan to check out some other ways to utilize my new friend!  After creating some more pages and  backgrounds..


Then I decided to play with the STAMPENDOUS Face stamp called the Cling GLANCE- CRR200.  She was totally fun.. as I have NO large face stamps to play with!!  The lines from the image are clear and she is just the right size to do a little envelope art..  I was sending my friend Tamie some Happy Mail, and well Tamie loves Sugar Skulls.. So I decided to Sugar Skull my image.. Here is how that turned out..

Excuse my thumb.. (smile) I was debating posting this picture.. and decided at the last minute.. What the heck!  I am playing with a wonderful stamp and this is only a few of the possibilities!!  Oh Yeah.. Tamie.. YOU GOT MAIL!!  :)

Now for my last project.. It was something I had never done.. :)  An altered cigar box.  I actually received one from my dear friend VON for my birthday earlier this month.. Von makes me smile! She is a warm and beautiful lady.  I thought what she had given me was sooo dainty and lady-like.  I knew I wanted to make one too!

To be honest with you.. I looked at so many YOUTUBE videos and blogs on the topic, I couldn't tell you who's idea it actually is.. :)  But I do know I went to Andy Skinner and Made by Sannie 's blogs and CreaBoeTiek Channel on YouTube for inspiration for my first box.

Took a plain wooden cigar box and painted it with DecoArts MultiSurface Satin Acrylics in Coca bean and Chocolate and covered the whole box...

I don't know why.. but I always keep my DecoArt gesso nearby! (smile)

Then I added a thick layer of DecoArts Modeling Paste to the cover.  Then I smooshed a wide piece of lace and some of my favorite trinkets into paste on the lid.  Flowers, charms, and all kinds of metal embellishments.. :)  I let it air dry for 24 hours.

Then I covered the ENTIRE thing in yet more acrylic paints!  Even the metals!.  It was rather dull so I then added some of my favorite Dazzling Metallic Renaissance Brown and Bronze by DecoArts.  Let see some better pictures of the finished box in some pictures below...

decided I wanted some little feet so I glued these one with some help from Helmar's Glue that I got at Frosted Designs.. whew that Barb sure does send quick!!!  :)  

this is a side panel..

I loved painting her face and then adding glaze so her image was not flat.. since the box had so much shimmer now.. :)

this is a close up after adding some of the dazzling acrylics I mentioned.  :)

Here is another side panel...

Well that's it for me.. I hope you guys enjoyed viewing my page and watching me play with my fantabulous paints from DecoArt.. and those outrageously fun Stampendous products!  I am sure it won't be the last time I pick them up  and it wouldn't be for you either!!  :)

************************************************************************

Since I am a part of a blog hop.. I thought it might be nice to let you know there are bunch of talented people out here this week playing with paints, brushes and stamps.. I hope you can take a moment to check them and don't forget to comment, pin and like our sponsors for this event!  It also helps to make you eligible for the prize package. :)


Visit each blog, leave a comment! • Like Stampendous, DecoArt, Princeton Artist Brushes and inspired by Willow Wolfe on Facebook! • We've also got a Pinterest Board started!

Please repin our projects on to your boards and be sure to tag us when you do (#Stampendous, #DecoArt, #PrincetonArtistBrushes, #byWillowWolfe) - we'll be tracking. Your comments on the blogs are your entry into the drawing! We'll randomly choose three blog posts from all the designer posts this week and then choose one commenter from each with a U.S. Mailing Address to receive a prize package. THEN we'll choose three international commenters to receive a generous sample pack courtesy of DecoArt, so everybody can play this time! AND I have a few bonus goodies hanging around my office for some lucky people who SHARE our Facebook posts and Pinterest Pins! Ready for your trip around the world??? Let's get Hoppin!

DecoArt Blog

Stampendous Blog

Claudia Neubacher (Vienna, Austria)

Kristine Reynolds (California, USA)

Iliane de Fockert (Elly) (Niedersachsen, Germany)

Julia Stratford-Wright (near London, UK)

Julie Robertson (UK)

Jamie Martin (Oklahoma, USA)

Debbie Cole (California, USA)

Shannon Moyer-Szemenyei (Canada)

Tamiko McCurry (Illinois, USA)

A few of the bloggers this week are new to hopping, so if you have an issue with any of the links, here's a little tip! If you get a page that says "Sorry that Page is not here" or something similar, try clicking on the header picture at the top of the blog, or look for something that says Home. The hop page should be near the top of the day's posts. We will fix broken links as the day goes on, as well, so check back here if you are really lost.

The Official Rules are here.

Enjoy the rest of your Week and thanks for stopping by! :)