A Walk in the Park

My mojo was lost, my canvas-in-progress was stalled, my altered books were becoming a chore...so dabbling in my art journal helped...a little. What seemed to help was the arrival of three Starburst sprays from Lindy's Stamp Gang. I have been wanting to try these out for a very long time and finally broke down and bought a few to try them out. Then, it turned to June and I saw the new Color challenge at Lindy's Stamp Gang.

 

 

 

 

And whaddya know? I got two colors that could be used for this! So I started a couple canvases. This is the smaller one that I was really just for playing. It turned out pretty good so I'll share with you all, but I don't think I'll put this in the challenge. (We'll see how the other canvas turns out first!)

 

Walk in the Park:  This 8 X 10 canvas started with Lindy's sprays. I used Time Travel Teal and Rusty Lantern Lime. My camera does not do justice to the Lime...it is more green than my photos seem to reveal. After having some fun spraying, I searched for a focal image among my stash. I found this vintage collage photo and decided that this lady looked perfect for a walk in the park. A little background stamping with StazOn left my canvas ready for collage.

While I began a search of 3-D elements to add to the canvas (something I've wanted to do for awhile), I came across this black mat for a photo. Seeing how it fit my lady so well, I figured this would add some structure to the piece. I liked the black with the vibrant colors. I originally sprayed the black mat as well as the canvas beneath and inside of it with Black Orchid Silver. It had a great purple color behind it but when it dried all you could really see was a tarnished silver. Kinda glad as it adds to a more vintage, black-and-white feel.

But as the mat only picked up the silver shimmer, I figured I'd add embossing powder to the mat to give it some texture. You may remember my experiments with Midnight Violet Obsidian embossing powder and Scor-Tape on my anti-valentine card. I did the same with the black mat. I just put Scor-Tape all over it, added the powder, and melted it. I had the green plastic letters in my stash and was excited to find it was the right shade of green and I had the letters to spell out both words!

 

I had these Easter pastel felt flowers on the table and wondered what they'd look like if I painted them with the Black Orchid spray. They turned out good enough to match the mat with just a hint of purple under the gray/silver tones. 

 

 

 

Then I just laid out a bunch of 3-D elements I had been hoarding. Some Tim Holtz stuff, some buttons, garden gold charms, various rhinestones and pearls. My original idea was to clump them up and then gesso them. Then, add color over the top of the gesso to make them more uniform. But once I laid them all out, I liked the eclectic look of the different metallics. I liked the look of the bottom of a junk drawer so I just glued them down and called it done.

 

I really like it. All the little doo-dads on it make me pretty happy. I like them spaced a bit but am also curious to try a more cluttered and layered look. Of course, that means I'd need more stuff...umm, good and bad points to that, I guess!

 

Anyway, this canvas came together in about 2-3 days and will probably be a gift for someone. Have a great week!

--Wy