A day to remember and the paparazzi

Before I continue I have to share this with you, it's the Tando Creative Limited Octagonal Christmas Advent Calendar transformed into a Dalek by Mark Gould, you can check out his blog post Here

Guess what?? I had a day off yesterday... yes its true! :) I took my eldest daughter Jade and my Grandaughter Faith to the Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford in Oxfordshire.

On arrival and a whole bottle of juice consumed by Faith it was time for a nappy change before entering!

Shower mac to the ready and Faith was just raring to go!

She absolutely loved seeing all the animals and especially loved the Penguins.... then again who doesn't love Penguins??

After lunch it was off for a train ride around the park with Mummy 

Her favourite part of the day had to be the slide, I was worn out carrying her to the top every time and then having to go down the slide myself after her, to say my legs ache today is an understatement. 
When it was time to leave it has to be said a tantrum was thrown,  however the mention of ice cream soon quashed that very quickly! :)

We then travelled up to the beautiful town of Bourton on the Water to meet up with Faiths godmother Lindsay aka LaLa for the rest of the afternoon.
The town was jam packed with tourists, so busy for a Tuesday.
Our first priority was to buy some bread and feed the ducks, within minutes Faith was surrounded by the Paparazzi!.... well Japanese tourists actually  all snapping away at her from different angles, it was a bit surreal but very funny!

As promised an Ice cream which she shared with LaLa.... well I say share...  think Lyndsay managed at least one lick :)

I think the day was all a bit much for her in the end..... peace at last :)

Ok not too much to share in the way of artwork today except this painting completed on Artist Paper using Decoart Traditions called Propaganda is the Crow.

Before I go, if you did not see these boots on Facebook here you go, transformed by Kathy Gledsdale using Decoart's new Multi Surface Satin Paints.... Brilliant

Thanks for reading,

Andy

A day at the beach

This mixed media work was completed on artist paper and features two children playing on a beach, I printed onto tissue paper the text and numbers in the background,  The tissue was then applied to the artist paper using Decoart Faux finishing medium with a little bit of Titanium white mixed in to dull the text slightly, its a really nice way to start the layering process.
Here is a youtube link with instructions on how to print onto tissue paper.

The rest of the painting is built up with collage, stencilling, image transfer and Decoart Traditions Acrylic paints.

I have been spending a little of my time designing masks,  this one contains famous street names from around the world.

I decided to test it on this Ikea mirror and was so very happy with the way it came out.
The frame was base-coated with two coats ofAmericana White Wash, when dry Americana Charcoal Grey was dabbed through the mask.
Finally It was distressed with various grades of graphite pencil and sealed with Americana Matte spray sealer.... Simple!

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Make it and Bake it

Thought I would shock you with two posts in one week and the subject today is oven baked paints!
I have been playing with Americana multi-surface satin paints, these are a new indoor/outdoor line of paint that has superior adhesion on all surfaces, a hard finish, moisture resistant, rust resistant and need no primer/sealer. if you wish to make them dishwasher safe you can bake them on in the oven also!

I decided to test them on the most slippery of slippery surfaces..... Glass, now dont expect works of art in this post, I have simply been painting the inside and outside of glass containers but it's really effective and everything came from a charity shop.

As we have had the sun here for a few days I decided to go for bright summery colours, the two pictured below were painted on the inside with Coastal waters and Flamingo.

It looks very cool on bubble glass, this one painted with Lemon Zest.

I also had the chance to try Americana Frost Gloss Enamels which again can be oven baked.

I painted Frost enamel to the outside in Turquoise, applying it with cut and dry foam with a light dabbing motion gave me the best results, a lovely frosted glass finish.

The effect on the square vase behind was achieved by pouring multiple colours slightly thinned inside, then turning the vase upside down and pouring the paint back out.

I have just discovered that frost enamels work great for a quick patina on metal objects, again applied with cut and dry they give texture and translucency.
I will let these dry and bake them on.

Thanks,

Andy

I am a Bad Blogger!

My lack of blog posts recently has been due to lack of time,  you will be pleased to know that I have given myself a damn good talking too and will attempt to be more productive in the future!

Hopefully I can catch you up with what I have been creating since my last post. I will start with the most recent.

I have spent the last few days demonstrating at the Craft Barn Extravaganza, I stupidly decided to place a bet on Facebook that if my post received more than 100 likes I would wear glitter nail varnish at the event.... guess what ???

After 10 minutes Demonstrating with the Gelli plate my nails were ruined lol

One thing I like to do with Gelli prints is to use them for backgrounds on tags, the one below was a section of a print that I was drawn too.
I added some washes of Decoart Traditions yellow iron oxide and Quinacridone gold to areas and stenciled in Prussian Blue with my Skullduggery stencil.
Finally I pushed Decoart Modeling paste through a Crafters workshop script stencil and added a wash of Quinacridone Violet to the script.

Next up is a project I worked on for a new workshop at the craft barn on July 20th and the Stamp Attic on July 27th.  

It is using this pack of three blank wooden nesting boxes.

This is the larger box, unfortunately these are for a workshop so can't give too much away on techniques.

Some close ups.

This is the opposite side.

Here are the other two boxes.

I held my second Stix 2 workshop at the Stamp Attic recently using the printable texture sheets.
All painted with Decoart Traditions using layering of translucent colours.
Here are some of the finished paintings.

Finally a mixed media painting, Audrey Hepburn with a new hairdo!

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Ink Effects

This morning I posted on Facebook this sweatshirt that the lovely Lyndsay Mason decorated with her Doo Lally Pip designs using a combination of Decoart Ink Effects and So soft fabric paints.

Last night I put together an image on the computer to transfer onto a T-Shirt, please be sure if attempting this with Ink Effects that your image is mirrored as shown below.

It was printed onto plain copy paper and I painted over the image print with Red and Black Ink Effects and allowed it to dry for 45 minutes

If the item you are transferring contains less than 40% synthetic fibers it needs to be sprayed with the Ink Effects Basecoat pictured below first.

The Image was placed ink side down on the fabric and simply ironed on for approximately 30 - 45 seconds and hey presto...... I Love it!
The ink transferes deep into the fabric rather than sitting on top so you are left with this wonderful soft feel.

For more information on this product please visit the Ink Effects website where you can find videos and a FAQ  Decoart Ink Effects Site


Next up is a canvas bag that I stenciled using my Usual Suspects stencil with Decoart So Soft fabric paint..... no heat setting and a soft feel..... Simples!

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Weekend Workshops!

Still trying to catch up since returning from Decoart but it has been proving impossible, I returned on Thursday 2nd and this is my suitcase, still mostly unpacked!!

The first weekend back I was at the Craft Barn, here is one of the projects we were working on, these are book boxes.

While I remember I did promise a more detailed picture of the Canvas I painted while at Decoart so here goes, lots of Modelling Paste, Traditions, Americana, stencilling and a lush new Dazzling Metallic colour called Peacock pearl.

Not only have I been running more Decoart workshops but have been busy in the background and all I can say at the moment is that there is some very exciting news coming so keep tuned!!

Ok this weekend I was at The Craft Den on Friday holding a Gelli plate workshop and then on Saturday it was time for the Tando Clock, this is a new revised version using som new colours.... here are some of the brilliant finished clocks, a big hello to Lynne and everyone attending, I had a great time.

Finally on Sunday I was at The Stamp Pad, Thanks Gwen for your wonderful hospitality and again a big hello to everyone attending, you made some amazing boxes!

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Coming to America.. Oh..and a Confession!

It's been a while so time to catch up and share what I have been up to and what I have in store the next few weeks.
Today I am going to be running a Decoart mixed media workshop at Barjan b Crafts in Leicester so really looking forward to that and on Sunday I will be travelling up to a new venue for me, The Craft Den in South Yorkshire to hold another workshop, by my calculations that's 554 miles driving this weekend so why I am writing this post at 3am this morning I have no idea lol!

I am flying out to the US in just over a week for 11 days to visit Decoart in Stanford Kentucky and boy am I excited, can't wait to meet everyone and take a look around.
I fly into Detroit first which is approx 8 hrs, then fly from Detroit to Lexington Blue Grass airport in Kentucky, luckily for me flying tends to send me asleep and to be honest I am normally catching Z's before the flight even takes off!
I am determined to post regular to facebook on my visit so I promise to keep you all updated.

Ok before I continue it's confession time....  I know some of you are aware of my past and my involvement with glitter, for those of you unaware here goes!
I used to own a creative studio that also held Children's birthday parties, one of the party options were Glitz parties where children would make bath bombs, glitter body gels and so on, needless to say cosmetic glitter was involved and that stuff gets everywhere,  I eventually earned the name of Twinkle in the local drinking hole because I was always covered in the stuff.
Now my housemate at the time was the main instigator of this nickname and delighted in calling me it, my revenge was imminent! I secretly poured half a bottle of Decoart's very fine sprinkle-on glitter Glamour dust into his shampoo and mixed this thoroughly, lets just say...... he twinkled for weeks lol!  (sorry Clive) :)

So here goes... (warning this may shock) a couple of projects combining Decoart glamour dust and Decoart glass stains on glazed white ceramics.

Heart Plaque



4x4" white tile

6x6" white tile using just the glass stains and an Americana Gold writer.



Drizzling the glass stains looks very cool.

Next up is Decoart So Soft fabric paint Painted onto a tshirt  using a brush, stamped and painted through stencils! They are soft, like fabric dyes, but do not require the addition of a medium or heat setting.

If you would like more frequent updates please visit my Facebook page and hit the like button.

Bye for now,

Twinkle!