Given in to temptation

Hi all,
I was up at stupid o'clock this morning to catch a flight to Aberdeen where I will demoing tomorrow and also holding a workshop on Sunday at the Papeteri.

I arrived early because the next flight would have got me here at 10pm, so I dropped my bags of at the hotel and caught a bus into Aberdeen to have a look around and do a little shopping.... Guess what tempted me??

I have been considering it since my visit to Bahrain, I have to admit so far I am loving it, but we will see how this post works out first before I pass judgement!

I also visited the Aberdeen Art Gallery, it's not massive but fascinating, here are a few pieces that caught my eye.

After leaving the gallery I came across this market stall selling Indian wood carved stamps so had to buy a few!

Now back at the hotel and playing with my new toys before going down for dinner...hope this works from the iPad.... Here goes pressing publish!!!!!

Our Lady workshop and Coulrophobia

I was excited to received a Tando Creative Gothic Arch Layered Frame yesterday to make the sample for my new workshop called Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Craft Barn in May.

As well as the Arch itself, you get five inner arches, so in reality you could make six projects with this!
We are going to attempt two projects for the workshop with a Michael de Meng feel to them, the first a shrine using the layered arch called Our Lady Of Guadalupe.

Click Pictures for a Larger View

Time allowing, we are going to make a second shrine using one of the five inner arches with stamps from my new sets!

Ok on to Clowns again :) I was sent an article this morning called….

10 REASONS KIDS MIGHT BE AFRAID OF CLOWNS
Here is the first.
1. Coulrophobia (you know it’s serious when it has its own phobia) is a fear of clowns or mimes, and can stem from the radically different appearance of clowns from those familiar faces that children draw comfort from. The unfamiliar is often frightening, especially to young children.

If you would like to view the others click here Nanny Jobs.org.

Have a good day.

Andy

Modeling Paste Technique Explained.

I have received quite a few emails asking me to explain my dry brushing technique on stamped Decoart modeling paste.
A tutorial on how to apply and stamp into the modeling paste can be found HERE.

Dry-brushing involves passing a paint brush that has almost no paint, over the surface of a texture to highlight and make edges stand out.
The technique is best employed when it is used with subtlety.
For this example I have used stamps from both myself and Lindsay Mason.

1.  I apply a base coat first with a colour that I want to show through the dry brushed colours.
Here I have used Decoart Traditions in Permanent Alizarin Crimson.


2.  Next I load just the tip of a dry flat hogs hair brush with my next colour, you want to start dark and gradually build up with lighter colours.
Once the brush tip is loaded I wipe some off the paint of onto a kitchen towel and start lightly brushing over the surface of the stamped texture, allowing some of the base coat to show through. Here I have used Americana Hauser Dark Green.


3. I have repeated the process next with Hauser Light Green but this time taken more paint of onto the kitchen towel, so a dryer brush.
The direction of brushing is very important and should be perpendicular to any edges or raised detail.

4. Here it is after the Hauser Light Green has been applied, you can see the detail just starting to pop.


5. Next I have dry brushed with a little Americana Teal Green, not all over but in random places.


6. Here I have loaded the brush with Americana Avocado Dip and taken much of the paint off onto the kitchen towel and dry brushed all over. 

7. I have mixed a little Americana Titanium White with the Avocado Dip and repeated step 6.


8. Finally, with pure Titanium White loaded, I wipe off onto the kitchen towel until only a trace of paint is left on the brush and brush over the surface.

9. Here it is finished, as you can see all the underlying colours are visible still in places.

Hope this helps,
Andy.

Getting in touch with my feminine side!

Hi all,

A couple of things to report on, a new mixed media canvas and a fantastic Steampunk workshop yesterday.
I was at the Stamp Attic in Wantage yesterday holding my Steampunk secret book workshop, and just had share some pictures of the finished pieces, they turned out amazing!
A big hello to everyone on the workshop and to Wendy and her staff for looking after us so well.
Ps… thanks for the lovely cake!

Now on to the new Mixed media canvas….warning, I have used pink and reached out for my feminine side!! lol

Lots of texture has been added to the canvas before painting with a mix of Decoart Tradition's and Americana acrylic paint.

Finally my Sizzix Big Shot came out to play,  I cut the letters from 300 gsm card with the TH Typeset die and the flourish was cut from Grungeboard using the TH Elegant Flourishes.

Inspiration for this canvas came from Decoart.

Have a good day,

Andy

Nearly done!

Here is the latest work on the Buddha piece.
The plinth for Buddha to sit on has now been made and given a peeled paint and burnt copper effect.

I have added Probably the most famous mantra of Buddhism, Om mani padme hum, the six syllable mantra of the Bodhisattva

Nothing has been stuck into place yet....still more to do but it's getting there!

These plastic knives came in handy for giving the piece more of a shrine feel.

Andy

Om mani padme hum…huh?

Hi everone,
Sorry for the lack of posts recently, been very busy with the Timeworn workshop and other commitments.
I have been working on a final piece for the workshop and some of the delegates have also started there final works.. exciting!!
Anyway I thought I would share my progress to give you an idea of what we are up to.
I have actually started on two pieces but not sure if I will get the second finished in time, I may save that for the next workshop in June.

Here is the idea with which I started.

Click on Pictures for a Larger View


The frame is from Decopatch and the other bits including the Buddha have been picked up from charity shops etc. The paper is hand printed in India as is going to be used somewhere on the project.

I started by painting Buddha himself with Decoart Traditions and techniques from the workshop,  he will be the focal point and I can tie everything in with him.


Next was to paint the frame, I wanted a really old worn and decayed rust look and this technique kind off evolved as I did it and was really happy with the result!

I have added some wings to Buddha…no idea why and not sure if they will stay but it seemed like a good idea at the time lol..I am now constructing a plinth for him to sit on from an old box lid and some Tando Creative chipboard.


The bits in white still need to be attached and painted, there is still so much to do and add to this, but I will keep you updated with its progress.

Have a good day,
Andy

Patchwork Canvas

Hello,

Over on the Timeworn Techniques workshop we have been practicing all the techniques over the past three weeks mainly on 300 gsm card, there is one more week left of practice  before the serious stuff begins,  that is to construct a piece of altered art or assemblage using the techniques taught over a period of 4 weeks…. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

I have a whole box full of samples on card taking up space,  so I decided to take some of the rust technique samples and stick them onto an old 17cm x 13cm board canvas and make a patchwork of rust that can be hung on the wall!

Click on Image for a Larger View

Before I go just a quick hello to Sue and everyone who attended last weekends workshop at Paper Arts in Stroud, looking forward to seeing you all again in May!

Bye for now,

Andy

Light at the end of the tunnel!

It's been a mad few weeks, I have really been missing sitting down, experimenting and doing stuff just for me,  if  that makes sense?
Been at home all day today and set the alarm for 5am this morning so I could be up early to try and catch up with everything… I have to admit, I've done very well :)
I had a bespoke training day planned tomorrow but today it was moved forward to next week, this means that tomorrow is play time!!!….Yipeee!

I am planning on unpacking the last of my stuff in the morning, thus leaving the afternoon to get messy! Those of you on the Timeworn online workshop, be afraid….be very afraid lol!
Its been a tough month but looking out of the window tonight and seeing the view of the woods has made me realise it was all worth it.


I will be working on lots of new techniques for some step by step tutorials to be posted on here in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime I will leave you with scary Clown….Sorry all you clown haters lol!


Take care,
Andy

What a Day!!

I officially moved out of the old place last night, I had a whole day here to try and catch up with stuff as well as play with my new stamps, and my big shot :)
I went shopping for essentials this morning….(it's deadly having a Waitrose so close but boy is it worth it) followed by a lovely walk in the woods, then back here for breakfast…. Duck eggs on toast!!
I am going to put up step by step tutorials of all the new tags I am posting as soon as the stamps are out there,  and I have finished experimenting :)….should be the beginning of April.

 

Take care,

Andy

Mixed Media Canvas Workshop

Hello,
I was back at the Craft Barn today holding a mixed media canvas workshop using Decoart acrylic paint, Derwent Inktense pencils, Marker pens, Archival Ink and a few other mediums.
This workshop has techniques very similar to art journaling but instead using a 12" x 12" canvas and predominantly acrylic paint.

Here are some pictures of todays awesome…(did I just say awesome??..:) canvases.

I am hoping everyone on the workshop would have learned a few techniques which they can build upon with lots of practice,  we had only four and a half hours to produce these canvases,  I often need to step away from the canvas for a few hours or even sometimes days!!  I honestly think you all did an amazing job!

Lindsay Masons new Stamps work so well with this, I would absolutely love to be able to write freehand on this type of artwork but my handwriting really is atrocious, a bit like a doctors so thank goodness for these stamps!
I have now nearly moved in to the new home, one more trip tomorrow to finish it all off.
As for unpacking!?!……well unfortunately, that has not happened yet although I am hoping to get a few days free next week!
Kathy,  thank you so much for the kind gift of the Duck eggs today,  I really can't wait to try them :)
Take care
Andy