Acrylic Dripping Technique

I first saw this technique in a youtube video by artist James Kruse, you apply acrylic paint to a wet canvas,  then spritze with water and let the paint run and move.
It takes a little practice as to how much water you use and do but an old cloth under your easel to soak up any paint that runs off the canvas.

Here is a little test piece to show you the idea, I found translucent colours work very well and its important to have strong pigmented paint..

Spritz the canvas with water first and apply your Traditions acrylic paint with a wet brush.

Then gently start spritzing until the paint starts to move

 Too much water and you can end up with a blank canvas but you can keep adding layers of colour.

My first attempt was a bit of a disaster I thought, although I did like the colours. 

It was the small 10 x 15 cm canvas pictured below.

I put it to one side with the idea of covering it with gesso and using it again at some point.

Later that evening after a couple of glasses of Chablis it has to be said, I looked at the canvas again this time vertically and a picture started to appear.... can you see it?

No? Maybe this picture will help you.

Thats the beauty of this technique, it's so random but you can look into the canvas and start to see something, often as the paint is moving, this was the case in this Waterfall painting.

Here is  Jame's Kruse's Video.

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Moroccan Shabby Patina Tutorial

Hello,

In this tutorial I want to share with you a simple but very effective way to achieve a Shabby patina effect.
I have demonstrated this on an old metal Moroccan lantern pictured below as this technique works better on items that have detail and texture.

Here is the lantern with its new paint job,

Some close ups of the effect.

OK, what you will need:
Decoart Traditions in Quinacridone Gold.
Americana Multi Surface Satin in Dolphin and Coastal Waters.
Similar colours if using standard Americana would be Bahama Blue and Slate Grey.

Americana Frost Gloss Enamels in White.

The inner glass tube was removed from the lantern and it was base-coated using Dolphin Multi Surface Satin, I have used the multi surface Satin paints because the item is metal and I would like it to go outside in the garden and these paints once cured adhere amazingly without the need for priming.

If you wish to use standard Americana then I have given colour options above but would advise using a metal primer if attempting this effect on metal.

Ok for some reason my picture with the base-coat was corrupted so apologies but you are going to have to imagine the lantern with a grey base-coat :)

Once the base-coat was good and dry a coat of Coastal Waters multi surface Satin was applied,  before it dried it was wiped back on the raised areas using a baby wipe to reveal the grey below.

It's a good idea to paint sections at a time and wipe back rather than paint the whole item because the paint may have dried by the time you get to wiping it back.

I think it looks great after this antiquing effect and it could easily be left like this but there is one colour that I can not resist using time and again to really age this piece.

Whats the colour? Quinacridone Gold... I love it!
Apply Quinacridone gold to small sections at a time and wipe back from the raised areas using a baby wipe.
This colour is very translucent and gives you lovely green tones when laid thinly over the Coastal Waters.

Continue this process until every area has been covered and wiped back.

Its can be very effective if you leave some of the Quinacridone Gold slightly thicker in some areas as pictured below.

The inner glass tube was a little plain so White Frost gloss Enamels were pounced through a stencil with Cut and Dry for an etched glass effect.

And there you have it.... Simples!

Thanks for reading,

Andy

Faux printing block tutorial

Good afternoon,

I have put this tutorial together to show you how I made the faux wooden printers blocks that I have attached to the wooden candle holder pictured below, I hope it will give you more ideas in which to use some of the translucent colours in Decoart's Traditions range.

Using 2.25mm Tando Creative Chipboard the letters and numbers were die cut with the Tim Holtz Word Play die on my Big Shot.

Rectangles were then cut with scissors for the letters to be mounted onto.

The letters were given a coat of Decoart Gesso and once dry sanded
 for a more level surface.

Once sanded they were given a second goat of gesso and sanded again very lightly.


The mounting blocks were given a coat of Traditions Raw umber and left to dry.

With a round brush, Traditions Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide was applied using horizontal strokes, it's important to see the brush strokes and not blend the colour too much as this will give the illusion of wood grain once other transparent colours have been layered on top.

I wanted each letter to be individual, these two have been spattered with thinned Napthol Red and Carbon Black using a tooth brush.

The letter n had one coat of Traditions Sap Green applied and when just touch dry was wiped back in areas using a baby wipe.

The translucency of these colours allow every layer below to shine through, the letter a below was given one coat of Quinacridone Burnt Orange and the spattering is still highly visible.

The letter b was given a coat of Phthalo green (blue shade), you can see the Yellow iron oxide and Napthol Red beaming through.

Archival ink in Coffee was then used to shade the edges of the letters.

Here are all the letters with the Coffee archival ink shading.

Notice that on the Letters, especially visible on the b that the brush strokes from the Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide are now really starting to look like wood grain.

All the letters were then aged further, the letter k was first covered with Black archival ink.

It was then wiped back to reveal the colours underneath with a baby wipe.

Here are all the letters now antiqued with Black archival ink.

The mounting blocks were then shaded with Black archival ink around the edges.

The letters were then stuck onto the blocks with Matte Decoupage glue and given a protective coat of Duraclear Matte Varnish.

Here are the finished printing blocks, they can be used in so many projects as embellishments or as in the case of the candle holder to cover an object. 

Thanks for reading,

Andy

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