The Witch Behind the Mask

 

Morning all and happy week, this is Natassa Blazaki, with a new project for Spooktober. That challenge inspired me so much!

The Witch Behind the Mask

So, it’s the last week of October and the theme now is “The Witching Hour”. As I was google searching for witches and witchcrafts to get some inspiration, I saw a poster from Disney’s
Snow White that shows the face of magic mirror and the reflection of the Witch’s face. I got the idea of creating this canvas with a mask, that behind it hides the wicked witch.

Of course it had to be rough, with lots of texture and rust. Rust goes with everything!

I used shades of yellow, orange and purple, which is a classic color palette for the Halloween.

To create that rough, uneven texture on the canvas, I used a lot of Structure Paste, which I thickly applied with a pallet knife in a stippling motion. To color the background I used a combination of Artist Pigments and Matt Chalk Paints.

To create the “hood” around the mask, I used a piece of denim, cut from an old pair of jeans. I glued the mask on the canvas and then I cut the fabric in smaller manageable pieces and built the “hood”. I glued the fabric with gel medium.

Then, I decided that my composition needed an industrial touch, so I used some of the gears from Andy’s greyboard cutouts by Tando Creative.

The tricky part was to do the stamping on that surface. I just couldn’t get a nice crisp impression until it hit me! I took a piece of rice paper from Andy’s “Abstraction” collection, and stamped on it. Then, I cut it to size and glued it on the canvas with matte medium. This way, the stamp was beautifully embedded on the rough surface and had a gorgeous cloudy faux encaustic look.

I also used lots of Mixed Media Transfers on the canvas the mask and the fabric. To make them look distressed, I sanded them with a piece of 240 grit sandpaper.

I truly hope you enjoy the project and get some inspiration.

Remember to play along at Creative Expressions Spooktober Challenge and use the #cespooktober tag, so we can find your projects.

You all have a great week

Natassa

👻🎃💀

Andy Skinner Creative Expressions

Chalk paints

Mustard, Chestnut

Artist Pigments

Primary Blue, Primary Magenta, Primary Yellow, 

Raw Umber, Quinacridone Gold, 

Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide

Mixed Media Transfers

Structure Paste

Stamps

Skull of Spades, Pray, Circle of Thorns

Rice Paper

Abstraction

Other Supplies

Ranger Archival Ink 

Matte Medium

1/2" , 1", and 2" Flat brushes

Pallet knife

240 grit sandpaper

deep edge canvas

white blank face mask

fabric