Friday 3 June 2016

Texture paste for AVJ

Welcome to the first Friday in June and the start of another fabulous challenge at A Vintage Journey. The lovely Astrid is our host this month and she describes the theme thus -

"Use any kind of texture paste (home made, crackle, coloured or plain) on your projects. There is an endless variety available, so play, have fun and apply it to your heart's content. Use it through stencils, randomly or in whatever way you want, but remember it should be in one of the vintage; shabby; mixed media; art journalling; industrial or steampunk styles that we favour. Put on your mixed media hat and create some magic!"

For this project I decided to go shabby.


For the first layer I randomly applied some gesso with a dry baby wipe ...


... then I mixed some modeling paste to a thick creamy consistency, applied it with a brush and spritzed with water so that it dripped down the board. Once dry it didn't really give me the depth of texture I was looking for, but it was worth a try and certainly didn't do any harm.



Adding colour - colour mixing. 

This was the palette I chose to use and my college days of studying oils bears me in good stead for having a bit of experience to fall back on ...


... and here's the swatch card I made. By playing with blends I was able to personalise the colours to the shades I really wanted. It's impossible to tell you how much colour was added each time, it ranged from a touch of the wet lid when I opened it (ie pin prick size) to one or two drops from the bottle. The colours in the last column are the ones I used.


The colours were added one at a time with a brush, spritzed with water, allowed to move around and drip and then heat dried. By layering the colours like this you keep both the individual colour tones and the layered ones creating additional depth and interest.


Because there was texture beneath the colour I decided to highlight these in white by using titanium white and a small brayer .....


.... and then more fun with the DecoArt white crackle paste through some stencils, just look at the fabulous textures you get.


I wanted to highlight the word Cafe so I mixed some quinacridone magenta with white antiquing cream but it looked rather vivid and clashed with the more vintagey colours I had blended so I added a tiny amount of the green gold, oh my goodness I would never thought of adding these colours together to get this beautiful vintage rose colour. I replaced the stencil and painted it on, I also added some of  the rose with more white added and some green gold to the moroccan stencilled areas too. I had imagined colouring the cracks but I now wanted to leave it as it is so I decided that before I put the embellishments on I would give the whole board a coat of matte varnish to seal it.


Here it is with all the embellishments on ......


... and from the side - I added one of Tim's easel die-cuts so that it stands and can be used as a birthday card or just a celebratory piece of art.


Thanks for stopping by, for joining me on my own amazing creative journey and for all your wonderful comments. I just love reading them. I would also like to give a warm welcome to all the new followers who have joined Bumblebees and Butterflies and hope you enjoy my creations and process steps.


So will we see you at A Vintage Journey this month? There are fewer stipulations now in who can join in and as long as we can see a vintage; shabby; mixed-media; art journaling; industrial or steampunk genre then you're in and there are some fabulous prizes up for grabs every month. June sees Susan from Country View Crafts joining us again with a £20.00 voucher from her on-line shop.

Have a wonderful month, lets hope the weather is warming wherever you are in the northern hemisphere and that it's not getting too cold for you in the southern hemisphere.

Take care.

hugs Brenda xxx

All paints and mediums are from the DecoArt media range.

32 comments:

Julia Aston said...

A beautiful mix of colors on your lovely textured background Brenda - your spray of blooms is just beautiful! Julia xx

Monika Gulyas said...

Beautiful colours, Brenda! How you arranged the flowers is just fabulous! I love all the elements! Hugs

Jane said...

You had such fun playing with those colours didn't you Brenda....I love that rose colour your achieved and the crackle is gorgeous.What a beautiful plaque, it's so summery. Let's hope the sunshine returns as promised this weekend.....it's been so chilly hasn't it. Hugs xx

Astrid Maclean said...

Such a wonderful shabby piece Brenda, love the gorgeous soft colours! The crackle looks fantastic and I love the way you added those beautiful blooms!

Deb said...

Beautiful colours Brenda, soft,subtle and very lovely! Wonderful textures from all those wonderful layers and stenciling, thanks so much for sharing it, Deb xo

Annie said...

A beautiful shabby chic piece Brenda x love the fabulous textured details and colour palette. The Rose colour is stunning x
Beautiful embellishments complete the look

Have a lovely weekend
Annie x

Almo said...

Just the sight of this piece made me smile Brenda, what beautiful colours you have managed to achieve with your experience of mixing. I am totally in awe of the background effects you have achieved. The addition of the feathers and berries among the flowers are a nice touch too adding even more interest but still keeping it beautifully soft and delicate. Love this canvas. Have a great weekend. Mo x

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Wonderful work, Brenda, so love that you showed all the steps as I don't know much in this area, and don't like a lot of it but yours it stunningly made.
Thanks for the inspiration,
Shaz in Oz.x

{Calligraphy Cards - Shaz in Oz}

Gina said...

This looks totally yummy :D XXX

Karen Petitt said...

I had to come and take a closer look at your project Brenda - I love this so much! Such wonderful texture and beautiful colour and embellishments. Thank you so much for sharing your step by steps too - I have a learnt quite a few tricks and tips reading your steps Karen x

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Absolutely stunning Brenda I love the wording and the two layered colour.. Your arrangement is perfect and I love your experimentation with colour, very clever. Wonderful texture and composition. Have a lovely weekend. Tracy x

Patty O'Malley said...

What a beautiful canvas, Brenda! I love how the colors blend into each other and the texture you created.

Words and Pictures said...

So beautiful - your custom colours are gorgeous - and it's so interesting to see the colour swatch with the different blends. The floral garland is fabulous with the froth of the feather and the berries, and I just love that crackly Cafe!
Alison x

Susan said...

Gorgeous piece, Brenda! I love your tutorial! Thanks for showing us how you mixed those colors! I would have never thought of that!

Juliz Design Post said...

Such a pretty shabby chic project, a wonderful background and fab crackles and the flowers are the perfect finishing touch. Beautiful.
Have a great weekend, Julie X

SewPaperPaint said...

Such a pretty background and love the feather, clock, twine & berry accents! Scrumptious! <3

froebelsternchen said...

So beautiful! Amazing!

Jenny Marples said...

A delicate blend of colours, beautiful texture and topped off with fabulous flowers! Loving the feather too xx

A Pink said...

A gorgeous Shabby chic canvas ! Brenda I loved seeing how your background evolved and I have to agree the deco art crackle paste is totally fab . ( I too had started a canvas panel using the deco art crackle paste a while ago that was to be my project for this challenge but like ya do ( or maybe as I do ) I put it somewhere safe and then forgot where I put it and had to resort to plan b lol ). The floral arrangement embellishes your fabulous canvas panel just perfectly .
have a lovely weekend
Hugs x

Mrs.B said...

Beautiful canvas, love the colours and your experiments, thanks for sharing the process.
Avril xx

Paper Profusion said...

Love your very pretty hues Brenda. Fab design as always, the balancing feather and berries are perfect. Have a lovely weekend. Nicola x

rachel said...

such beautiful colours Brenda - really delicate and pretty - gorgeou. The whole piece is just stunning xx

Suzanne C said...

Gorgeous! Beautiful warm and inviting colors and the arrangement of the flowers and berries is charming.

Craftyfield said...

Love the colours, the shabby feel, the crackled texture and... those fabulous flowers... Superb!

Inkypinkycraft said...

a great soft and shabby feel to your make x

Gio said...

It is gorgeous Brenda! And thanks for the useful hints!

Corrie Herriman said...

Love those colours ! Fantastic as usual Brenda !
Corrie x

Nikki Acton said...

Stunning, elegant piece Brenda - the colour mixing is wonderful x

Jennie Atkinson said...

Stunning shabby! Oh my Brenda this is just stunning. Your patience in determining your own personal colours is a lesson to us all (I just splotch it on!) and the way you got the beautiful vintage rose colour is just amazing. A fabulous canvas, with so many wonderful textures and colours. I love it ! So sorry to be so late in visiting xxx

Juls said...

Absolutely love this!! Xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Oh My! Fantastic canvas Brenda! I think I NEED more colours!! Your embellishments really do make this a wonderful celebration piece! Hugs, Chrisx

sarascloset said...

And Jennie thought SHE was late! But I'd rather be late than never, cause this canvas is a beauty! Love the colors and the textures! Hugs!