Saturday 1 October 2016

Spooky Skull for Halloween

It's a new challenge at Country View Crafts and Corrie is our host looking for all things spooky. I've had a play with Andy Skinner's skull stencil, various other stencils and lots of colour that got grunged up at the end.


I began with Andy's stencil and applied black modeling paste through it.


Then I began adding other stencilled textures around the skull.


Here you can see the four stencils I used. (Sorry it lost some definition somewhere)


The next step was to start adding colour and I used these seven over the next few steps


Spritzing with water and blending washes of colour in 'streaks' I put down the base layer.


You an see how I use the colours straight and also blend them on the craft mat to get the effects I want. 


Making sure the board was completely dry I then added some quinacridone gold to the edges, spritzing it with water and letting it run


Again having let that dry I mixed the colours into deeper shades and added more layers including the quinacridone around the edges again.


I love mixing he colours I am using to see what shades I get.


I added just water to the skull area and then dipped a fine paintbrush into titanium white then into the watery area also adding some medium grey. This highlighted the skull making it pop out more. I also coloured the teeth with a white posca pen.


Now to grungy it up by adding raw umber antiquing cream. The photo left below shows it after the antiquing cream had been brushed over and around the edged stencilled textures and on the right after I had let it dry then wiped it over with a damp babywipe to leave the brown in the recesses.


Some bakers twine dipped in the left over paints and a haunted token painted with prussian blue and quinacridone gold before a little orange metallic lustre rubbed and painted over it adds a little embellishment to it.


And the bats create a more eerie feel, they were die-cut in shiny black card using the mixed media Halloween thinlits.


A couple of Tim's Halloween remnant rubs and it's finished. It's not quite how I imagined it to be but I am still happy with the overall look.

I hope you will enter any of your Halloween projects into the challenge, it would be lovely to see you over there and wait till you see what is up for AVJ on the 7th, it's definitely the month of October lol.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my make.

See you soon.

hugs Brenda xxx

30 comments:

Valerija said...

Great project.
Valerija xx

Monika Gulyas said...

Wow Brenda, this canvas is amazing and really spooky too! I love all the stencilling you made! Great colours! Hugs

Craftyfield said...

Just beautiful Brenda, the colours, textures, the way the Antiquing Cream shows off the patterns... And your step by step is excellent too!

Jane said...

What a great canvas my friend. Gorgeous layers and colours. Happy October and enjoy your weekend. Hugs xxx

Gina said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! *and I believe I may actually have that skull stencil lol* Fantastic build up of colours on the background :D XXX

hazel said...

A wonderful spooky canvas - lovely colours and textures.
xxx Hazel.

Deborah Wainwright said...

Wow! Love it! Clever use of Andy's Stencils and fab background. Hugs Debs xx

Annie said...

Wow!!!! The skull is totally amazing Brenda and the additional textures/paints look fabulous too. Love it!!!!!

Thanks for sharing
Hugs Annie x

Evelyn Walter said...

Wow, Brenda, your canvas is so artsy again! I love the layered colors and the little bats. The skull is simply gorgeous!
xxx Evelyn

Hazel Agnew said...

Great textures Brenda, love the stencils that you have used in the background. Fab grunginess and drama. X

Dagmar said...

Wow Brenda, the skull is gorgeous.
Thanks for sharing.

Tee said...

Beautiful textures and color! Love this!

rachel said...

This is brilliant Brenda - the colours and textures are fabulous - and oh so spooky! Love it! Hugs rachel x

Inky and Quirky Designs said...

Oooh wonderfully spooky Brenda, you've achieved so much depth to it,fab
hugs
Donna xx

Redanne said...

Oh, I do love a good skull Brenda and this Andy one is superb! I love all the stencilling and the gorgeous colour choices which have made him look even more spooky! Fabulous! Hugs, Anne xx

pearshapedcrafting said...

Whoa!Skulls-r-not-me but I do love this! The background is amazing! Hugs, Chrisx

sally said...

What a wonderful Halloween season piece!

Sally

sarascloset said...

Brenda, I have been ooh-ing and aahh-ing over this lovely canvas for some time now! I love that skull and the way you made it look almost REAL--creepy! The colors are just amazing, and I can almost imagine the fun you hd transforming the layers of paint and watching it develop! Great Halloween make! Hugs!

A Pink said...

Absolutely fab! Brenda . A real spooktakular piece of art . Love the variety of textured stenciling and mix of colours. Thanks for sharing its development .
hugs x

Karin said...

wow this looks great!
Groetjes Karin

Meggymay said...

Wow, this is an awesome spooky canvas, love the colours you blended and the great skull stencil.
Yvonne xx

Julia Aston said...

This is SO cool Brenda! I'm amazed at how you just keep adding color and don't end up with mud! what a fun spooky canvas!

Jackie PN said...

Absolutely Yummy!!! Just LOVE your skellie!! Jackie ")

Anita Houston The Artful Maven said...

OK...you've made me want this stencil...seriously you enabler! LOVE what you've done here!!!

Corrie Herriman said...

This is gorgeous Brenda. Love the colours and the texture !
Corrie x

Nikki Acton said...

It's a great stencil! Love how you have added the texture around the border and wonderful colours xx

Deb said...

Wonderfully spooky Brenda, love the stenciled details around that wonderful skull and amazing depths of colour, love it! Deb xo

Jennie Atkinson said...

Wow! Love that black texture paste skull! and then all those other lovely textures and colour blending. Great techniques and I'll be back to look again! Sorry to be so late in catching up xxx

Sue said...

This is fabulous Brenda, I loved seeing how the layers built in intensity! Have a fun week xx

Felix the Crafty Cat said...

Brilliant Brenda, love it. I need to catch-up as I nearly missed this, life eh! Happy crafting, Angela x