Guest Host at Mixed Media Monday

I’ve wanted to be Guest Host at MMM for a long time and then I finished my canvas and I thought, “Yes! This piece is worthy!” I call it ‘The Seer’…

And finally, a glimpse of the texture layers!

I’m very honoured that Diane liked this theme and can’t wait to see what you all create with blues and purples…

Edited to add: Moira left a comment on this post and asked about the hows and whys I came to construct this piece. It started with the awesome image which I used before to make a hanging plaque as a distraction for a great friend of mine who was in a lot of pain. My DH bought the stamp for me at a Car Boot sale because he instinctively knew I’d love it! And he was so right…

I constructed the canvas specifically for this image. Blues and purples always stir emotion in me – they ‘speak’ to my core beliefs. It’s pretty common knowledge that I am a Pagan… I try to live in harmony with Nature and and the seasons and allow myself to embrace the influence of the Moon and the seasons chiefly. This stamp has such a wonderful mixture of imagery and symbols and I am very drawn to eyes and strong facial features in art, so that’s why I felt compelled to create a canvas for it.

My great blogging pal Barbara has been tutoring me and encouraging me to paint more so I started with a pale base of blue and purple on the 8″x8″ base. I added gel medium to the acrylics, playing with consistency and flow! Then I gathered the bits – scrim, scraps of hessian left over from Birdie bags, stray petals from silk flower stalks, string, fibres, tissue paper and some muslin scraps. I stuck these to the canvas with gel medium, in a sort of shipwreck/seabed/seashore arrangement. I then began to add layers of paint. I used gesso in the centre and then stamped the ‘Seer’ onto white tissue paper. That was adhered in the middle-ish of the canvas, with gel medium and left to dry.

I was quite surprised that there were white spaces on parts of the tissue paper, so I used very thin paint – blended purple and blue – to hide those areas! It worked and I found that I could actually blend the paints over the stamped image without losing its definition.

For a bit more texture, I added micro beads – clear and silver to the lower part of the canvas. Some I painted and some were left clear, like the silver ones, for example. This took me about 3 weeks of working on it and then leaving it alone. I found that I would get very involved in the whole process of painting and not want to stop, so I made sure that I didn’t give myself too long for painting uninterrupted. I had no intention of ‘spoiling’ this canvas.

It was a spiritual journey for me and I know now that I can create other mixed media canvasses without fear and that I will enjoy them. If I want a quick fix, there’s still fabric and stamps and ink, ATCs and cards, skinnys and tags… not forgetting dominos and game pieces to alter, etc., etc., etc.!

Moira, you should never be discouraged, that would make me feel bad. I make some very awful things that I hide or recycle – and then sometimes, it all comes right. That’s all part of the journey for me… thanks for asking me to share! (although bearing in mind how much I’ve written, you might think twice next time!!!!)

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Posted by Rosie on October 13, 2008

https://alteredartandstuff.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/guest-host-at-mixed-media-monday/