Life Book 2016 Week Eight

Finding Center With Mandalas (Doilies)

With Faith Evans-Sills

 

Welcome to another week of Life Book 2016 projects.  Faith Evans-Sills‘ project this week is all about layering different elements using stencils and silk screen with spray paints, acrylic paint, and molding paste.  She does some beautiful work – you have to go check her out!

First thing I do when I start a project is research the subject matter using Google.  My friend Google has prevented me from straying too far to the left when it has to do with spirituality.

Since I had an idea that Mandalas had something to do with Eastern Philosophy, I didn’t want to take any chances. This is what I found Wikipedia regarding mandalas.

• “Mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe.^[1] In common use, mandala has become a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe.
• The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance.^[4]
• The term appears in the Rigveda as the name of the sections of the work, but is also used in other religions and philosophies, particularly Buddhism.
• In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation and tranceinduction.”

Yes, friends, it’s “a ritual symbol, but also a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern.”  I’m a Christian and it goes against my religious beliefs to draw one as a form of meditation or a way to get close to the Universe.  But, that is my opinion, and people are free to make choices, right?

Ok, that said, I opted to use a Martha Stewart doily stencil instead, as the focal point.  I first started by collaging various pieces of paper I cut out of magazines, scrapbooking paper, musical paper, etc., then I went to town with my stencils and spray paint.

I had a whole box of spray paint I won some time ago on Mark Montano’s YouTube channel and it came in very handy.  They are all glitter spray, so I chose some that wouldn’t overpower the background and covered some up with gesso, then I took the doily stencil and used several colors to fill it in.

This is the project after I finished filling in the doily, but I thought there was something missing, so I went back and added more silk screens using molding paste and a few

rub-ons.

I think the addition of the butterflies, birds, and gold paste added so much texture to the piece, I’m so in love with it!  Except that while trying to fix the word Namaste, I ended up misspelling it!

A few close ups here:

The doily in it’s full glory 🙂

The top with a silk screen and a stencil on top of gold spray paint.

Bottom right.  A stencil with blue spray after I gessoed the corner.

Upper right with a butterfly rub-on.

Lower left with anoter silk screen of a flower with Heidi Swapp pink paste.

There you have week eight.  I hope you enjoyed looking at my very busy project.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your commments!

Carmen

 

 

 

 

Life Book Week Seven

The Art of Black and White with Donna Downey

This was a bonus lesson from Donna.  She said it was a challenge for her not to use any other colors, but she did great in her example.

I cheated a little because I remembered I had painted some sunflowers in black and white and never finished so I took that painting and refined it a bit.

I just added the shadows and made the right side where the light was shining lighter than the left.

I still think there is something else I needto do to this painting because it doesn’t look finished.  Maybe add splashes of white and black paint all over.

What do you think?

A closeup of the sunflowers

The Teal Bridge:  Build Your Dream and Affirmation Board  Bonus Lesson With Tamara Laport

This lesson was my favorite so far because it made me step out of my “comfort zone” and try new things.

First of all I used my own picture and did a transfer technique to the watercolor paper, and I made my own skin color using only four primary acrylic colors – blue, yellow, red, and white.  I learned this from a free class on the Craftsy blog.  You can get many free classes on a variety of subjects.  I have also taken several jeweley, greeting card, and mixed media lessons when they go on sale.

But, I digress! I wrote out some words I wanted to use for the Affirmation Board as if I was actually carying them out, then I used my computer to print out the words.  Here is the finished project using this picture of me!

Yes, I know, I look so young and fresh!  That’s because I did not add all the wrinkles and shadows!  But, that’s OK.  I know it’s me and I’m very happy with it!

Here are a few more details.  When I was cutting papers for my collage, I saw this quote and had to use it.  It says “Find the Beauty Within, Love with your whole heart.”

I used a variety of stencils, watercolor crayons, acrylics, scrabpook paper, and gesso for the background.  This shows the dolily stencil I used for the first time.  I cut out the flowers and the butterflies from papers I had in my stash – I think they were from a Donna Salazar paper stack – perfect!  I arranged the flowers and glued them around the top of my face.

This is a stencil I used with Faber Castell gold dimensionals.  The flowers on the left and bottom I stenciled through some paper flowers from Heidi Swapp.

On the upper right hand side, I collaged a peacock and didn’t cover it up as much as I usually do my papers.  I also took a piece of the paper flowers and added it to the edge.  I used red acrylic paint through another stencil to match the red on other parts of the painting.

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On the left hand side I used one of Tim Holtz stencils and magenta acrylic paint to add texture.

The stencil I used for the hearts on top of “Family is Everything” is also Heidi Swapp.

And here is a closeup of the face.  The paper I used to cut out the butterfly  on the upper left hand only had half of it, so I used it in the corner.

This lesson inspired me to make a photo transfer of my mother on her wedding day.  Mom’s picture came out too dark so it didn’t show her left side.  She was also leaning on my dad, so the body was a little wonky.

She was very artistic and craftsy also.  She used to make flowers out of bread dough and make earrings, pendants, and home decor with them.  She loved canaries and always had them in the house singing away, and yellow roses, so I added all those elements to the painiting.

My sister, as well as some of my close friends and relatives said it was a close resemblance, so I’m happy with that.  I will make my sister another painting using a different picture because I have all the family photos.  She needs one of her own.

That is it, my friends!  The next lesson is all about Mandalas and I will share again here some time this week.

Thanks for coming over and leaving me a comment.  I read all the comments and they make me very happy to answer them.

Have a wonderful week!

Carmen

Life Book Week Six Your Quirky Amazing Life

Hello my artsy peeps!  Here I am again with another exciting post, LOL!

Week Six was taught by the amazing Tamara Laport

We were to think and write down about all the things we are grateful for and how we would depict our family.  Since this week was about quirky bird, I first thought about what the different personalities make up my amazing family, then I sketched them.

Here’s the sketch:

My daughter is a Yoga instructor and is always meditating, my son loves the drums and was in a rock band, now he works at a music store.  My husband  was hard to sketch, but I thought a toucan would be a good representation, and I’m the chick with the umbrella.

 

Here we are!  I also added my grandsons whom I adore!

I created this project on a 11×14 watercolor paper and used watercolor pencils, crayons, markers, acrylic paints, molding paste, stencils and love!

As I mentioned before, my daughter is a Yoga instructor.  I made her a Yoga outfit and the glitter all around her is her aura.  She’s such a loving, giving, and caring person!  She’s meditating and going “Ohmmmmmm” LOL

The Rock Star!

My son has been playing drums since he was grade school and later was part of a group.  Now he’s in his 40’s and he’s feeling the results of again!  His elbows hurt, he can’t hear very well, etc.

I tried to make him as flambouyant as possible, but not over the top.  I gave him a KISS face.  I added an ant so there would be five characters.  He’s holding a tiny heart and a leaf.

Next up is my husband.  Originally he was going to be a Toucan, but after adding his feathers, I don’t know what he is, ha ha.  He does have a heart of gold!  He is very giving, loving, and caring also!

My oldest grandson has been hiding behind people lately; I don’t know why, but he is the one in the family who also loves music and has the sweetest voice you’ve ever heard!

My youngest grandson is a jock!  He loves playing baseball and wants to be able to play professionally one day.  My husband has been encouraging him to do well in school and perhaps he can get a scholaship to go to College.  He’s already been admitted to Humboldt College in California.  We’re so proud!

Last, but not least, the chick representing me!

I put glasses on her because I like to read, and the umbrella is for when I go out in the ministry on a sunny day.   I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and do volunteer work teaching the Bible and helping people get to know it better.  I added Zentangles to the umbrella, which I also draw to relax.  I also added doodles all over the pages and a few quirky stamps.

And that’s the project for this week, friends!

Thanks for coming by and I hope you leave me a comment.  I love comments!!

Carmen

Live With Promise

I had some spare time this weekend (I don’t know how that happened!) so I watched a free video on Youtube “Fawn Whispers” with Tamara Laporte while waiting for Monday to roll around so I could start on another Life Book 2016 lesson.  It is going to be all about quirky birds! I watched the first two videos while snuggling on my couch.  The weather turned ugly today; cold, windy, rain, and probably snow!

As I was saying, I followed along as she created her project because I wanted to go through her process.  The face came out a little different than hers.  The video is in fast speed, so I had to stop it and do my thing, then start again.  All in all I really liked how my piece came out.

I used 11×14 watercolor paper again for this one.  Collaged it with some tissue paper I found on clearance at Michael’s and lightly used my Caran De Arche watercolor crayons. I also used acrylic paint, and watercolor pencils. I’m usually very heavy handed when it comes to paint, but since I used watercolor crayons the paper showed through and I like it!

I’m always looking for the opportunity to use all of my crafty finds that I’ve picked up on sale and I was able to use the Faber Castelle Texture Gems in gold and white for the heart and the crowns.  Some may call it hoarding, but I call it preparing for the future!  LOL

I also used a Tim Holtz stencil to give the crown and her dress and cape some texture.

I first used the gems for the crown on the girl and decided to add some dots to the fawn’s crown as well as the heart.

I found my stencil with this quote and used a black molding paste so it would stand out.

The tiny butterflies are from the same stencil.  You can see the tissue paper that I used for the background.  I finished it off with throwing some white dots all over it.

Here is the stencil I used to add the flowers and leaves with a black ink.

I also added doodles with a white marker and a white gel pen and acrylic paint through another stencils in other places throught this piece and a script stamp.

My husband liked it a lot too, but he said that I need to make darker skinned gilrs too.  Yes, dear, that’s my next project.

Thanks for visiting and have a warm, cozy, day crafting!

Carmen