Happy New Year - A New beginning

 Hi everyone

I don’t know about any one else but the last couple of years have been a challenge. We have had family issues, job challenges along with celebrations for milestone birthdays (my father in laws 90th), along with many shutdowns. In saying that we have a close family and have supported each other through the different challenges. 

This year I have decided to concentrate on my craft more and have joined up for the year long Wanderlust 2023. I am up to week three and am learning all about pastels - an entirely new medium for me and a bit of a challenge but well worth the experience. 

I have decided to try and do more than one More Than Words Challenge so have started with January - Time. 

I used white gesso to cover a page that didn’t really work.  Fortunately it had stamps of clocks all over it and the poem that I used again.  After the initial gesso I then used a clock stencil and using modelling paste I put clock shames all over the new pages.  Once this was dry I then painted it with a light blue paint.  And then rubbed with wax.

Then came the fun part where I coloured chip board shapes with a Finnabair Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint. Once painted and with a little wax rubbed in I then pieced it all together. 

Time

Time and reflection

Change the sight

Little by little

Until we come to 

Understand 

I hope you all get a little bit of inspiration from the piece and hopefully 

I will be back for month two of 2023. 

Phonex the Macaw

Hi Everyone

I thought today I would bring you a picture of a piece that I put together for my Son. 

My son and his partner purchased a baby Macaw for the family.  

Over the time they had Phonex the bird lost a number of tail feathers - which is part of the normal yearly mating of the Macaw's.  My son knew that as part of my craft obsession I collect such things as feathers so therefore passed all these beautiful feathers on to me. 

Also, I regularly take my grandson to cricket on Saturday mornings and while there, much to my grandsons embarrassment, I collected dried twigs and little nut casings from the gum nut tree. 

Due to illness within the family they decided it was unfair for for the bird to keep it as they could not give it the attention it needed. So they decided they would sell the bird to someone who could spend good quality time with it.

As a reminder gift I created this lovely bright art piece using the colours from the bird.  I love how the yellows, oranges and blues all blend well, with the use of the feathers and the twigs I picked up it all comes together nicely. I also used some chipboard leaves and flowers that I had in my stash to blend into the background and give the canvas a little bit of texture. 

The paints that I used were from Prima Marketing - Art Alchemy Metallique Acrylic Paint in Royal Blue, Yellow and Orange. 

Today, while sitting quietly preparing for the new year I decided I would look at some of the Mixed Media Challenges that were currently open and came across the

Mixed Media Academy - December 2021 challenge. 

Products Used: 

 Prima Marketing Art Alchemy Acrylic Paint Metallique 

I do hope you all like the wonderful piece of Phonex the Macaw .....

Christmas Decorations

This year I decided that I would make Christmas decorations to give to friends. 

I loved making these little gems with everyone made specifically for the person who received them. 

They started off as a plastic reindeer I purchased online. 

I then added a few little embellishments to the reindeer and then painted them with gesso. The embellishments I used included wings, cogs and flowers made with Finnabair Prima moulds and other assorted embellishments from Finnabair and little pieces I have picked up in my travels. 

 

Once decorated the reindeer where painted in either white or black gesso. The reindeer are then coloured with Prima Finnabair Waxes. 

Then to give each reindeer a little bit of bling I painted each one with Glitter.

These little beauties look enchanting on the Christmas tree