Today I would love to share with you my “Love in February” acrylic painting. And I will show you how you can recreate this painting too.

The first step is finding those perfect colors for your background. And paint away! I am not shy with my paint so I really layer it on and add a few colors into the mix for some added punch. And the perfect brushes - I used the 3/4 brush for this part of the project

While the paint is still wet – I took the Texture Tool and drug it thru the paint in several different areas. This will pull some of the natural background color. Set aside and let dry.

For an added touch I used the 3/4 brush and some Perfect Pigments in Mars Black and painted around the edges of the canvas. It is okay if you paint a little over the front. This gives it an antique/aged look.

Now take some 101 Heavy Artist’s Cement and a Palette Knife and mix together the Cement along with some Perfect Pigments in Wheat. Take the palette knife and the cement mix and add faux bricks on the canvas. Set aside to dry.

Now taking some black paint and the 1/2″ Snap brush…add the vines and leaves. Before the leaves get dry, I mixed together some PPA and Prills and painted on several of the leaves for some added dimension.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and maybe learned a few new tricks with USArtQuest products.

Becky Thackston

About a month ago, I used a photo stamp for the first time – Senior Ladies 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ (#8671) from Viva Las Vegastamps! – and created a card. Every time I looked at the stamp I imagined more and more about the two ladies it shows, sitting outside, side-by-side….

…They’ve known each other for many, many years. Perhaps they even knew each other before they emigrated from England to the United States. They played games together, like cards and BINGO. They shared jewelry. They had keys to each other’s homes. Handmade lace doilies were on their coffee tables and the arms of their sofas. Every conversation of importance happened over a pot of tea. They went to church together. They gardened. They met each other in the park to feed seeds to birds. They took their first airplane ride together. They shared many memories. They’re best friends forever (BFF)…

I looked through all the odds and ends I’ve collected and started to pull pieces together to tell their story. The result is this assemblage. If you look closely, you’ll see the music for Jesus Calls, the definition of move taken from an old dictionary, a small bottle of bird seed, stamps of the Queen of England and the Statue of Liberty, an airplane propeller, lace, pearls, a button and more. Maybe you can even piece together your own story about these two characters from what you see.

Here’s how built this piece:

1. Paint an 8″x8″ Studio Flat Panel artist board with Wheat Perfect Pigments™ – Pure Liquid Acrylics™ from USArtQuest.

2. Collage a background on the panel using Perfect Paper Adhesive – Matte (PPA) and bits of music, dictionary pages, napkins, stamps and paper doilies. I sprinkled a little Crystal Effectz™ on the area with the bird and music while the PPA was still wet to give the piece a little sparkle.

3. Tear a piece of corrugated cardboard into a rough square and then tear off part of the top layer, revealing the corrugated folds. Apply Rust and Whitewash Perfect Glazes™ to highlight some of the folds. Attach this to the base using  101 Artist’s Cement.

4. Continue building up layers by attaching ephemera and found objects to the base and corrugated cardboard with 101 Artist’s Cement. It will adhere most any object to any surface!

5. Stamp and distress the  Senior Ladies 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″ (#8671) image on glossy paper. Attach the image to the corrugated cardboard using foam strips or pop-dots.

6. Cover a portion of the image with a mica tile using a metal tag (e.g., “Memories”).

Last year I took a mixed media class and the instructor told of how the piece “speaks to her” when she is creating it. Up until this project, I didn’t really understand what she meant. Now I think I have a much better idea. These “Senior Ladies” had lots to say and this project only begins to tell their story.

I hope you’ll consider telling a story with your found objects!

To see some of my other projects, visit my blog on Create & Craft.

Happy Crafting!

Joe

I’m often drawn to experiment with surfaces in unexpected ways.  Sometimes the results are good — and sometimes the results are more of a ‘what not to do with xyz surface’ lesson.  But it’s always fun to experiment in my studio lab.  Today I am going to experiment with burlap/jute as a substrate and see what we can and cannot do with it.  Let’s begin.

I am starting with a 12″ x 12″ dual thickness of burlap, sewn together at the edges.  I simply cannot wait to work with this surface and all these nooks and crannies.

I applied Duo adhesive to the upper right and lower left portions of the burlap with a ‘junker’ stencil brush that I keep on hand for experiments.  I applied the Duo in a circular motion, roughing up the texture of the burlap as I went.

When initially applied, you can see the white color of the Duo adhesive.  As it dries and soaks into the fabric, it becomes less visible and then clear and tacky.  The trick will be how much stayed on the surface, and how much was wicked away from the top layer.  Once it gets to the tacky stage, it will be easier to tell.

Once the glue is dry (clear) and tacky, apply leafing foil and brush off lightly using the texture sponge.  This is how our burlap piece looks now.

a closeup…

and the full sheet…

Next, my initial thought was to perform an image transfer onto the exposed burlap surface, but then a little voice kep nagging me, saying, “Been there.  Done that.”  So I decided instead to do some hybrid digital printing onto the surface.  Those of you who know me know that this means I’m heading towards another experiment for which my inkjet printer may or may not survive the night.  But pushing the envelope is why I do these experiments after all!  As my friend, Liz, says:

As always, caveat printer… if you choose to do this part of the technique, it’s all on YOU in other words.  Personally, I consider printers to be the inexpensive part.  It’s the ink that costs.  So I risk mine at will…

If you don’t want to do the printer step, by all means, collage and paint on your burlap directly.

I have a piece of my original artwork that I am very fond of.  It’s a mixed-media painted collage with beading on a canvas pillow form.  I scanned it to use for my blog and Facebook headers, and so forth.  So I decided to take that image and reuse it on a new project, this time on burlap.

I prepared the exposed burlap surface for printing with an application of Digital Ground for Porous Surfaces following the manufacturer’s directions.  Essentially you apply two coats, in opposite directions.

You have to allow the individual coats to dry before proceeding with the next one.  The second coat should cover up any gaps leftover from the first.  I recommend using a ‘cooling rack’, such as one you would use for cookies — but one that is specifically set aside for art projects and NOT for cooking.  This will aid in the air flow around and through the piece to speed up the drying time.  Drying time is admittedly not fun for those of us who are just dying to see if the printer will survive…but the lucky readers don’t have to wait — so read on!

Once the burlap was dry, I attached it to a piece of cardstock for sturdiness.  I used a double sided adhesive sheet for the backing and then taped down all the exposed edges with masking tape.  We don’t want loose bits of burlap flinging around while the printer heads go back and forth!

The burlap has been run through my inkjet printer.  The only addition is some white charcoal pencil which I added to the whites of the eyes to make them pop against the darker background.

So now the printer can act all Scarlett O’Hara and say, “tomorrow is another day”, as it has survived another night of surface experimentation.

Next, because I really still have image transfer on my mind, I was going to use it as an embellishment rather than the focal point of the piece.   This is where the epic fail occurred.  First, there just isn’t enough surface for the text to adhere to on BURLAP.  Second, when removing the paper for the transfer, the only thing that was clear, was that I was pulling the metallic foil off of my project.  Hence — NOT doing that technique here.  We’ll do it on a future project, on the transfer-friendly Studio Cloth.

For now, I decided to collage the corners instead with some lightweight papers.  I adhered them with PPA using a 3/4″ stroke brush.  I also applied a light coat over the top to protect and seal them from my painting steps that are coming up.

Now I’m going to add some paint to the piece, to simulate an aged, burnt look and unify the collage elements with the rest of the project.  The foiling already has a great gilded and aged effect.  In order to simulate it on the paper and other embellishments of the project, I’m going to layer some paints: Purple Mist, Yellow Ochre, and Black.  I know some of you may be thinking, “Aren’t purple and yellow complementary colors?” - and yes, they are.  And typically you would just make ‘mud’ from mixing complementary colors.  But we will be laying down each layer and drying in-between so that we can get a layered effect for each color to do it’s thing seperately.

First, apply a wash of Perfect Pigments in Purple Mist.  Let dry completely or use a heat tool to speed up the process.

I really want you to notice something in the picture above.  Look how nice and transparent these paints are!  I can color the collage without completely obscuring it.  That’s a job for gesso, if I want that effect.  But nice fluid acrylics, such as the Perfect Pigments range work really well for collage and color layering.  I can mix them with a bit of PPA for glazing if I want more working time and removability.  I truly love these paints.

Next, layer a wash of Perfect Pigments in Yellow Ochre over the areas painted in the previous step.  Let dry completely or use a heat tool to speed up the process.

And for the final wash, use lots of water and layer Perfect Pigments in Mars Black as desired to ‘age’ your effect.  You can use a baby wipe to remove it if you apply too much.  Once again, let dry completely or use a heat tool to speed up the process.

Now I’m going to be adding some embellishments and framing elements to the piece.

• I used a mini-stapler to attach a strip of pulled apart burlap, knotted with a bit of ribbon to the top and bottom of the project,
• I’ve added two photo corners, at opposite sides made from pieces of folding wooden rulers,
• I’ve tied an empty spool of thread to the burlap strip,
• I added a canvas dress form and a jeweled flower to make a nice focal element in the bottom corner.

All of these elements have been ‘aged’ with the paints as I’ve discussed above to tie them into the project.

As a last step, I corner framed my finished artwork with some dimensional mini Prills in the Taken for Granite color assortment.

Here is the final, finished project:

US Art Quest Products used today:

• GildenGlitz Leafing Metal in Sunset, #ANC206
• Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) in Matte finish
• Duo Embellishing Adhesive
• Texture Sponge
• 3/4″ Stroke Brush
• Perfect Pigments, fluid acrylic paints in Purple Mist, Yellow Ochre and Mars Black
• Mini Prills, Taken for Granite, ANC840

Thanks for looking!

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.sallylynnmacdonald.com
www.facebook.com/sallylynn.macdonald

Pefect Pigment, Collage, and Stamps

Lea here once again to share some open-ended techniques for painting exercises.  I’m more a free-form artist so I like to PLAY, experiment, and see what happens.  Perfect Pigment Fluid Acrylic allows me the freedom to paint in whatever manner I desire!  If you like to paint with detail, or play with experimentation; this paint is for you!  The pigment is rich, the consistency is perfect, and is non-toxic!  The shimmer is soft and alluring.

USAQ Supplies:

Perfect Pigment Paint

Pefect Pigment Glaze

101 Artist’s Cement – Heavy

Perfect Brushes

Palette Knives

Studio Cups

Appliqates

Texture Sponges

Paint and Stamp

Let’s get started.  I am going to start with some real simple exercises and move on to more complex (but not really complex – beginner/intermediate) ways of playing with Perfect Pigments.  The above picture shows the easiest way to work with Perfect Pigments – brushing on with a Perfect Brush, then overstamping with a nice juicy permanent or hybrid ink (Ink that is considered more pigment ink for embossing but when dried is permanent.).

1.  Mix a little rust Perfect Glaze (tiny, tiny bit) with lt. metallic gold Perfect Pigment.  I did this to contrast the ink I am using to stamp the image.  I chose rust because the ink I use was a brown hue.

2.  Brush mixed paint over a piece of cardstock.  Let dry.  Stamp images over the dried paint.  I used 3 images, the same ink color, and just overstamped the Asian postage mark.  Now you have a completed piece to mat, frame or use in some other way.

Paint with Sponge

Above is a picture of easy sponging with Perfect Pigments.  Pour your Perfect Pigment into a Studio Cup and then tip a soft sponge into the paint and pounce on surface (If you buy the Appliqates set  -you will need those little puffs for buffing mica color pigments - you will receive the perfect sponge.)  I have a few sponges and some I cut into wedges for different effects.  Also, the Texture Sponge is perfect for adding dimenson and texture.  For this piece I pounced the Perfect Pigment color onto bookboard and then added a handmade graphic sticker I designed.  The coverage of this paint is flawless and because of the fluidity, coverage is fast and easy!

Sponge on Perfect Pigment, Mixing Colors, even Stamp with Perfect Pigments

The above photo is taking the sponge pouncing technique one step further.  Thinking of your color chart and how colors mix together to form new colors, you can use your sponge to add hues, shades, and mix all at once.  The little yellow sponges rinse out easily, BE SURE TO WRING SPONGE OUT WELL between colors.

1.  Pounce 2-3 colors onto bookboard, overlapping in various areas.  Remember red+blue shades = purple, yellow+red= orange, and so on.  After pouncing the colors I like, I over-pounced (have my own dictionary ha ha) the colors with a bit of lt. metallic gold in just some areas.  If you could see this live, in person, you would see the subtle shimmer that adds to the art.

2.  Take a stamp of your choice (I used a textured background kind of crackled) and use your sponge to apply color to the stamp.  Orange was used on the stamp.  Stamp the right half of the bookboard.  IMMEDIATELY WASH YOUR STAMP so that the Perfect Pigment doesn’t dry on it.  (Don’t fret if some paint does dry on it, an odorless thinner will get it off).

3.  Once your boardbook has dried, add collage images, emphemera, elements, or whatever you want to complete the two pages.

Collage word paper, Sponge Perfect Pigment/thin with Perfect Glaze, use paper as Stencils

The above picture is using your Perfect Brushes and adding a little glaze to thin the Perfect Pigments down a little more.

1.  On a palette, Studio Cups, wax paper, plastic, pour a little Pefect Pigment and add a little clear Perfect Glaze into the color, mix.  Do this for like 3 colors.

2.   Collage a piece of cardstock with pattern paper of words or dictionary page, etc.  Do not cover the whole cardstock with the wording just part of the area.  PPA matte works wonderfully for this.  HINT:  So your paper doesn’t curl, pre-paint back of cardstock with PPA, let dry.  As you add the collage paper on top, the PPA is already on the back which has soaked into the surface.

3.   Take little scraps of square, rectangle, circle cardstock and cover the piece of cardstock with the little scrap.  Brush over the the edges of the scrap shape which will act sort of like a stencil of sorts.  Overlap colors and shapes.  This piece used mostly rectangles, squares, and little ripped, thin, rectangles.

4.  collage over the top to finish your piece.

Perfect Pigment, Gildenglitz Accents, Stamped

The above image was done the same  as the previous image, but I randomly brushed some Duo Adhesive and then when it dried clear, added bits of gold Gildenglitz on top.  Adds dramatic texture and metallic shine to the piece.

Perfect Pigment Mixed with 101 Artist's Cement for Texture

The above piece was accomplished by adding a bit of 101 Heavy Artist’s Cement with Perfect Pigments.  This is mixed in a Studio Cup and a USAQ Palette knife used to mix and spread.  The cement is white and I add only a little Perfect Pigment so that the originally color becomes tinted (lighter).  This piece uses the Perfect Pigment full strength and with the 101 Heavy Artist’s Cement and contrast with texture is achieved!

Using Perfect Pigment with Other Media

For this last piece above, I did much like the previous, but I started with an oil pastel background.  Just added patches of color from oil pastel sticks.  Perfect Pigment was added with a brush and palette knife.  The make-up of the binders in oil pastels “resists” other media of sorts so I ended up with a marvelous array of not completely covered areas with the oil pastel peeking through.  Dragging a palette knife with some Pefect Pigment allowed me to add color in a random manner – as it is thicker the oil pastel doesn’t show through.  Let dry.  Once dry, I scribbled a little on top with the oil pastel in areas.  Collage on top of this piece – a perfect background!

Please play and try these experiments or just see what you can do.  Mix MicaColor Watercolors, then paint over with Perfect Pigment…play with perfect pigment and instead of, or addition to, adding duo and gildenglitz; brush the mica color powders on top.  The ideas are endless….just do not be afraid to play!

Thank you for reading my second entry on the USAQ Blog.  For those on Facebook, be sure to post your creations so we all can see!

CreativeLea yours -  Lea

author of Creative Art Concepts for Papercrafts – www.ctpub.com

Remember USArtQuest for all you arting needs!!!!

These are the products I have on hand from US Artquest.   I will be using the Perfect Pigments, Mica Tiles, Mica Flakes, brushes and PPA!

This is the tray I started with.  It is made by McGuffey Woodworking.  These trays are by far the best I have worked with for several reasons.  They are made in the USA, made from solid wood and you can take the back off to make it easier to decorate/paint.   I will be using the other design for my Chattering Robin’s post on Monday!

1.  I took a pencil and marked off the sections.  This makes it easy to see where the dividers will be so you can, in this case, paint just over the lines and there will be no bleed over.

You can see the grid marks and I charted which Perfect Pigment color I wanted where.

2.  Paint each section with color desired and then paint the same color on the tray dividers.

3. Continue to paint until you have the entire board painted.  I confess, I goofed a little and marked the colors I was going to use with INK…UGH..so had to paint a coupe of coats.  Fortunately what I am adding will cover any trace of pen marks.

4. I got out my trusty Dreamweaver Stencils and decided which designs I would use for background.  I then used the Perfect Pigment to tint the White Glossy Paste.  This way I had lighter shades of the same colors.

secure stencil

get out small amount of paste

add Perfect Pigment

Mix and apply to stencil.

NOTE:  Due to dry time I started in opposite corners with the stencils and allowed them to dry then moved on.

5. I got out my Mica Tiles and split them into thinner sections so I could sandwich mica powder/mica flakes/PPA/Perfect Pigments between the layers.

6.  At this point you press them together and moosh them around.  Yes, MOOSH!   It blends the colors and anything you have mixed in.  This also makes the tiles stencil ready.

7.  For this project I now attached the back to the frame.

8.  I now choose other elements I want to add to each square.  I use a paper flower, wire and wonderful crystal beads from Connie Crystal.  This is how each section turned out!

Crystal Effects, Perfect Pigments, PPA and Mica Powder tile.

PPA, Perfect Pigments  and Mica Powder Tile

Flower was touched up with Stargazers.  PPA, Perfect Pigments and Mica Powder Tile.

Flower touched up with Stargazers paint. Mica Flakes, PPA and perfect Pigments Tile.

Plain tile.

PPA, Mica Powder, Perfect Pigments Tile.

AND NOW THE SUM OF THE WHOLE!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed my post for this week.  US Artquest will not have a booth at CHA but you can see this piece on display in the Dreamweaver Booth #863!  Come by and see this project up close and personal!  Until then, you can order all the great products used today at US Artquest!

Happy Creating,
Kristi

One of the biggest challenges with printing from  glass or acrylic panels is that you can not ’see’ what you are printing. The paper you print upon covers the image but if you really NEED to see what you are doing  you are out of luck!  Using Studio Paper you will now be able to mono-print over backgrounds and in a more controlled manner. You gain a ton of flexibility – you can print in your art journals or other non-flat surfaces with ease.

Here is the Studio Paper Mono Print technique tutorial -  and here, is one simple result !

Morning Song Mono Print

I know some of you are looking at this and thinking – it looks messy with blotches and missing paint and is not aligned. I love this look . If you need to be more ‘perfect’, you can achieve that – make sure your paint is evenly distributed before printing.

The biggest benefit of  a mono-print is instant texture. The Studio Paper, becuase it is wax based, resists some of the acrylic. The more watery the acrylic, the more resist you will see in your print. 

 I did not, but you can also mist the paint with water just before you print.

You can also add an object resist (I will make another tutorial for that and add it to my blog). You can remove some of the paint in a pattern with a rubber scrapper or other Texturing Tool before printing !

This particular print was outlined with a Sharpie pen. It isn’t always necessary, but I liked the sketchy look it adds.

Have fun and EXPERIMENT !

- love ann

Today I decided I wanted a little bit of sunshine in the middle of winter.  I cut a piece of studio cloth to a size a few inches larger than my stretcher bars and proceeded to collage upon it.  I adhered vintage ledger paper, some washi tape and bits of leftover painted pages with Perfect Paper Adhesive (Matte) aka PPA.  I applied this under the pieces and then placed a coat on top of them as well to seal and protect the papers from later techniques that might damage their surface.

I placed each color of Perfect Pigments paints into my palette and mixed them with equal amounts of PPA to create a glaze.

I painted these over the top of the different papers, blending and wiping off the excess with a baby wipe.

I am going to use this wonderful large daisy stamp as a focal point, so I lightly sketched some surrounding petals with a medium charcoal pencil and began to paint them in with the Perfect Pigments.

Once I had the petals painted as needed, I then stamped the large daisy image onto a piece of Stampbord.  I used a permanent black ink, that won’t run when I apply the glazed paint on top of it.  I adhered the Stampbord to the canvas with a solvent glue.

Now I painted over the stamped image with my glazed Perfect Pigments to make it coordinate with the background petals.

While I waited for the focal point painting to dry, I stippled the white pearl paint through a piece of punchinella, which mimics the stamps shape in the center of the flower.  I did this in a few places around the canvas, and also onto and off the edge of the focal point, once the paint was dry.  This begins to connect the two surfaces visually.

Now I took a soft charcoal pencil and outlined the painted petals on the Studio Cloth background to coordinate with the outlines of the stamped image.

And now I added some highlight marks onto the background with a white charcoal pencil.

The last step is to scratch the surface of the Stampbord with a sharp tool: an awl, the point of a pair of scissors – or specialty tools for scratch art, if you have them.  I scratched marks around the black indentation marks around the petal bases and randomly around the petals to coordinate with the background.  Then I took the scissor blade and scraped away a border around the entire piece.  The stamp has this border, but the Stampbord was slightly smaller than the stamp.  This mimics the frame going all the way around and once again calls out your focal point.

And here is the finished piece, wrapped around the stretcher bars and ready to be hung in my studio.

US Art Quest Products used today:

• Perfect Paper Adhesive (PPA) in Matte finish
• Perfect Pigments – Yellow Ochre, Bright Yellow, Burnt Umber, Napthol Red, Magenta, Deep Sky Blue, Permanent Green Medium, Dark Green and White Satin Pearl
• Studio Cloth
• Sandi Miller Large Daisy Stamp UMF019

Thanks for looking!

Sally Lynn MacDonald
www.sallylynnmacdonald.com

Like Perfect Pigment Paint, Perfect Glazes are acrylic.  However, there are enormous differences in performance.

Perfect Glaze come in ‘patina’ finish colors – such as Verde Gris, Rust and Oxidation finishes.  Each of these have a beautiful transparency, that when blended, have the real look of that particular patina. The clear Glaze, when mixed with standard acrylic paints, such as Perfect Pigment, provides that same transparency in whatever color you want.  Most importantly either the colored and clear glaze sloooooow down the drying time considerably, so that you can manipulate the paint for faux finishing and color layering/blending.  The finish is beautiful.  Mixing acrylics with water do not provide the transparency, the extended drying time, or the finish.

While I mostly use the glazes for altered art and vintage looks in everyday art and cardmaking, as you’ll see here, this armoire has been glazed using Perfect Glaze – whitewash & sepia, and then overpainted (grapes/vines)  using the Perfect Pigment Acrylic Paints.

I use this armoire to house my antique bags and personal treasures.