A Little Bit Of Voodoo

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“Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you...unless they’re wrapped up in a spell and stick you with some voodoo!”

Cue the spooks, October is here! The sky has grown moody, shrouded in grey veils. The tree leaves have changed from their supple green to dry yellow ghosts of their former selves. The breeze has changed from refreshing to chilling and ominous. Nature is planning for Halloween.

I love Halloween and all the make-believe-magic that comes with it. So with magic in mind, I have created a little treat (with a couple tricks) for my classroom at Mixed Up Creatives: Tickles, the Voodoo Doll.

This tutorial includes a step-by-step video where I will show you how to make a cute little voodoo doll out of polymer clay. So grab your pins and a spell or two and join me in my classroom!

Leslie

Three Feathers Batik Assemblage

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Hello and Happy Autumn! I hope it is a long, beautiful season this year and that its irritating relative Winter doesn’t make an appearance until it’s invited over for Christmas Eve dinner!

At Mixed Up Creatives, Autumn equals stencils this year. I love my stencil collection and use them frequently in my artwork. In ‘Three Feathers’ I used not one, not two, but six stencils! They are used with ink, paint, modeling paste, texture paste, crackle medium…and something I had never tried with stencils before - wax!

My classroom is open with my latest lesson on batik and collage, so grab some wax and head on over. If you are not a member yet, her is a little gift from me. Sign up with a coupon code of Tutor10 for a 10% discount on accessing all the classrooms! I will show you the process of ‘Three Feathers’ and give you a supply list that will help you to create your own mixed media artwork with fabric, stencils and wax!

Let’s get melting!

Leslie

Rise Above the Chaos

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Password Incorrect…Road Closed…System Failure…Do Not Enter…Enter at Your Own Risk…User Name Not Found…Unknown Caller…Try Again…Do Not Try Again…Access Denied…Flight Cancelled…Wrong Answer…No Answer…Data Field Not Found…Unsupported Device…Virus Detected…Illegal Operation…Under Construction…Please Hold…Hang Up…Error…Error…Error…

Technology, News Media, Social Media and the insanity of our world can be so overwhelming. My personal means of escape are heading to the mountains or, more often, heading to my art room. This is how I rise above the chaos. When I saw the Relics & Artifacts ‘Rising Spirit’ set I knew it would perfectly represent that we all need to take a break from time to time and soar above the madness.

Please join me in my classroom at Mixed Up so I may show you how to create this mixed media assemblage/collage featuring the wonderful Rising Spirit winged heart from Relics & Artifacts.

Leslie

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Courageous Heart

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“I love fairy tales because of their haunting beauty and magical strangeness. They are set in worlds where anything can happen. Frogs can be kings, a thicket of brambles can hide a castle...and a girl can break a curse with nothing but her courage and steadfastness.”

— Kate Forsyth

Today I'd like to share with you my mixed media canvas using my wonderful DecoArt supplies and Tyvek. Recently, I had to talk myself into something that I found very daunting. Let's face it, if the Wizard of Oz were being recasted, I'd be a lead contender for the Cowardly Lion role. This creation was my therapy.  Let the strength in your heart and soul give you courage.

I love being a part of the DecoArt Outreach program and creating with products I would not want to be without in my art studio.  This piece is almost exclusively DecoArt products built from ground up, gesso to varnish with lovely mediums and paint layers in between.  

Speaking of layers, I love them!  As of late almost every canvas I've created has a base layer of paper scraps.  I love knowing that there are so many hidden secrets below the paint, like poetry, music sheets and maps.  And that is why it is fabulous to create with fluid acrylics because they allow you to get a glimpse of what is underneath.  

Here is a quick tutorial on my process. With matte medium, I adhered torn pieces of paper to the top and sides of a chunky 7 1/2 x 7 1/2 inch canvas.  Using chalky finish acrylic and spritzing with water, I finger-painted lightly over the paper-patched background to make it look more cohesive. Stencils followed with modeling paste on the word courage and crackle paste for the harlequin design.  Upon drying, my canvas was ready for the first coat of fluid acrylics.

My first wash of fluid acrylics consisted of Raw Sienna, Cerulean Blue and Quinacridone Burnt Orange.  I dried this layer with a heat gun and highlighted areas with Quinacridone Red.  The lovely cracks that had formed on the harlequin diamonds were intensified with the addition of applying Carbon Black with its mister wand and spraying with water.  Hansa yellow fluid acrylic accented the stenciled areas. For a focal point, I chose a Tyvek heart* that I had made. I outlined the edges of the heart with a mix of heavy gel medium and micro beads.  When this mix was firmly set, I dripped Carbon Black from the mister wand and let it settle among the beads.

Highlights were added by dry brushing Dazzling Metallic acrylic paint. To complete the canvas I included a couple more embellishments: a cardboard sword, an upcycled silk rose made more beautiful with Dazzling Metallics and a 'string' of thorns.

*Tyvek Heart

The heart was cut from a square piece of Tyvek that I had prepared by painting with fluid acrylics and dazzling metallics.  The square with heated with a heat gun to produce the bubbles and ripples.  I drew a heart onto the unpainted side and cut it out using sharp scissors.

Product List:

DecoArt Media:  White Gesso, Matte Medium, Modeling Paste, Sand Paste, White Crackle Paste, Heavy Gel Medium, Ultra Matte Varnish, Mister in 'Carbon Black', Fluid Acrylics in 'Quinacridone Burnt Orange', 'Quinacridone Red', 'Cerulean Blue', 'Raw Sienna', and 'Hansa Yellow Medium'.

DecoArt:  Dazzling Metallic Acrylic Paint in 'Festive Red', 'Festive Green', 'Rich Espresso' and 'Champagne Gold'; Personally Yours Stencil 'Urban Ink'

DecoArt Americana:  'Distressed Harlequin' stencil; Chalky Finish Acrylic Paint in 'Primitive'

7 1/2" x 7 1/2" canvas, tyvek, micro beads, paper scraps, string, silk flowers, cardboard, cocktail fork

Junk Junk Boat

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Nǐ hǎo!
According to my Google search, that is ‘Hello’ in Chinese.  So, what does that have to do with my post?  Let me give you a bit of background info. 

I am so super stoked about this month’s theme at Mixed Up: Recycle/Upcycle!!  (Excuse me my dear former English/Journalism professors, I know a writer is never, ever supposed to use multiple exclamation points...but come on...we are talking UPCYCLE!!!  See, I can’t help myself because recycling junk IS MY THING!!!!) 

And then, someone in the art world that I very much admire, both personally and professionally, paid me the utmost compliment with the label #queenofjunk!!!!! (Okay, I promise, I’ll cool it on the punctuation mark frenzy).

Now the pressure was on.  What would the so-called #queenofjunk create?  It came to me right away:  a Chinese Junk boat made from junk.  I have since found out from family and close friends this is another random example of trivia my brain has stored, rather than useful, possibly life-saving information.  A Chinese Junk, from the Javanese 'djong' meaning ship or large vessel, was used for transporting goods on rivers and seas beginning in the Han Dynasty and is still in use today.  

My Junk boat started as an unusual serving dish that I had picked up at a thrift store quite some time ago.  Pop over to the online classroom at Mixed Up to see how I transformed this junk store find into a Junk using junk!

See you there, 

Leslie