artful messes!

hi all!

i am still feeling pretty rough BUT i can say i feel better today than yesterday.  however i am still super worn out and having trouble breathing.  hubby is insisting i go to urgent care.  he doesn't trust my self-diagnosing on webMD - can't imagine why.  i love webMD - helps me figure out what's wrong AND alerts me to lots of other things i probably have but didn't even consider!  hahhahahhahhahhah!

i get a bit of energy but it wears off quickly.  which i discovered is perfect for some mixed media stuff i have been wanting to do - i am usually so impatient waiting for layers to dry but being sick i have no choice!  so pezza and i have been playing around and making HUGE messes in the studio.  messes that have even shocked her!

so today I have Flower Garden:

i really like how this one turned out but i have to admit i HATED it initially.  ever have those times when something seems so GOOD in your head but on paper well......not so much.....so i set it aside and was thinking i would trash it and then i thought hmmmmm...maybe i can save it....

SOOOOOOO i grabbed my gesso and my craft mat scraper and swiped around, rubbed off, swiped some more to tone things down.  and i liked it!  so next i pulled out my Luminarte polished pigments and mixed up a bit on my craft mat.  i LOVE pimary elements because i can custom mix it for what i am doing.  i used the medium they have for paper - it is translucent and does not dilute the color at all but the shimmer OH MY WORD!

i used some of Claudine Hellmuth's Creative Layers foam stamps for the dots in the background and the scallops along the edge.  then i painted on the stems and stamped the leaves with one of claudine's leaf stamps.  i saw claudine at cha and got a big hug and giant smile that she always has - she is SUCH a sweet person!  and her product line with ranger is amazing!  The flowers are from a recent video for FaveCrafts:

This will go into my art journal - just fun experimentation with products in a quest to find the way i want to do several canvases for my walls.

Pezza did several pieces right along with me which is one of my favorite parts of this free-er art form - she gets into it and loves it.  she picks her papers, stencils, colors, etc.  i just guide her on the techniques - like here use the gloss medium to stick your paper down...

Now while in Michaels awhile back Pezza insisted on getting some Iridescent medium by Golden so that is what she used as her topcoat.  this gives the overall piece a nice subtle shimmer.  then she laid a crafter's workshop stencil down and swiped paint on.  i urged her to do more but she says she is done.  she loves making backgrounds and foundations with me but she has alot of trouble covering them up in anyway so they are stand alone pieces for her.  i also re-did my previous idea a little different and this is what i have now - just not sure where i will be going with it next...

i have a few possibilities floating around in my head though...so we shall see.  our technique was heavily influenced by the workshop i helped in at CHA taught by Julie Fei-Fen Balzer!  she rocks!

do any of you have any of the Luminarte products?  mine are from BEFORE they closed down and then moved over to Creative Imaginations.  CI just announced at CHA that they are re-releasing the primary elements products and i also used the new luminarte Silks which i am looking forward to adding to my collection too!  i will have a really fun Luminarte project up next week using primary elements and twinkling H2Os which i will be TEACHING at a retreat in Baltimore in May!  so stay tuned for that!