ABELA ARTISTRY: December 2020

Wednesday 23 December 2020

Moonlit Offering - December inspiration for Dusty Attic

Welcome to my final post for 2020.... however it wont be my last post for Dusty Attic. While everyone enjoys a quiet break ill be busy in my little studio creating masterpieces for 2021! Bring it on, I say!! I hope that you have enjoyed my creations as much as I have. With that in mind I have made a little offering for you all... that a little piece of heaven fills your night sky with love, light and healing in 2021.

I have wanted to do something special with my mystic boho obsession and Jen and Nuneka came to the rescue with these fantastic new designs. I have been holding onto some Stamperia Cosmos papers for just this occasion... I attached an image of the moon to a canvas panel of 8 x 8". I then added a generous amount of clear crackle paste.

I painted all the chipboard with TWO coats of white gesso. I was planing to use an oil paint indigo wash over the whole page so I wanted to protect my chipboard from the wet medium. I filled some of the moon with seed beads and filled in the edges with art stones. I painted some of the focal points with a gold acrylic paint. This has a high resist finish and I knew that it wouldn't absorb the wash.

I used modelling paste to create some texture and create hair and a dress for my little fairy. Once I applied the wash I used a selection of waxes to add highlights. I love the way that the moon in the background now looks like the earth!

I used some Metallic paint to colour her dress and I put some metallic paste on the bottom of the cabochons to create the ethereal shimmer underneath.

Here in the close up you can see that the little moon in her hand was actually the cut out piece from the big moon... I kinda thought it was symbolic to use this as an element in the "offering".

Here is my final closeup... I hope you like this kind of Mixed Media work. This collage on canvas really sings to my soul and is my absolute joy!

Have an amazing Christmas everyone! Thanks for looking and catch you on the flipside...

Chipboard used

Mini Titles #1 - Love

Friday 18 December 2020

This makes my SOUL happy - December Moodboard for Dusty Attic

Welcome to my last Mood board inspirations for 2020. It was definitely a year to reflect on the things that bring joy and these guys are my EVERYTHING. This was at my birthday dinner a few years back... coz my birthday this year was in the middle of Covid!

So I thought to wrap up the year I'd reflect on the simple things. Hope you guys are all counting your blessings and looking forward to 2021!

Here is a run through of the process. Forgive the shadows... Here I thought that the natural light would look lovely... Doh!!

I used paper from 13@rts collection Summer Days, the wood grain was a little crazy so I used some white gesso to fade it out. I then used my brayer with some chalk paint to add a little colour back in. The cross hatching you can see is done with a store card. Its a fav technique of mine and it just adds a little framework to position the focal point within. Once I knew where my frame was going to be I used some mesh tape on the page this was also a good visual for where I wanted to frame my photo with my chipboard.

I prepared all the chipboard with a coat of white gesso. For this project I wanted to play with my embossing powders. I used my embossing dauber and randomly dabbed at the Broken Bits Wire. I then used Cafe Au Lait from Lindy's to sprinkle on top. I didn't want a full coverage to give it a bit of a garden gate kinda feel. You can see this in the close up below.

For the collage I wanted to add something pointy under it to give it the illusion of a bouquet. I chose the feathers to do this and the little bows as an area of interest. I didn't want to have green leaves... so I thought I would try out this embossing powder from WOW it has three colours in one and is called Sea Salt - I hated it... It blended into the background and I couldn't see my feathers anymore. So I grabbed another WOW embossing powders called Sea Turtle. It blended really well with the blue giving it just a bit of lift for colour variation. I must say my WOW moment was when I heated the second layer of powder and watched the first coat blend like lava with the second coat without any burn!

I used a matt red for my bows like the beautiful chest on the red robin in the picture. Once I had stuck down my collage pieces I used some Distress crayon to rub over the textured areas. I like the way you can leave clumps of colour and also blend it with your fingertip.

To finish off I added some micro beads around the butterflies and flowers and then added a sprinkle of glass glitter.

If you ever want some tips n hints, you can reach out to me. I love teaching and sharing my love of scrapping. Anyhoo... Happy Scrapping over Christmas and I look forward to seeing all your creations in our Facebook Group Dusty FANAttics!

Abela Artistry

Chipboard used

Twine Bows #3

Title - This makes my soul happy

Broken bits#5 - Wire

Feathers

Tropical Foliage #10

Tuesday 15 December 2020

Dreamer - Dusty Attic Moodboard inspiration November 2020

Hi Dusty FanAttic's

Where has this year gone! Its time for me to start thinking about gifts for Christmas. I really struggle to find cost effective and unique gifts so I often make my own. I used this mood board to put together a bouquet canvas for one of the lucky ladies in my life. I can't tell you who, but I will let you know if she liked it come New Year.

I used some techniques I learned from doing an online course with Laly Millie. She reminded me that I hadn't use my canvases as much as I used to. So I pulled one out and got busy.