Moon Spirit

Hello Friends!

As last Monday was the day of the second part of my new products reveal, it's today that I'd like to present my Creative Team's new art. And this piece is absolutely breathtaking...

Sanda is here today to share this completely magical mixed media collage/assemblage and also leaving her reviews of some of my new paints and pastes. Please enjoy!

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Hello, my sweets,

Hope you all had a great start of 2018 and, after a lovely Holiday Season, you are all getting back to business, doing what we love most – bringing some more beauty into this world with our artwork. 😊 

I hope you’ll get inspired by my first project of this year, a mixed media collage / assemblage on a recycled wooden tryptic.

So, let’s get started. 😊

After I gave my panel a coat of Heavy White Gesso, I applied a generous layer of Finn’s new Plaster Paste.

By doing this, I didn’t only give the wood a lovely ground to work on later, but I also created a gorgeous texture, just by working the paste with a palette knife. The Plaster Paste is thick and creamy, very easy to work with, a must have for all of you who love texture.

Back to my project, I dried the Plaster Paste thoroughly with a heating gun and then, I added another layer of texture by applying Paper Paste, this time through a couple of stencils.

This is another fantastic addition to Finnabair’s range of texture pastes, fluffy and airy, similar to the Light Paste, yet different in consistency when it dries. I must confess I love them both and I am totally hooked.

You can read a little bit more about both Pastes in this post on Prima.

So, I left the second layer dry completely, but before that, I embedded into the wet paste a few Mechanicals. 

To enhance the texture, I painted the panel with a mixture of Pitch Black and brown Dark Chocolate Impasto Paints and then wiped off the excess with some baby wipes. 

When everything was dry, it was high time to add some colour to this baby and for this, I chose some of Finnabair’s new Art Alchemy Metallique Paints and a few of my old and trusty friends, the Impasto Paints.

The new Metalliques I used are: Rustic Brown, Red Wine, Ice Queen, Royal Blue and you can see all the colours released {here}.

I diluted all the paints, as I wanted a more transparent, ethereal look.

I created my composition using chipboard pieces, different Mechanicals and two air dry clay wings.

After coating everything with Heavy White Gesso, I painted my “Moon Spirit” using Art Alchemy Waxes, Pale Silver Mica Powder and Metallique and Impasto paints.

To finish my project, I added a few Bronze Micro Beads using 3D Matte Gel, some Sparks Unicorn's Hair paint and a few touches of glitter from the Ebony&Ivory set.

Here is my video where you can watch my creative process and see the products I used.

Enjoy and have fun!

Let me leave you with this quote by Dejan Stojanovic:

“… To be a lantern in the darkness 

Or an umbrella on a stormy day; 

To feel much more than know…"

I hope you're feeling inspired. :)

Have a lovely day, my friends,

Sanda xoxo

Products used:

New Finnabair Products! {Reveal Part 2}

My Friends -

As you know, I've been doing a happy dance finally being able to share with you all

the brand new products of mine!

You can find the first part of the reveal in this post and on Prima blog where you will also find the stunning creations of my Creative Team Artists - make sure you don't miss these beauties!

I'd also like to thank you for your wonderful feedback and such a warm welcome of my new art supplies... I just can't wait to see what you'll make with them!

And now, let me present the rest of my new 'art babies' and join in my happy dance. :)

First, I've added 8 delicious new colors of Art Alchemy Metallique paints - there are some tones there which I was missing for a long time in my palette - I'm so excited they are finally here!

You can take a closer look at these jars in this post on Prima.

As always I'm crazy curious to hear which tones are especially close to your hearts! :)

And what use is there of paints without some really good paintbrushes, right?

So here we go:

As you can see, these flat round Brushes come in 3 sizes

and work beautifully with stencils, paints, texture pastes and waxes.

Last but not least, it's time for some lovely new Mechanicals Flowers:

How do you like my January surprises? :)
If you need more info and inspirations, head right ahead to Prima blog where you will see absolutely brilliant artworks of my Team Artists - and again, I'm in love with each of these creations...

As for me, I really couldn't wait to try my new colours of Metallique paints. :)

I've started the project with a bit of my new Paper Paste (I love this texture so much!) and a Doily stencil.

Then, when the composition was ready and painted with Snow White Impasto Paint, I used 3 colors of my new Art Alchemy Metallique Paints: Red Wine, Ice Queen and Royal Blue and added them to my cover.

I love how my Metallique paints react with water - they reveal many more color tones than I could ever expect... it's a real magic!

This "wet acrylic" technique is so very rewarding and great for those of you who are afraid of spraying - it's much easier to add a touch of color with a brush and water it down than to spray precisely in the spot!

Like all the paints from the Metallique line, these new colors also add the most beautiful shimmer too!

I added some finishing touches with Art Metallique White Gold Wax and added some Metallique paint splatters - and I have to tell you I'm really happy with the results!

So here they all are... Please, let me know which products you'd like to see on your desk! :)
They should be available near you beginning of February and meanwhile, keep an eye on all of my social media - me and my Teamies will be presenting all kinds of delicious creative possibilities!

xx

Joy In The Ordinary

Hello everyone!

It's time to reach into your special little boxes and drawers and make use of all your favorite collections!
Everything might come in handy: pretty vintage buttons, feathers picked up on a walk, seashells brought home from holidays - anything that makes your heart sing - Juliya has just a perfect inspiration to turn these treasures into beautiful mixed media art! Enjoy!

PS. I hope you didn't miss the news about my brand new products! Make sure you keep an eye on this place and Prima blog for more of my new "art babies" to come! :)

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Hello friends! I'm here today to share my latest artwork. I made a very special canvas inspired by little joys that we can find on the seashore or by a river.
I love collecting all kinds of nature's treasures like twigs or seashells and I'm sure many of you will know the feeling of great joy when you find just the perfect piece for you! :)
Some people might call it trash but for others these little found objects can be a source of happiness and inspiration to make art.

I hope I'll tempt you with this project of mine to use your collections and create some great mixed media pieces!

First, on my canvas base I glued a piece of fabric using opaque matte Modeling Paste. It was very easy to arrange all the folds while the paste was still wet.

Then I added a shell that is my focal point here and all the pretty embellishments like Mechanicals, little pieces of wood, buttons and other pretty little trinkets.

Heavy Body Gel is an ideal tool for this job - glueing heavier elements is super easy with this thick gel that holds everything in place very firmly and becomes transparent when dry.

When I was happy with my composition of embellishments, I decided to make it even more interesting and wrapped the whole canvas with some white string. You will see how I did it in my video tutorial below.

Then I took a palette knife and added Art Extravagance Black Sand Texture Paste. It created a gorgeous texture imitating sand and foam.

I wanted to achieve an illusion of water running over the objects thrown ashore, an impression of foam and bubbles, the ebb and flow...

When the Black Sand Paste was dry, I whitewashed all the decorations and the paste with Heavy White Gesso and then added some White Crackle Paste.

When the Paste is dried and cracked, you can start adding delicious colors. I reached for Summer Sky Mica Powder - my favorite tone among all the Finnabair's Mica Powders that create such gorgeous sparkle and shine!

You know what happens when water plays with things for a long time? Objects lose their gloss and get covered with rust, right? Well, we do have just perfect products to create a super easy and very believable rust effect! :)

I painted the 'star' of my project - the beautiful shell with Cobalt Impasto paint and Deep Waters Metallique one. Then I decorated it with sparkly Art Ingredients Glass Glitter and Micro Beads. 

Then I added Red and Yellow Rust Pastes, tinted with Metallique and Sparks acrylic paints (see all the links below).

Finally, some accents with drybrushed White Gesso, the sentiments, a little bit of freehand stamping and my canvas was ready!

I love how everything beautifully glitters and shimmers and I'm happy with this illusion of flowing water and all the organic effects.

And now, please enjoy my step by step video!



 

I really like this reminder from my canvas:
Find joy in the ordinary and be curious.
 

After all, sometimes, for complete happiness, you just need to find this special little thing that other people might consider rubbish, but for you it's a real treasure.

A simple little joy hidden in ordinary objects...

xx
Juliya







Products used: