Summer of color ; Forest Dragonfly

This is this weeks Summer of color piece.
below are the colours of this weeks palette. As you can see I did something a little different this week.

Lavender/grey/plum

I used a great woodland mask I have and usd only part of it to paste modelling paste onto a wooden panel.

I also used a sequin waste sheet to stencil through circle shapes to add more texture.

Then some spray inks and embossing powder.

The dragonfly is made from silk which I machine embroidered and then stiffened with sparkle modpodge.

I made several wings for use with more projects :)

Linking up to summer of color

and also paint party friday

seaside blue dragonflies and thistles

 Another thistle and Dragonfly panel. This time I used iridescent  blues and heather colours. I think it has a bit of a seaside feel.
As usual I do find it difficult to get a true photo of the colour as I use light reflective mediums,
 ( does anyone have any advice on photographing reflective pieces?)

began with a collaged wooden panel.

Added a bit of cosmic shimmer over the paper, moulding paste and Gesso

worked out where to place the fabric elements.

Close up of some textures. Silvery accents around the wings. The textured effect is made up with layers of foil, the foil shows through in places creating a warm glow.

It is Mayday holiday in the UK this weekend so I plan to take a few days off and put my feet up. :)

Linking to Paint Party Friday

playing with cosmic shimmer WOYWW

A couple of things on the go this week.
Another collaged panel. I am preparing the background layers and will later add some thistles and a Dragonfly ( If you are reading LLJ hope you like the colours so far ;) )

bit of a close up to show you some of the texture, much of it will change with layers and sanding but this gives me a starting point. I use a lot of cosmic shimmer inks, I love them! They are however devilishly messy, but I don't mind about that.

 Secondly, this week another little person started life on the bench. I like to have several bits on the go. I flit between them so when one is drying I can work on the other.

 No... she is not a mermaid!....
To be honest the piece of wood I found as too small for a tail so I gave her a little dress instead. She was blonde... for a while, but as many young ladies do, decided she fancied her hair darker.

Much better....

and this is how far I am up to....

 She now carries a little heart. :)
nearly finished.

Linking up to WOYWW where lots of creative souls share what the week has brought to their workdesks.

Dragonfly and thistles

As you know I have been sewing lots of thistles recently.

These ones are made from silk, I then glue them onto small wooden panels which I have collaged with papers and textured pastes and glue.

The dragonfly is made from silk too.

 I covered the wings with sparkle modpodge glue which stiffened them and meant I could place the dragonfly partially over the edge of the wooden panel.
 Finally to finish two little beaded eyes.

Linking up to paint party Friday

Little landscapes

On Wednesday I posted my progress on my little landscape panels which I have been playing with this week. I wanted to experiment on a small scale at first but may try this out on a much larger scale.
 They went from this......

To this....
Now spring is in the air here I am filled with thoughts of summer sunshine!

 I added some fabric thistles. I like to use fabric as another collaged element.

But something was missing.....

Dragonflies! Made from re-cycled plastic which I rescued from my bin they began as lemonade bottles which I cut and then melted with my heat gun.

Linking up this week to.

Paint Party Friday!
 and also
Collage Obsession Who's prompt is weather.... here's hoping for a summer of sunshine and dragonflies.

Little pieces of Skye

Mixed media on re-cycled wood

This week I have been making more Dragonflies out of waste acetate packaging, the see through panels that so often front cardboard boxes.  After cutting out the shapes I painted them lightly in iridescent medium and then after gluing them to a small collaged wood panel used a heat gun on them to gently bend the wings.( if you try this do it in a ventilated area as plastic fumes are not good)

The above photos show a side close up which gives an idea of the 3D effect. I painted the edges of the panels with black gesso.

close up detail

I have been working on a number of small collaged wooden pieces. I thought it would be nice to call them 'little pieces of Skye' as they use colours and forms evocative of the landscape of the Scottish Island of Skye where my family have a small croft house nestled between the sea and the mountains.

Now of course the landscape lacks the bright heather and soft greens, but I am usual am dreaming of warmer weather.....
........When the breeze from the sea bends the stems of the wild flowers bringing bright beautiful dragonflies out from their hiding places.

I have used lots of iridescent medium to make the emerald greens really shimmer like leaded glass. I also used some cosmic shimmer mist which is a favourite product of mine at the moment.

Linking to Paint Party Party Friday
And The Artists Playroom

Dragonfly dish

Collaged Plastic

 You may remember my mermaid bowl I completed a couple of weeks ago.

Well I loved the idea of working in 3D and creating little 'objects of desire' which I could collage. The bamboo bowl was bought plain and then covered in paper and paint. Over Christmas I kept a lot of packaging I would normally have thrown away into to the re-cycle bin , I really wanted to use an object which would otherwise be discarded; Plastic seemed the right choice  as I had loads of it..but....

.......can you collage Plastic??? 

I thought I would find out.....

I first of all covered a clean empty plastic pate container in tissue paper and PVA glue making a base for paint. It also created an organic crinkly texture.

I then cut  a few little Dragonfly from more waste plastic packaging.

 The transparent cellophane was perfect for the translucent wings.I painted a metallic medium onto the wings to make them glisten.
I used violet acrylic to cover the tissue paper base.

I then went over the black body in textured silver paint

 The organic tendrils were made with a hot glue gun. When dry and cool I used bronze acrylic paint over the raised surface.

small beads were used for the eyes

So YES!! it is possible to collage plastic and make something out of nothing!

 Linking up this week to The Artists Playroom

 and Paint party friday

Also for the first time WOYWW ( what's on your work desk wednesday)

'Summer on Skye'

It's getting chilly and the days are growing shorter, so here is a little piece of late summer to warm your day.
I made several large mixed media canvas during the summer. Most for the Skyeworks Gallery on the Isle of Skye. This one however went to a dear friend who loves Skye.
For those who have been following me you will notice the thistles  again ( My favourite summer theme)

Inspiration Avenues theme this week is 'faces' and I thought it would be nice to throw two woolly faces into the mix!

The Highlands of Scotland are filled with them...White dots scattered over the heather coloured landscape.The soft bleating often the only sound to break the silence.
Every turn in the road ...they are there....
Sheep....

This one was just waiting by the roadside waiting to be photographed!

You can go for quite a few days without seeing a human face in these parts, but few days go past without crossing paths with a 'Scottish blackface' or a 'Cheviot'.

They don't have a lot of road sense!

This collaged canvas started life as something rather different... a pair of stags, I loved the idea of the deer but it just didn't seem to work, and decided drastic action was needed!

They morphed into sheep! At this stage black faced sheep, but I didn't like the black, so...

 A bit of a white gesso and a quick change of breed!

I like them better as 'Cheviot ' white faced sheep. You can also see here one of the little collaged Dragonflies. The day after I finished the canvas I saw a beautiful dragonfly on the path down to the sea, he was gorgeous.

Dragonfly

I wished I could take better closeups...but you can just about make him out!

The thistles are collaged with handmade paper.

I have a couple more Summer Skyescapes left to show you, which I will do over the next few weeks.

Linking up to Inspiration Avenue and Paint party Friday this week.