Before S&AA

Been under the weather with a stinking head cold of late which just won't shift so I have no new art to share this week other than drawings dug out of the archives from the days before "Stamping & Altered Art". Back then I was more comfortable working in monotones as you can tell!

Puffin 1983 (poster paint)

Stork 1983 (poster paint)

Brian the Boa 1985 (pencil)

Brian was my pet Boa Constrictor who shared a room with me in the nurses home in England back in the days when I was a nurse. On a wet Sunday afternoon with little else to do I decided to draw him whilst he was settled on his favourite branch......he was just a baby then about 2 foot long. Unfortunately by the time he had grown to about 6 foot, a rumour had spread throughout the nurses' home that someone had a snake in their room & a few of the Thai nurses were becoming a little paranoid about encountering a snake on the loose, so Brian had to be found a new home much to my dismay :(

This has always been one of my favourite drawings apart from the log he was resting on....that was pretty naff, wish I had drawn that better at the time!

Alstromeria 1982 (pencil)

More Crackle....

Individual Liberty - Rubber Stamp by Acey Deucy

Traditions

These latest backgrounds are a little too dark & I tried to lighten the 2nd one by applying a thin coat of gesso on top then sanded it in places so it wasn't so "flat".....think I'll stick to the lighter crackle background in future!

You may or may not have noticed that I've added a Flickr link & button to my sidebar which lists all my available ATC's for trade, so if you fancy trading with me drop me a line.......Keep checking back as new cards will be added as they are made, look forward to trading with you : )

Crackle backgrounds

Decided to get the crackle medium out again this weekend & have a play, the thing is, once the backgrounds were done, I had trouble finding the right images to complement them & in the end decided on the above butterflies.

I use the Folk Art Crackle Medium which is dead easy to use in 3 simple steps:

1. Paint your card with a basecoat of acrylic paint (this will be the colour that shows through
the cracks), leave to dry.
2. Next apply one coat of crackle medium (thin coat for small cracks, thick coat for large cracks)
& leave to dry.
3. Finally apply your topcoat of acrylic paint over the crackle layer ensure you use long smooth
even strokes & don't overlap or go over an area again as this will obscure the crackles which
form as soon as the topcoat is applied. For web-like cracking you can sponge on the topcoat....
have to admit that I haven't tried that one yet though!

Fish Poste

This ATC was made with one of the tissue paper backgounds from the post below.....I also stippled some Patina Green Glaze by Goldens through some plastic square mesh on top of the rust. Rubber stamps used by Ma Vinci's Reliquary from the USP(mes)S Sheet.....and here's another with red acrylic paint added.

Fish Poste II

Max Update: Thanks for all the hugs & cuddles for Max,(if he could type I'm sure he'd be writing this himself!) he's still doing fine on his medication...just gets a little breathless but not in any pain whatsoever : )