Appreciating The Masters

It's that Funkie time of the fortnight at Frilly & Funkie! This time I am hosting the challenge, and it seems it really is a challenge! Their has been some fretting over this...even by moi. Well, here's the deal...let's pay homage to any of the four big Renaissance Men (or Ninja Turtles...NOT) who have inspired us all at one time or another - Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello,  Raphael. Show a project depicting any one or more of their works, tell which it is, and who created it. Here are a few to get your creative juices flowing.

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino

I am super proud to be apart of this Design Team...amazing talent and creativity abound here! You must check out their projects if you need to fill your mind with inspiration!         

Linda Coughlin - The Funkie Junkie

Marjie Kemper - She Who Stamps and Scraps 

Teresa Kline - Paperie Blooms

Terry Horrall -  Terry's Work In Progress 

Sue Carrington - Stamping Sue Style 

Tammy Roberts - Paperie Sweetness

I have to tell you, that I had this whole project mapped and planned out in my art journal for weeks, but when it came time to execute the encaustic fresco on canvas that I imagined, using a few of Da Vinci's handwritten plans, his Mona Lisa, and a small portion of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, I just stared at two blank canvases for about a week until I was brave enough to just start throwing colors and mediums together. I was so afraid to screw this one up. It's the Masters after all. But screw up I did. My completed project only mimics my journal about 75%. I made a huge booboo with a stamp, and just couldn't bear to scrap it, and had no time to start over, so booboo became an Italian distressed and crumbling plaster wall...sort of. Then there is Mona, or should I call her Moan-a?!? She gave me fits and kept distorting her face to cause me grief while she snickered. I did the best I could under these circumstances. She is such a mischievous diva!

There are only two pictures of the making of this...I got so wrapped up in creating that I forgot to take pictures. I applied gesso very thickly to create ridges of texture and to prime the surface of these 6x8 inch flat canvas boards.

I misted water over the canvas and then added various colors of Distress Stains. I did this several times to achieve my color.  I stamped my images in Coffee Archival Ink. I used Acrylic Paint Dabbers and Claudine Hellmuth Acrylic Paint to create the plastic and gold scroll and borders. Gold Alcohol Ink was used to color all of the metal accents. For the Mona and Creation of Adam, I stamped the images to get a border and then painted them in with acrylic paints and Distress Markers. Flowers, wire, hinges, and the sentiments completed the canvas.

 

I am submitting this to The Sunday Stamper's challenge of "Gold", and to Simon Says Stamp & Show's challenge of "What Do You Say". I say, "Create Art!"

Supplies:

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Inkssentials Water Mister (FJ)	Distress Stain In Aged Mahogany	Distress Stain In Antique Linen (FJ)	Distress Stain In Rusty Hinge
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Vintage Photo	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Bundled Sage	Distress Stain In Tumbled Glass (FJ)	Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap White	Adirondack Gold Acrylic Paint Dabber (FJ)
Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Markers - Set of 37	Fancy Corners - Filigree Metals for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	Idea-ology Ornate Plates	Idea-ology Long Fasteners (FJ)
Ranger Adirondack Metallic Mixatives - Gold & Silver	Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator, Stamp Handle and Felt

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!

I Verday'd The Day Away!!!

I was very fortunate to be able to attend a Ten Seconds Studio Verday class last weekend! Yes...these were the ladies that just won Craft Wars on TLC.  Cheryl and Megan, a mother daughter duo, are famous around creative parts for their heavy metal ways! Verday is a cool paint system that transforms a surface into the look of patina-ed metal. Those of us who took the class had seven hours of Verday play and we made a ton of stuff. Here are just a few of the items, and let me tell you, that you get so hooked on antiquing things, that you just want to keep going. This is fun stuff!

4 Sheets Of Heavy Kraft Before...

And After

More Paper And A Frame

A Mini Book

A Sugar Mold

A Canvas Tote Bag

And, here I am (no make-up) with the ladies of the hour themselves! They were super fun and so knowledgeable!

Craft Wars seems to be a little controversial among artists and crafters. There is a lot of talk about it on blogs and such, and I can see it both ways. It's great to have the exposure for our industry and craft, but art is so subjective and personal, so how can one piece be better than the other? There are definitely pros and cons here. All I know is this...television is pretty much for entertainment anymore. So many of the shows on prime time are filled with inappropriate things for families. There is so little that I allow my children to watch anymore. It's kind of nice to see a show that deals with sort of what we do and who we actually know. After watching it, you go away actually learning from it, and the whole family can watch it together. I know that when I watch it, I am not thinking of a winner or loser. I just want to know more about their work as well as see more of what they create. That's how I learn after all, and I just love the conversations I am having with my children about creating things with their own hands. Art makes me happy!!!

I hope your hands get creatively dirty soon!