The trouble with tribbles...

The problem with multiple WIPS is that there are no pictures to share. Hope to post something tomorrow...

Introducing....Cerulea

La Sirene dans le mer.

Cerulea loves to swim in the ocean where the jellies are. She is a little shy, but believes in possibilites.

I have included a little photomontage of the process.

Step one: paint background	Step 2: collage background
Step 3: cut out and glue on picture	Step 4: Add hair and texture
Step 5: Add background pics	Step 6: Painted background picture
Step 7: Added wax

Art, Heart and Healing

While continuing my search to learn as much as I can, while I am leave, I came across classes run by Tam at Willowing. Tam offers some amazing classes. To my delight I found that she is offering a free 4 week course titled: Art, Heart and Healing. It is amazing opportunity. About 1000 other people think so too.

Anyway, Week 1 was about silencing the inner critic. Although I do not have all the right media, I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

It's okay if it all goes Pear Shape: 'cause no matter how low the candle burns, there will always be a flame

Adding Beeswax without an Iron

I finally got around to adding the beeswax to my painting. I just wanted to share with you the technique I used, since I do not have access to the quilting (or any) iron.

I used a sheet of beeswax - designed for candle making. The reason was that it was a cheap way to have a play, at around Au$3.50 a sheet. I also thought that it would be really quick and easy to melt.

I wanted to emulate Suzi as much as I could, so I used a metal pallete knife and a heat gun (designed for use with embossing powders etc). Instead of melting the whole sheet, and applying with a paint brush, I tore off tiny pieces of wax and stuck them in various spots over the painting. Each piece was about 0.5cm in diameter. I then heated the wax until it melted, and smoothed it out with the pallete knife. Sometimes it was necessary to keep the heat on the knife as I spread out the wax. I also tilted the painting to allow the liquid was to travel further. Any areas that went cloudy were simply reheated.

I am delighted with the result - yay for Suzi. I really like how the different elements are unified like she said they would be. I did not put wax over her body or face, since I have not coloured her with Prismacolour pencils. I also left the largest jellyfish uncovered, so that the other two would appear further in the background.

Suzi Blu

 
I am in art student mode. I have some time away from work, and want to learn as much as I can. I also want to be able to do the art in my own time. Mother to two young children means that attending art classes is often not practical. So I went online to search for classes.

I have enrolled in this super, fabulous online class -La Sirena with Suzi Blu. I am learning so much about drawing faces and mixed media. I am learning about my inner artist. Yes, she was actually there the whole time. Who knew.