Self Propelled Flowers with Tracy Moreau

Nothing invokes the spirit of Summer like the flutter of butterflies. Southern Ridge Trading has such wonderful chipboard butterflies in a wide variety of sizes and styles. They make great additions to any design.. toss in one of their delicate and intricate frames and you have more structure to build your design on. I love that I can add design elements to some of my mixed media work, so easily! The chip board takes paint easily and smoothly, and the resulting finishes are soooo pretty! This is an easy piece , very little painting skill is required,  and it is such a bright and sunny reminder that Summer will soon be here!!

I started with a base of a Warm White or a Light Buttermilk , you can use Gesso too.. as long as the base is light in colour.

once that was dry I used DecoArt Matt Medium to adhere the paper to the surface. I used a small brayer to press it down firmly.

I began adding colour, starting with the Magenta at the bottom, then adding Diarylide Yellow in the centre and over lapping the red, then from the top down and over lapping the yellow I used Cobalt Teal Hue. The Media Colours are quite transparent so this makes it easy to get those lovely blended colours.

I cut out the printed butterfly , and used Matt Medium to adhere it to the left side of the panel. I let the bulk of the left wing extend past the edge of the panel. I then started adding colour to the wings , first a wash of the Yellow , then a float of the Cobalt Teal Hue over the edges of the wings, and finally I added the Magenta to a few areas of the wings. I based the body with Lamp Black. I added a few shadows around the butterfly with a float of Asphaltum.

I sponged the frame with bronze metallic, and then added a few dabs of the Cobalt teal and the magenta here and there.

I cut a piece of  card stock to fit the back of the frame and stamped it with a Script Stamp ( I was not very neat .. I kinda like the irregularities it creates.) Then I washed the card stock with some thinned asphaltum.

I painted the chipboard butterflies with with Lamp Black and then added the wing details  to one with Sea Breeze and Diarylide Yellow and then added a few White dip dots.

Assembly:

I glued the card stock piece, to the back of the frame and then Glued the Butterfly to the middle. When it was dry, I glued two small wood blocks to the back.

I cut out the words with edging scissors and then  I decoupaged them in place using the Matt Medium.

I spattered the whole piece first with thinned Lamp Black and then again with thinned Warm White.

I traced the edges of the Large Butterfly with Pebeo Fixation relief ( dimensional adhesive.) And when that was dry I pressed Gold Foil into it. I aged the edges of the panel with the Black Ink Pad.

For this project you need:

Southern Ridge Trading Company Supplies Used:

- Butterfly Trio

- Butterfly Mix

- Small Oval Frame

Other Supplies Used:

- 6x6 Art Panel: www.vikingwoodcrafts.com

- DecoArt Americana: Media Fluid Acryclics - Primary Magenta, Cobalt Teal Hue, Diarylide Yellow, Matt Medium and DecoArt Americana Acrylics - Asphaltum, Lamp Black, Warm White & 24 Kt Gold

- Dynasty Faux Squirrel Brushes: 1/2 Angle, #8 Fat Shader and Dynasty Encaustic - 1/2 Oval

- Pebeo: Fixation Relief & Gold Foil

- Stampendous Stamps: Script Stamp - CRP249

- Tim Holtz Ideaology: Tissue Paper

- Misc: Shop Towels

Designed By Tracy Moreau

www.tracymoreau.net

Zen Garden Dragonfly with Tracy Moreau

This month the entire design team fell in love with the Zen Dragonfly chipboard piece, which can be found under the New Releases tab.  So, we decided as a team that one of our projects this month would use this piece. Tracy is kicking off our Zen Dragonfly projects with this beautiful piece she has created. Read below and learn how Tracy created her piece.

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I loved the intricacy of this wonderful ZEN Dragon fly from Southern Ridge Trading Company, it is delicate and decidedly elegant. It lends itself well to metallics , the New Extreme Sheen Metallics from DecoArt are a perfect  addition to create the  iridescent quality that is associated with dragonflies. The Striking mirror like finish and dimensional effects of the Pebeo Gedeo dimensional Adhesive and the MIRROR foil, adds sparkle and softens the edges of the floral.

This is a really easy piece with some simple but fun techniques.

I started with a 6 x 6 wooden art panel ( these are great for Mixed media as they are very stable substrate.) I based it Lamp Black, then Stencilled the harlequin pattern on using 4 different  Extreme Sheen metallics! 24kt Gold, Copper, Aquamarine and Sapphire. I then drew a crisp clean line of 18kt Gold to border the harlequin. (18kt Gold Leaf Pen from Krylon)

I cut out the print of the line drawing of the Rose with decoupage scissors, getting as close as I could to the edges. I then decoupaged the paper to the panel. (Roughly centred)

I then added tints of colour to the Leaves and the rose petals using DecArt Fluid acrylics, Prussian Blue, Primary Magenta. Pthalo Green and Green Gold. Once the colour was dry, I outlined the Rose petals and leaves with Pebeo Gedeo ( Dimensional Adhesive) and set it aside to dry. Then I rubbed over the raised adhesive with Pebeo Gedeo MIRROR. (Metallic Foil)

I dabbed each of those same metallic colours used in the background, onto the Dragonfly using a cosmetic sponge. I allowed the colours to blend in places and over lap in others,  Giving the dragonfly a bit of a patina.  I then glued 4 small pieces of wood( Painted Black) to the back of the dragon fly. I think the added height gives this piece a bit more impact. When the glue was dry, I glued the Dragonfly to the surface  allowing the wings to extend past the edges of the panel, accentuating the height.

Southern Ridge Trading Company Products Used:

- Zen Dragonfly

Other Supplies Used:

- 6 x 6 Wooden Artists Panel (www.deserres.ca)

- DecoArt Extreme Sheen Metallics: Copper, 24kt Gold, Sapphire and Aquamarine (www.DecoArt.com)

- DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Prussian Blue, Green Gold, Pthalo Green and Primary Magenta (www.DecoArt.com)

- DecoArt Decoupage Matte

- DecoArt Americana Acrylic: Asphaltum

- Pebeo Gedeo Mixtion Relief: Dimensional Adhesive 

- Pebeo Gedeo Mirror Effect Leaves: Gold Foil

- Krylon 18kt Gold Leaf Pen (www.krylon.com)

 - Dynasty Tracy Moreau Stencil Brush (www.thebrushguys.com)

- Dynasty Faux Squirrel 1827 Brushes 1/2 Angle (www.thebrushguys.com)

Thanks for joining me today!

- Tracy