Sunshine, please...

Hello all!  Isn't it typical?  Just at the point when I could really do with some sunlight for photographing a project, it's set in as a grey, drizzly day.  So I'm sharing this A4 canvas now, but I might be back another time with some updated sunny pictures!

This is one of those ones that got me out of bed early, demanding to be made.

Its principal inspirations are Polish, one way and another: the papers, and some of the embellishments are by Finnabair (a.k.a. Anna Dabrowska)...















... and as well as her influence I've also been hugely inspired by the work of Czekoczyna (a.k.a. Kasia Krzyminska)...

... and on top of that, before my recent stint working away from home, I'd ordered some sprays and inks from the Polish mixed media shop 13Arts, and was dying to have a play with them.











I started by tearing and layering strips of Finnabair's fabulous From Sunrise to Sunset papers for Prima.

I glued some more of the Prima papers to a piece of card and used the WordPlay die to cut the lettering I wanted for the words which had forced me out of bed earlier...











Next step was to gather lots of metal flowers, some from the Finnabair collection, some Idea-ology, and some filigree pieces I got from various other places, including the Funkie Junkie Boutique.














I did some stencilling with Distress Inks (mainly Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade, with some Wild Honey and Worn Lipstick thrown in) using the little flower stencil from the same collection.










Then I added some little polka dots of texture paste, as well as smearing areas with paste fairly randomly, and patting it to texturise it.

I used my favourite script stamp from the Tim Holtz Apothecary set to add a bit of texty texture to the background too - which you might just be able to see on this picture.












Once the papers and flowers were all stuck down, I covered the whole flower arrangement with a coat of gesso.










Then the spritzing started.  As well as the 13Arts sprays, there are some Dylusions sprays and some Glimmer Mists involved.

I also did a bit of dry brushing with Haystack Fresco paint, and added some Glimmer Glaze at some point too.









In the meantime the rest of the canvas was obviously getting slightly spritzed, and I made sure to carry the colours over the edges, to create that dimensional look that I love so much.

Of course, the stencilling and texture paste had already taken a trip over the edge too.

Because the canvas was now quite inky, I decided the lettering would pop better if I layered in some more strips of paler paper for the letters to go onto - torn and inked around the edges, of course.

The inbetween words are Idea-ology AlphaParts, the Ransom set, painted white and then inked and glazed a little to tone in.

Quite a good view of some of the texture paste here, too...

Love when you can get colour and dimension and texture even into the words - that's pretty much my day job right there!











Some ripping and rolling to give the papers some edge and dimension - it also brings some white highlighting into play by revealing the unspritzed canvas or paper beneath.















The final touch was to add some Rock Candy Crackle Glaze to all the corners...

... and a touch of DecoArt Gloss Glaze to the flower arrangement.














This has the effect of really bringing the colours back to life - as they can sometimes get a bit dull once they're dry. 

Now all I need is some sunshine so that I can take some proper sparkly pictures!












Thanks so much for stopping by today.  If it's raining on you too, I hope it hasn't dampened your spirits too much!

Those who bring sunshine to others cannot keep it from themselves.
J.M.Barrie

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air...
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keep your face to the sun, and you will never see the shadows.
Helen Keller



I'd like to enter this in the following:
Just in time for the Summer Sizzler at Country View Crafts' Challenge Site
At the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge they're creating an Ode to Sunshine
At Tando Creative Challenges they're interested in our inspiration from a Favourite Artist - Finnabair and Czekoczyna are going to have to take dual honours for this




Oh, and I'm also over at Artistic Outpost today with a little re-visit of a triple tag in one of my more usual colour palettes - worth a look, I think, if you missed it the first time around, though I do say so myself.

Happy Crafting all!