Harvinaisen Kaunis Elämä: art daily cafe team

Showing posts with label art daily cafe team. Show all posts

Thursday, 30 June 2022

Art Daily Cafe June 2022

Hello friends,

For a person loving books and creating journals, this month’s theme was absolute treat. Only, it was nearly impossible to choose one among millions of ideas! In the end, I decided to go with a sea themed project. This way I could combine treasures from our summer travels and an over hundred years old book about sea creatures from Helsinki University that I had started to work with for another project but found out the pages were too fragile.

I had already taken out most of the pages from the book, and there were only maybe 1/3 left, so this was a quick project to create. (If you want to do a similar project, take most of the pages out, and leave only signature pages. This way your book should not fall apart.) Next step was to rip the pages horizontally. I opened the book from the middle and starting from the lower part of the pages I ripped the pages, layer by larger, making sure each layer was slightly wider than the previous one. Then I crumbled and ripped and twisted the layers to look a bit like very vintage paper waves and added some heavy Body Gel here and there among the page layers. It didn’t need much, as the crumbled layers held themselves quite easily, especially after I primed them with white Heavy Gesso.

Making sure each page and corner, everything exposed to later paint layers, were primed with white or clear gesso, I added Heavy Body Gel in places the pages were still loose, and let everything dry.

Next step was to add seashells and driftwood onto the paper nooks with Heavy Body Gel, and mixture of Mini Art Stones and Mega Art Stones (and attached with Heavy Body Gel) between them and the paper layers, to create sand and sea foam effect. I also added some buttons to give a nice round effect to contrast all the horizontal and vertical lines of the book. After letting everything dry, I added a layer of Soft Matte Gel on top of the art stones to make sure they will stay where they should, when I add paint.

I did not use much paint, as the vintage book itself had such a lovely beige colour, so I only mixed some Dark Chocolate and Pitch Black Impasto and added some watery shadowing into the paper edges, and after it was completely dry, added another layer with Manor Blue and Snow White Impastos on top, and to give a bit lighter tone of brown, a drop of Liquid Acrylic Burnt Sienna here and there. It needed some highlighting, so I run a very thin lines of Sparks Ancient Coin paint along the page edges.

The next day, when I was certain everything was completely dry, I added some waxes as a finishing touch. I am yet to discover a project Vintage Silk wax does not rise to a next level. I love how it turns any project into a gentler version of itself. And it did the trick this time, too, a light shimmer, a whisper of sunlight, a thread of hope. I also added some White Pearl to imitate glistening sea, and matte wax Old White as contrast.

I thought about adding some text (or some drawn seagulls) on the upper part of the book but decided against it. Sometimes it is fun to leave the imagination fly free and space for your own thoughts to emerge.

This project was almost quicker to create than to write this, so don’t be intimidated by the length of my writing; it’s easy, it’s fun, and you cannot go wrong with an old book and some summer treasures!

Wishing, as always, all things gentle and beautiful,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-clear

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-soft-matte-gel

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-body-gel

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-art-stones-mini

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-mega-art-stones

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-pitch-black

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-dark-chocolate

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-snow-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-manor-blue

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-liquid-acrylic-burnt-sienna

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-metallique-ancient-coin

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-metallique-wax-white-pearl

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-opal-magic-wax-vintage-silk

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-matte-wax-old-white

Monday, 30 May 2022

Art Daily Cafe May 2022

Hello friends,

Little Thoughts may be little in size, but sometimes they can still speak in volumes. Here is an example. A tiny page with a single print, a single sentence, and two colours (ok, and lace, silk ribbon, and vintage silk yarn) may be small in size, but it has a heart of a giant. The lovely theme of the month underlined the beautiful, uplifting message.

I created the journal spread my tiny Little Thoughts art journal, the cover size approx. 7 cm x 10 cm. Here’s how I did it.

First, I glued a tiny vintage receipt the size of the whole journal spread on top of the coffee dyed paper, and primed the pages with Clear Gesso, crinkling and folding the receipt edges on the go. Then I added white Heavy Gesso here and there, and that was all I did with the actual pages.

Next, I dyed some silk ribbon, cheese cloth, and lace with green and pink Mica Powders from Vintage Roses and Golden Hour sets (a tutorial video of the process here: https://youtu.be/CCPbR9oRpGo ), and layered them onto the ages, together with a spring green vintage silk yarn, and glued the print and a stamped quote on top.

Then I glued some lace onto the edges of the pages and stitched mica dyed silk ribbon on top and used the leftover silk ribbon bits to get more dimension around the print and quote. The print looked a bit dull, but I did not change it, as was the idea of the month; don’t hide your mistakes but uplift them. So, with a white pen, I doodled some marks on top, and it did uplift and lighten the print!

Wishing, as always, all things gentle and beautiful,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-clear

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-mica-powder-set-vintage-roses

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-mica-powder-set-golden-hour

Tuesday, 10 May 2022

Art Daily Cafe April 2022

Hello friends,

Silence… It has so much to say if we stop to listen to it, breathe it, feel it. I tried to capture the gentleness of silence into a journal page. Which wasn’t easy, by the way, as silence can easily turn into something cold, harsh, empty, if you let it.

First, I added vintage musical sheets onto the edges of the journal spread. (Bach – because if silence had a sound, it would be Bach’s.) Then I added bits of fabric tape (the one they used for ice hockey, that one) here and there, glued a sweet girlie print in place, and primed everything with a light layer of white Heavy Gesso. Next, I used Paper Texture Paste and Irish Tapestry stencil for gentle dimension that would frame the pages.

I stamped some lace and flower images in black to get contrast, and with Liquid Acrylics Ink Black and Burnt Sienna, painted the page edges. I also painted over the stamped images to get them look more free hand looking, and after the paint had dried, doodled with white pen on top of them, so they look more like sketches than stamped images.

I added some bits of my own poems to create the feeling I wanted for this silence to have and added gentle light in form of Gold Metallic Flakes (and Gilding Glue). With Dragon’s Eye Spark paint, I added some splashes of light all over the pages.

Wishing you a gentle month filled with silent, loving light,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://www.primamarketinginc.com/product/art-extravagance-paper-paste-250-ml/

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-liquid-acrylic-ink-black

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-liquid-acrylic-burnt-sienna

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-sparks-dragons-eye

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-finnabair-stencil-iris-tapestry

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-extravagance-gilding-glue

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-ingredients-metallic-flakes-gold

Friday, 11 March 2022

Art Daily Cafe March

Hello friends

Gardens are magical places, and this month’s theme inspired me to create a soft vintage style art journal page.

I layered some vintage papers on top of (coffee dyed) pages and primed everything with a light layer of white Heavy Gesso. Passiflora stencil seemed like a perfect choice for the garden theme; I used Modeling Paste to get the airy climber look.

I made collage for the pages using prints, cheese cloth, lace, and stitched a button in there, and added a quote suitable for the theme.

I added a layer of Clear Gesso to the prints to protect them, and with a very light touch of Impastos Pitch Black and Chocolate Brown, I highlighted the parts I wanted to stand out more.

Wishing you an enchanted month filled with light,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-soft-matte-gel

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-modeling-paste

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-clear

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-pitch-black

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-alchemy-impasto-paint-dark-chocolate

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-finnabair-stencil-passiflora

Friday, 11 February 2022

Art Daily Cafe - February 2022

Hello friends,

This months’ wonderful theme and deliciously, marvelously soft mood board inspired me to create a gentle art journal page for my unfinished vintage style art journal. Here’s how I did it.

I covered the coffee dyed pages with vintage papers and added a soft layer of white Heavy Gesso to make them blend more into the background. I mixed the new Winter 2022 Mica Powder with Modeling Paste, to get a pinkish medium to go with the pink theme and added a stencil layer with Irish Tapestry stencil.

Next, I took some lace, silk ribbon, and cheese cloth, and mixed a tiny amount of the same mica powder with water and dyed them. (There’s a tutorial about this in my blog and YouTube.) Now I had the exact same colour in my lace, silk, and in the pages. Then I made vintage style collages for the pages, added some silk yarn and stitched the silk ribbons in place.

As the pages were so very, very pink and soft, I ended up using no love themed quotes, but I added other gentle and encouraging messages on the pages.

Wishing you a gentle month, filled with love,

Emilia

MATERIALS USED:

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-heavy-gesso-white

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-soft-matte-gel

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-art-basics-modeling-paste

https://mixedmediaplace.com/prima-finnabair-stencil-iris-tapestry

NEW RELEASE VINTAGE ROSES MICA POWDER SET

Friday, 7 January 2022

Art Daily Cafe - January 2022

Hello, Art Daily Cafe friends,

It’s January, the month of new beginnings, and it was my privilege to choose the theme for this month’s Art Daily Café.

I wanted it to be about swans, as they symbolise so many beautiful things that are perfect reminders to start a new year. Swans are often associated with Apollo, who (as an artsy person, you well know) is the god of arts. Swans also remind us to accept ourselves as we are, to embrace that inner beauty and grace that shines in there somewhere, and to trust our instincts. For me, these are what art is all about.

There’s a story I want to share with you about the swan feathers you see in the project photos. They are the reason I picked up the January theme. Last autumn, I visited my favourite beach with my family, on a day that had been particularly difficult for me, as I had been diagnosed with yet another heart thingy. There were swan feathers everywhere in the beach and I must confess I shed a tear or two from sheer gratitude and joy. For me, swans are the most beautiful, meaningful, favourite thing in the whole wide world (followed by lilies of the valley and lighthouses), and swan feathers on one of the hardest days of my life… It was so full of meaning for me, to collect the white feathers and think that this too, shall pass. (Well, heart conditions don’t tend to pass, but you know. How I react to them, how I decide to deal with it, is another thing entirely.)

Then I sat there, in the silent beach, thinking and reflecting, and suddenly, from nowhere, there were eleven (yes, correct, 11) swans gliding towards me. I sat there, barely daring to breathe. Four more appeared, but stayed further away, when these eleven swans swam right towards me, silently and gracefully. The whole family witnessed how the 11 swans halted before me in the water, faced me, and bowed their beautiful, graceful heads. And as silently as they had appeared, they glided away, and disappeared again. This memory has carried me throughout the harsh autumn and winter, reminding me that hope is, indeed, the thing with feathers, as Emily Dickinson wrote.

As the project, I ended up creating covers for my Journal of Hope, which felt fitting to this concept. Here’s how I created it…

First, I cut a suitable sized chipboard piece and as I wanted the wonderful Grungy Frame to literally frame something, I also cut a hole into the cover, to get the text from the first page of my journal to be visible.

Next, I covered the whole thing with Finnabair tissue scraps and Soft Matte Gel, primed it twice with white Heavy Gesso, and then painted with Impasto Snow White acrylic paint. With Laurels stencil and Modeling Paste I created some willowy background effect and attached my simple collage into place with Heavy Body Gel.

After adding some Mini Art Stones here and there, I primed everything with gesso once again. I know it is recommended to use waxes as the final touch, as they resist paint, so I counted on that one, and applied Faded Denim, White Pearl, and Old Silver wax over the whole thing. Only then I painted the cover with a very diluted mixture of Impastos Pitch Black, Dark Chocolate, and Manor Blue, and wiped most paint off with a baby wipe. And it worked just the way I liked. The waxes resisted most of the paint, and only a merest hint of colour was left in the cover.

This was what I wanted not only because of the Art Daily Café theme of purest whote and softest of blue, but also because these are the exact colours that are inside the whole art journal. There’s only a hint of gold inside, there, hence I added a tiny amount of Vintage Silk wax, to get a warm glow into the cover, and to get a an understatedly elegant look, I added silver micro beads here and there, too, and sprinkled some white paint all over the cover. And the cover was ready!

Inspiring, graceful new year wishes,

Emilia

P.S. For the Finnish reader. Don’t panic, the swan feathers in the photos are loose mute swan feathers (Cygnus olor) collected from a beach. They are NOT from the protected whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus), as I know it would be VERY, VERY illegal to collect their loose feathers from nature.