Monday, August 19, 2013

Marguerite's Flowers and Rust

That's the name I gave to a mixed media painting I just finished today. I'm very excited about the way it turned out! Marguerite sent me a wonderful piece of rusted metal that fell off of her favorite trunk. She thought I could use it in some kind of art work. It just so happens I love rusty metal. She also happened to send me a picture of the trunk it came from.






The trunk certainly is a treasure!

I recently downloaded a class presented by Seth Apter through Cloth, Paper, Scissors. It's Lesson # 6 in a series, and the price was very reasonable. The lesson was called "Dimensional Stenciling." I decided to try this technique in a mixed media piece that I could also include Marguerite's gift of the rusty metal.

I first tried to paint a background using acrylics to try to simulate a piece of copper that had turned turquoise. I didn't quite get the look I wanted, but I was still happy with the results.


I used gesso to fill in a stencil to get a dimensional branch on the background. I then painted the top of a bronze colored tin candy box the size of an Altoid box with a turquoise color paint so it would also look antiqued. I glued the rusty metal from the trunk on top of that. Here is the finished result:


I have to say that after creating a piece of art like that, I finally feel like a real artist! Thanks Marguerite and Seth for the inspiration.

6 comments:

Linda Gibbons said...

It's a beautiful piece, Bill

M said...

I love all your mixed media pieces, but this one takes the cake! I love the way the background looks almost like an opal. And it's very cool the way you center-staged the piece of rusty metal by gluing it to the candy box. Absolutely fabulous!!!

sheila 77 said...

What good fun art making that looks, I love the background you made too and I liked seeing the trunk that started it all.

Junibears said...

A wonderful piece of mixed media art, but then you have always been an artist! xx

Anonymous said...

I did a background like that for one of my grands scrapbook page I made. Then I added rolled up paper as a frame around a baby picture.
I also love to fool around as you do.

Fun, fun. Very nice.

Martin said...

You are definitely a true artist. This piece must attract any eye.