Posts
Ever have a piece turn out totally different than what you have in mind?? In this instance that question is not asked in a positive way.
I've been tearing out my hair trying to make this piece workable...but have stopped messing with it long enough to scan a picture for you. I worked on this piece, titled "Aspire Beyond", over the weekend. It started out as something I really liked - until I added the 8 large dots of Texture Magic in the center. For thos of you who don't know what Delta's Texture Magic is, it's similar to spackle. Although I don't use it much, I seem to reach for it (instead of my molding paste) on smaller projects. It dries faster than molding paste and doesn't crack. After adding it to this piece, though, I did realize a major drawback - it's a real pain to sand.
I had painted the large dots red, intending to go in a different direction at first. When I realized I biffed it by adding the Texture Magic before some other elements, I changed my mind - and trying to sand off the red paint was...obnoxious! I didn't want to disturb the turquoise paint on the canvas board - and about half way through my sanding I realized there was no possibility of obtaining a distressed look. Nope. The sand paper kept gouging the Texture Magic. (I haven't had this problem before - I'm guessing because 1) I wasn't sanding "dots" - and 2) I wasn't worried about disturbing anything around the Texture Magic.)And things seemed to go downhill from there...as if you couldn't tell!
What I like:
~ The Fantasy Film Stained Glass Paper flower petals. Fantasy Film Stained Glass Paper is a technique I learned from Linda over at After Midnight Stamps. (For a fantastic tutorial on this technique, click on the link. I will be doing a review of After Midnight Stamps very soon - so keep your eye out.)
~ The flourish stamps along the edges.
~ The turquoise color of the canvas board.
~ The small flowers I made to go on top of the aforementioned Texture Magic dots. A little hard to see but I punched flowers out of copper sheet and copper mesh, then added either a vintage rounded rhinestone or a vintage flower cabachon.
Clicking on the image will enlarge it~ The title, Aspire Beyond.
So I guess that leaves the middle part - sans the little flowers I made to top the "dots". (I should note I added some Pearl Ex to the jarring white dots to try to calm them down a little.)
What I would really like to know is,
what would you do to fix this?
I'm refusing to accept it's hopeless. Please help me salvage this - I can't wait to hear your responses!
11 Royal Responses:
If I were you, I'd bring it over to my house so we could play with it all day long!
LOLOL!!!
It is a beautiful piece but I think the green gems kind of throw off the flow. I would remove them and touch up the paint where necissary. I assume that you want it to look like a bouquet in the center. Perhaps you could dry brush on some pink and purple highlights, pulling some colors out of the Fantasy Film. Maybe even add some petals outside of the dots, using them as the flower centers. Make a more flowing stem area by painting swirly stems or add a vase and a few leaves.
You might want to try bringing the red back in to the texture magic dots. Maybe use the Radiant Rain dauber red color and apply (carefully) with a brush. It has a lot of mica powder so would be a softer more sparkly red.
The green gems do echo the red squares on the right- but I, too, thik they are throwing the flow off a bit. Maybe leave them but paint over with some swirls. ???
There is so much to like in this piece- the Fantasy Film flower is simply gorgeous and I love the swirls.
That turquoise is very dramatic.
You might want to let it set for a bit and look with fresh eyes after a wait.
I think before you add, you need to take away! I personally would remove ALL the green stones making the stems of the bouquet. Go in with a lot more flowers, more prominently, in between the flower dots you already have, working with the colour scheme you originally had in mind (red over that spackle effect) and make them larger so they become the focal point. Any gaps in between could be filled in with shredded fantasy film or just acrylic paints. Or you could start with your text here, using large letters dotted in between the spaces.
I agree with those that said remove the green gems. I would try painting or stamping some designs similar to the outside edges for the leaves, stems instead of the gems. I like the three red gems on the outer edge but the green gem shapes don't flow with the the objects and draw all the attention at first glance.
Suzanne
I agree with taking out the green for the stems, but also because they are straight up and down in the midst of all the flourishes! The flow is kind of interrupted.
Barb
Well, I agree with the previous comments that the straight lines of the stems interrupt the flow, but I really like the green with the turquoise background.
I love the flowers and the flourishes. I have two suggestions...
after removing the green gems, I would take a large circle of fantasy film and gather it in the center and put it behind some of the flowers. That would probably fill in the spaces between the flowers. AND/OR I would handpaint green squiggly/flourish stems.
After all these ideas, I can hardly wait to see the new piece!
i really do like most of this, but the linear green really throws me off too- as do the perfect circles. to me, the whole center should be "flowier" and more irregular.
that said- put it up somewhere that you'll walk by & see it once in a while for a few days & see what comes to you. sometimes stepping back gives the best answers.
and let us know how it ends up!
As always, I agree with Zeborah. I would put the piece down for a couple of days and then go back to it. That almost always works for me. And also love, love, love the flower, it is gorgeous. Personally I would probably just add some flourishes that lead to the flower so it all becomes more like one element but that is just me. Enjoy!!
Patricia
www.papertemptess.com
No more boring cardstock!!
Great post! I have something like 300 boxes of pieces like this..used to call them the half dones..now they are just storage! :)
With this piece I would be tempted to paint over it. Acquire a distressed look with some black or gray ish acrylic paint around the edges and in some of the open areas..over the gemstones, keep them for texture. Layer, layer, Layer..that's my motto!
Thank you for sharing,
Elaine
Visit Stencil1.com/News for the chance to win a FREE AUTOGRAPHED book AND one other stencil from my Stencil 1 collection! The book has 25 pre-cut varnished card stock stencils within it plus 9 How-To’s!We will announce the winner January 21. Good Luck!
Thanks for swinging by my blog! You are way too kind in your assessment of me!
As for your artwork...it's great! I am always impressed by anyone who creates art out of their heads! I trace. And color in coloring books.
So your picture is great. I can see your misgivings about the red squares. But call me crazy...I think you just need more of your spackle flowers going down the green stem. Then turn your red squares into more flowers using the squares like you used the spackle? I think the whole thing is cool!
Post a Comment
Welcome! I will respond to comments here, in order to keep the discussion going. I try to return the love with a visit/comment to your blog.
Go ahead - flap your gums! What's the skinny?