Grunge Garden

Hi, my name is Connie Shaw (Sparksgirl241) and I would love to show you how I created this colorful, textured piece of mixed media.

For this piece I used an 11×14” Artist Panel and some of the TCW Gel Medium to adhere torn pieces of colorful tissue paper.  I recently gel printed a bunch of tissue paper using of the new for Summer 2017 TCW Stencils.  Let your decoupage dry completely or if your impatient like I am use a hair dryer or a heat gun.

Once it is completely dry, take some of your favorite paints mixed with some matte glaze (or you can use water) and spread them lightly all over the panel with your fingers. The colors I used were from the TCW Heavy Body Acrylics – Lemon Custard, Orange Slice, Blueberry, Blue Jellybean, Raspberry, Iridescent Gold and Kale Smoothie. To get the pastel look, mix the deep colors with Spun Sugar.  Next, use Dylusions Ink Spray (any color you like) lightly sprayed over TCW737 Love Sonnet and then quickly blot with a rag or paper towel to remove the excess.

When the ink is dry, spray the panel with some matte fixative. Then apply some more of the TCW paints trying to get a softer look.  At this point I also added some of the Grape Jelly paint to give some depth to the painting.

When you are satisfied with your background then grab TCW754 Distressed Details and their Light & Fluffy Modeling Paste and either use a paint spatula or your fingers to add some texture to the panel. Make sure to add 3 of the circle washer pattern randomly on the panel (see the pic below). These will be the center of your flowers. Again, let the paste dry completely.

Now pull out your paints and start adding brights and metal colors to the textured background with your fingers (except for the flower circles). I used TCW Iridescent Gold and Silver along with some neon pink and turquoise blue to get the colors you see here. Don’t be afraid to just have fun and really rub layers of paint onto the texture. Lastly, take a black marker or paint pen and draw the stems to the flowers but quickly take your finger and smudge the lines so they aren’t perfect.

Next, take the same marker and draw some petals. In order to make my petals uniform I always draw lines from the outer circle. First in a cross “t” and then in an “X” then I add the loop of the petals. You can make your flowers uniform or you can make them random like mine. Then water down the white acrylic and paint the petals lightly.

When you paint the petals with color try to pull out a variant shade of the background colors. See the pictures below to see how I layered a few colors before I got the look I wanted.

I then took TCW Clear Modeling Paste and mixed it with Cadmium Orange because the paste is clear you only need a dab of paint.

Next pick out a couple of the snowflakes from TCW720 Snowflakes stencil and the center of one of TCW750 Dahlia Blooms stencil. Carefully spread the paste in the center of the flower. Using different colors of paint mixed with the clear modeling paste.

After the paste has dried completely take a Black Dylusions Crayon or Gelato and carefully outline the petals making sure to smudge/soften the lines giving some shadow. Once you are happy with your petals take some scrap paper to cover your flowers and splatter some paint over your panel I used a pastel pink and some Spun Sugar White.

Now to make some leaves from a torn page of typed text you can use craft paper or a book and cut them out with your sharps. Adhere the leaves to the panel with TCW Matte Gel Medium and once they dry completely use some watered down ink or you can use tea/coffee to age them.  Finally, outline the leaves with the black Dylusions Crayon.

To finish off your Grunge Garden take some Archival Ink in an Emerald Green and a Royal Blue Gelato to edge the panel making sure to rub some of the ink into the raised texture areas on your panel and smudge the ink and crayon into the corners. Once you are completely satisfied make sure you spray your panel with a fixative or you can seal it with some TCW Matte Gel.

This is my first time posting so I would really like to hear from you.  If you have any questions or suggestions please let me know. Most of all I hope you enjoy making your own Grunge Garden as much as I did sharing it with you.

Have a great day my arty friends!!

Connie

Please note that some of the products used were supplied to me by TCW but the opinions and process are completely my own.

6 thoughts on “Grunge Garden

  1. First I loved the background, then the flowers even when they were white (I was like nooo, leave them), then you made them bright and beautiful, then you added a snowflake to the center!?!-cool, then I loved the texturing (in white)-but you took those up a notch too, spraying through a word stencil?-haven’t seen that….you gave me a BEAUTIFUL piece of art that I am in love with! Now I have to go try some new products and ideas. Thank you!

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