PaperArtsy Printed Tissue Mixed Media Butterfly Panel

 

Hi friends!  I'm so excited today to share with you a new mixed media panel, inspired by week one of the Art Poetry Challenge on Instagram.  You can find out more about the challenge on the @artpagespoetry posts HERE.  I've been in quite the creative slump for a while, and I'm so happy I persisted with this panel because it makes me happy.  Sometimes we just have to push through, maybe walk away and revisit, and keep on creating.  

This week we were encouraged to use a gorgeous cake photo from the @cakepoetry gallery as inspiration.  I chose a beautiful moody cake photo.

I tried to pick my deepest berry color and went with PaperArtsy Claret Fresco Chalk Acrylic blended with Little Black Dress,, painted onto a chipboard panel  I used a black crackle paste through a PaperArtsy stencil by Scrapcosy (PS106).  How moody and dramatic this was!

I sprayed Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels in a beautiful deep berry color over the panel and let it run in and around the black crackle paste to add some shimmer.  Now, I decided to use the new PaperArtsy printed tissue for my focal image and was digging through my scrap bin for something to use as a base and came across this rounded thick tag that came out of a shoe and I had saved.  Ha ha!  It was the perfect shape and I chose the gorgeous butterfly from the tissue and used a water brush to draw around it and tear it away from the tissue page. 

I painted the back surround with the same Claret Fresco paint and let just a bit rub onto the butterfly.  Then I painted the shoe card with Nougat Fresco to mimic the yummy vanilla cake.  I adhered the tissue to the card with matte Mod Podge.  Then I painted more claret around the tissue.  This color is translucent and works great with tissue.  I sponged the edges with some black ink to add drama.

I rubbed some Antique Gold Art Alchemy Metallique Wax (a Finnabair product by Prima) on those darkened edges.  It picked up the slight texture of the tissue paste, which I loved.

 

I picked out the most delicious berry colored flowers from my stash.  I think they are by Petal-lou, then die cut some leaves from thin chipboard.  I painted them with Little Black Dress and a dab of Claret in the middle, then added some gold embossing.

I layered the flowers and leaves together over some black croched lace and used more wax to soften the color.  I adhered a sequin mix and some Finnabair black mica flakes around the flower bundle. 

Then I had a blast pulling out ephemera.  I chose a metal key and two paper clay butterflies my friend Sara Emily shared with me.  I do believe they are from Prima molds.  I misted them with water then sprinkled Infusions pigment powder in Blackcurrant over them and spritzed again, repeating until the color was as desired.  I am so excited to discover how well Infusions work with dried paper clay!  I will definitely be using this idea again in the future. 

Later, I added some more wax to the butterflies, but I wish I had photoed them before so you could see how cool the muddled Infusions looked. 

Finally, I cut a second chipboard panel, painted with Little Black Dress and mounted the piece over it with a couple of sheets of fun foam in between.  I gave everything splashes of watered Nougat and Claret Frescos.  It was really fun to see it all come together.  It's been ages since I did this style of mixed media and now I realize just how much I've missed it.  I hope you've enjoyed this post and will check out the challenge and see if you can find some inspiration.  xx, Autumn