Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Back in the Land of the Living Again:)

Hi Everyone:)
Well after long silence,
(sorry if you've been checking in
and finding the same old post!)
I'm back in the land of the living,
although still not 100% yet,
but feeling better enough to 
finally be getting some Art-Time in!

I started this canvas quite a while ago,
but after being laid up nearly a month,
it's been staring at me from the easel in
the art room, screaming to be finished!
(It's also been in the way in the art room
as space is at a premium!)

The canvas size is a odd one,
12 x 30 inches, that I've had
hanging around in it's packaging
for a few years, never quite knowing
what I had intended to use it for.


I used Claudine Hellmuth Paints for the first time
and found them to be really something different!
And the colours are wonderful!!
The canvas I call
'Urban Wildlife'
As you know, ( or at least
learning about me:),
I'm a wildlife, pet,
animal freak:) I always think of
the saying that the 'animals were
here before we were' when it comes
to Urban Development and in the 
area where I have lived for nearly
24 years, I have slowly watched 
our incredible wild countryside
give over to the urban setting.


I've had to photograph the canvas in stages
so you can see the details, as it was so
large, I couldn't get the camera to capture
the bits and pieces in the pictures.

What if the Apartment Building
were home to the animals
was sort of my idea for this.

The garden, are all hand made flower heads,
that I punched out of plain paper, stamped,
inked, mounted on chipboard, used layers to
create depth, used brads and vintage
buttons for the centres, then mounted
them on tea stained round tags.
The leaves are wonderful ribbon leaves,
made from what seems to be satin, that
once I started using, thank goodness
my Art Buddy Leslie still had extra of!
(Just goes to show I was flying by the 
seat of my pants, and didn't check before
starting the project if I had enough supply!)
The 'Apartment Building' 
itself, is a piece of chipboard wrapped with
the new 7Gypsies Tissue Paper which 
I am absolutely in love with!
I've included lots of metal bits and pieces
that I had purchased from 
Retro Cafe Art!
I love the rusty fences, and the door knob
is a Tim Holtz Hitch!
(As you know from my previous posts,
I used these Hitches for feet on an
ATC Project!)
I love coming up with more ideas for using
them!
Each window of the building has a photograph
mounted on hand made paper backing,
and the window frames are also new
wonderful cut-outs from
Retro Cafe Art:) that I covered
in Vintage Dictionary Paper and inked.
The 'Residents' are
'Bubby' the deer (top left),

'Doodlebug' my Kitchen 
Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker
(as a baby when he first arrived:)
(top, right)

(bottom right)
'Hop-a-Long' another of our
local deer community at my home

and 'Oliver Howard' 
our wonderful Spitz.





Love all the rusty metal bits! (Thanks Kristin!)
And all of the Lazier Cut's of the birds 
were from Retro Cafe Art too!

All of the little bee's on the canvas are a stamp
from 'Magenta' that I have had great fun 
playing with, and colouring and cutting 
them out for all sorts of uses:)
The top of the 'Apartment Building'
are also wonderful products from
Retro Cafe Art
that come in masonite kits 
that you put together,
embellish and create with.
(Previous Posts ATC Holder also 
one of Kristin's kits!)
I lined this one with the Vintage Dictionary Paper
before adding the embellishments.
(The mini feather is from our Budgie's
shoulder, which she doesn't moult 
very often, so I 'prize' these feathers
for special projects:)
Then I added the 'top' which was
a piece that I made of another
of Kristin's wonderful kits!
I had great fun making this 
piece, and the colours in
the photo's just don't do it
justice, as in person it
is such a cheery thing to look at:)
Now I have to find a place to hang it!
(grin).

Hope you enjoyed this piece and
hope it gives you some new ideas
to play with!

Enjoy!
(More posts to come, as I am now
back in the Living!)