Shell

As much as I love mixed media, the actual process is always a struggle for me.  I try to achieve a balance somewhere between careless and overdone.  Eventually I just get fed up and end up putting stickers on everything!  I need to practice more, and not expect everything to come out perfect the first time.

This is a piece I am making for my mom.  She loves beachy things so I am doing a series of beach-related works.  This one is called Shell.  First I primed the background with white gesso.  I painted a conch shell, added some interest with bits of decorated tissue (using gloss gel), and stamped around a tree stencil in gold.  I highlighted the stencil using a red-violet marker in some places, and added a few shell stickers and pre-made cut outs of a fish and seahorse.  Lastly I stamped the word "HOME" on an embossing pad and added black embossing powder and melted it with a heat gun.  The sticker shown on the bottom actually won't stick to the painting so I think I'll forget it.  I also dripped some black nail polish.  Think it's time to move on to the next one! 

-V