Irish Luck Unexplained! Acrylics on Canvas

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!! 

Have you ever found a four leaf clover? 

When I was a child, I literally hunted for hours to find them and then saved them between pages of books!  My 13 yr old granddaughter didn't know there was such a thing - wow.

Do you believe in "the luck of the Irish"?  

They say that it's an 'unexplained' phenomena.

Today I have forever preserved a four leaf clover using Andy Skinner's Stampendous stamp set.  

Do you think that my luck may change for the better??!!!

Using an 8x10 canvas panel that previously held some left over green and white paint...I added a bit more color along the way.

Begin by stamping the designs and words onto tissue paper. 

I thought it would be fun for the 4th leaf to be green/white and the other 3 leaves of the clover to be black/white.

Then begin laying out your design for the project.

The stamped images were added with Matte Medium. 

The heart came from the center of one of Andy's flying creatures!

In order to give the center of the shamrock a bit of pizzazz, a swirl of opalescent mother-of-pearl by Kaisercraft was added. 

Remember how much I love my DecoArt Glamour Dust?

The Ice Crystal was added all over - of course!!

Getting close to being done, and then I thought... hmmmm...

the circles in the Dare2BArtzy Totally Tracy Textures would simulate the circles in the center of the shamrock.  Out came the Totally Tracy stamps which were stamped right onto the canvas.

Here are the products used: 

DecoArt Media Mister Yellow Green

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics: Translucent White, Green Gold

DecoArt Media Matte Medium

DecoArt Media Tinting Base

DecoArt Glamour Dust Iced Crystal

Stampendous, Andy Skinner Stamp Sets:

Unexplained and Handle with Care

Dare2BArtzy, Tracy Weinzapfel Studios Stamp Set:

Totally Tracy Textures

Archival Ink and Faber-Castell Pitt Pens too!

And a few close-ups..."showin' of the green"! 

Hope you can see some of the shimmer of the Glamour Dust! 

Once again... Happy St. Patty's Day. 

Sending you wishes for a lucky day!! Xj.

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Acrylics on Wood - Mixed Media Monolith

Moonlit Lantern Monolith

Joi@RR

We have many old fashioned lanterns hanging at the ranch.

This lantern scene was painted from a photo taken by a guest. She asked me to paint it for her and I did!!  The "monolith" is a piece of gnarly tree root found by hubby. It seemed the perfect substrate. 

Here are some of the products used in this project. 

Instructions:

Step One: 

Choose your substrate. My wood piece was approx 7" by 11". 

Step Two:

Prepare your substrate. I used Black Gesso on the front only.

Step Three: 

Begin adding colors for your background.  I used Tinting Base - mixing it with the blue to give various hues of the Prussian Blue Hue. This color was perfect for going from the dark blue at the top to the light blue a the bottom of this background.  I also used a bit of this color here and there on the back and side. 

Step Four:

Then using Quinacridone Magenta, Quinacridone Gold and Dark Grey Value 3, add a bit to your dry background for the setting sun. 

Step Five: 
Next, paint your image onto your background with Black Gesso. 

Step Six:

After dry, add your choice of another color of DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic color for layering texture. I added Translucent White. 

Step Seven:
Choose one of the many types of DecoArt Media Crackle Mediums to enhance your texture.  I chose DecoArt Americana Weathered Wood for my tree stump. 

Step Eight:

Working on the tree stump, it was quite fun adding the DecoArt Metallic Lustre in various colors. I love watching these metallics come to life with glitzy shimmer as I apply them to projects. 

Step Nine:

Let's move on to the lantern. Since our lanterns are all vintage, adding  DecoArt Media Crackle Glaze was the way to achieve that rustic flare. 

Step Ten:

When the crackle glaze was dry, add some more fluid acrylic paints. I chose Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, Dark Grey Value 3 and Colbalt Turquoise Hue. 

Step Eleven:

For the lantern glass, add DecoArt Liquid Glass and DecoArt Iced Crystal Glamour Dust for a super dimensional look. 

Step Twelve:
Draw in the moon with white gesso and a liner brush. I used a Black Silver 0 Dynasty Liner Brush, which I adore.  Add a bit of DecoArt Media White Shimmer Mister to enhance the moon's glow. I just took off the lid and applied with my brush. Adding some Iced Crystal Glamour Dust makes a nice moon glow too!

And here are a few close-ups!

 Thanks bunches stopping by for a glimpse of fun from the ranch and for the opportunity to share my project with you today. This Rustic Lantern Creation was shared on the DecoArt Media Blog a few months ago and I wanted to share it here too!
Hugs. j. 

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FUNKY COWBOY BOOTS: Fluid Acrylics on Wood

HOWDY All! 

A new 30 x 40" wood sign because...

we just hired a new COWBOY at the ranch!

Did you know that everyone here wears boots every day? But only the cowboys wear spurs. Have you heard the old saying 

"Take off your boots and stay awhile"??  

Nooooo - please don't take off your boots here at the ranch until you are ready for bed! So... for our sign, I changed it to SPURS. Yes - please DO kick off your spurs and stay a while!!! 

Another thing we see around here is chaps. Chaps are leather pants without a seat, worn over jeans, to protect a cowboy's legs. I saw a photo of some dangling rawhide chaps and thought how fun it would be to make them really colorful and rather abstract. 

Here is my original sketch on the wood. 

I typed up the quote on my computer - decided on the size needed - then printed. I used DecoArt Graphite Paper to trace the letters onto the wood.  

Lots of DecoArt Media Black Gesso was used on the background as well as doing the letter with the White Gesso. 

Using DecoArt Media Tinting Base is so fun because it produces unique shades for each color of paint.  At this point, it was all about painting colors and making the chaps/boots look a bit funky!

Truly enjoying the journey with my fluid acrylics on wood and forgot to snap you some peeks. Very rare for me so I know you will forgive me this time.

Products Used:

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics:

Yellow Oxide

Dioxazine Purple

Cobalt Turquoise Hue

Burnt Sienna

Titan Buff

Raw Sienna

Raw Umber

English Red Oxide

Prussian Blue Hue

DecoArt Media Mediums:

Tinting Base, Black Gesso, White Gesso

Dynasty Paint Brush:

0 Black Silver 4940

Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt Pens:

Dark Sepia, White, Indian Red

I love painting on wood! 

Here is the finished piece in place by the gate!

Some close-up photos: 

Thanks bunches for helping me welcome our new cowboy!!

Hugs. j.

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NARROW the GATE Shimmering Quote on Wood

Food for Thought with a Howdy!

Another new 30" x 40" wood sign because...

we needed TWO to go side by side at the ranch!
If you are curious about the other one - the boots - there is another post about my Funky Cowboy Boots sign too.
Click HERE to see that post. 

And this is how the sign sparkles at night when the tree lights are on. Even though the letters are really green - the night lights give it a blue hue and a bit of luminosity. 

In the bible there is a scripture that talks about the narrow gate. This sign is the rhyming Joi@RR version of that scripture!!! 
And of course, it's beside one of the many gates at the ranch.

A Quick Step-by-Step! 

I typed up the quote on my computer - decided on the size needed - then printed several pages. I used DecoArt Graphite Paper to trace the letters and the barbed wire border onto the wood.  This is really wonderful tracing paper if you need a strong imprint.

The letters were painted with my Dynasty Brush and DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Phthalo Green Yellow.

Each letter was outlined in DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Crystal Green. How I adore the shimmer!

The barbed wire border was done with DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics in Metallic Gold. 

And then the barbed wire was accented with DecoArt Dazzling Metallics in Bronze. Great two-tone dazzle!

The barbed wire was outlined with my Dynasty Liner brush and DecoArt Media Black Gesso. 

The sign was sealed with DecoArt Media Gloss Varnish which by the way works wonderfully indoors and outdoors.

The products used were listed in the step by step.

Here is a picture of the sign in it's frame!

This was so relaxing to do. No thinking... just fill in the blank after the drawing and tracing was done!!

Thanks bunches for letting me share!!

Wishing you Happy Adventures. 

Hugs. j.

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