Signs of love



There are so many things to try out there! One of the things would be this, Aged wood signs. A LOT of work, but with truly rewarding result, don't you think? Who would guess these plank pieces started out looking brand new?? Not me. :)

 



The process includes using power tools (yay!), sandpaper, rusty nails, saw, steel wool, vinegar and paint. Oddest combo so far.

 

Making the wood look and and distressed takes time, but I think the most time-consuming part is cutting the stencils....Oh I wish santa will send me a digital diecut gizmo!

 



Since stencilmaking isn't the most fun part I just combined the stencils I made to make different messages. That works. :)

 



For this last one, I used both masking and stencils in multiple layers.

Time-consuming or not, I need to make more!

 

 

I also made a few paintings with a curtain for canvas, they'll be up here soon.

words to live by

The last few weeks I've been busy with a new project: making a painting for the conservatory. I knew I wanted it to be reclaimed wood and a quote of some sort, but I didn't know it would involve that many steps! I'm pretty pleased that it's finally done. Pleased with the result also. ;)

 Like I said, I took scrap pieces of wood (some green, some white and some raw) and lined them up in some sort of disorderly order, and had my hubby help me screw them together. It ended up almost 170 cm long.
Then the hard work began.

To make the wood look really old and shabby I sanded, brushed with a wire brush and stained with a very strange and kinda nasty smelling concoction of steel wool, white vinegar and coffee grounds (wich by the way gave exactly the worn look I was after, great!!).

When it looked aged enough, I covered it with a thin layer of white paint, and once dry I started over from the top: sanding, brushing and staining. And some more sanding. Pew.

Finally time for the quote! I printed out the "enjoy life" and cut each letter out to make a stencil. For the rest of the quote I traced letters from another stencil and then filled every letter by hand with an itty-bitty brush... wich is, by the way, not the very best thing to do on the hottest summer day this year. I believe the paint dried already on the brush...

Then I sanded again.

I did it, and I like it! :)



 I also made two mini-paintings with parts of the stencil, one joy

...and one life.

I had a lot of fun making these and I'll be making more, soon.

Enjoy life!

Be near me

Another experiment. Here I wanted to re-use/recycle some letters that I previously used as masks for Happy now. First, I layered them on top of it all, but felt they were too visible there with all the yellow, so in the end I painted over them, making them barely visible at all. Can you see them?

So, from a distance it looks like it says "love me", but it really is "Love, be near me". I like the subtle presence of the underlaying words, and how they really change the entire meaning of the sentiment.

Happy now

I've made a painting! The first one in a looooong time. I did this because I wanted to try a masking method I saw somewhere on the internet (most likely Pinterest, everything's on Pinterest :)).
I don't have any before pictures, but I imagine you've all seen that kind of "art" before: it's a black and white photo of a pile of stones. Nothing fancy, and for sure a perfect item for a first attempt at this. So, ja...I went along and put my words the way I wanted them, using different fonts and sizes. Actually, I just took what was at hand, and to be honest I'm not THAT happy about the result. Not that sad either. :)

First, I covered everything in white acrylic paint in three or maybe four layers. Then began the actual painting.....well njaaa. Most of this was made with other tools than a brush. The black butterfly is a stencil, the big yellow dots are stippled and I used a heavy amount of bubble wrap in various sizes. I really like the effect of bubble wrap and don't think there ever can be too much! :) Well yes, maybe...

 Anyway. I also used several smaller butterfly masks. For some I brushed paint or glitter (sadly not very visible in these pictures), and for others I splattered paint from a toothbrush.

As for the sentiment.... when I peeled off my letters I soon realised that paper based letters is no good for projects like these. They were very difficult to peel off, plus it had slipped a little paint in underneath.....bummer! That's what happens when I'm too eager to get started, like I always am.

But ah! All in all I'm satisfied with the outcome, and I'm sure gonna try this some more. This will go prefect in my kitchen, over the clock. :)

Can you guess what colors my kitchen is? ;)

Life & dream 2

Andra delen i paret. Fast nu kommer den ju först....knasigt nog. Anyway, den här är gjord på samma sätt som den förra, fast här använde jag mig av några chipboardbokstäver också.

Akryl/blandteknik på duk. Stl 70 x 70 cm. Målad 2010



detalj med text

Life and dream 1

Det här är fusk! Eller...? Kanske inte fusk, utan bara ...förbättrning? :) Vad man än väljer att kalla det; det är en "färdig" tavla som jag plussat på lite med mera färg, och lite text som stämplats och skrivits dit.

Akryl/blandteknik på duk. Stl 70 x 70 cm. Målad 2010

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off season

Inte har jag tålamod att vänta ända tills det blir jul med att lägga upp de här. Ni får helt enkelt stå ut med lite jul i februari ;)


Såld till en god vän




Min just nu... ;)



Tomtens!

Som ni kanske redan gissat är det här fler av de där uddabokstäverna jag pratade om här. De här X:en är ca 7 cm höga. Söta, och roliga att göra!

Lite jul till, när vi ändå är inne på ämnet.

Akryl på duk, designpapper, band och dekorationer. Stl 15 x 15 cm. Målad 2010. Vinst i ett jullotteri.

Är det en tavla eller ett kort..? Jag gjorde den iaf som visningsex. till Mixgruppens pysselkväll.

Exhale

Min andra "riktiga" tavla blev den här. Jag berättade tidigare om min "skiss", och att jag körde fast ganska omgående. Efter att ha låtit den ligga till sig lite - flera månader! - fick jag upp ångan igen. Från början var den tänkt till vårt nyrenoverade tv-rum, men efterhand som färgerna tittade fram (joo, det är så det funkar, iaf för mig. Den bilden jag har i huvudet vill inte alls alltid komma ut genom fingrarna som jag sett och föreställt mig den) insåg jag att den var alldeles för snäll.

My second "real" painting was this one. I told you earlier about my "draught", and that I instantly got stuck with it. After leaving it to ripen - for several months! - I just recently worked my steam back up about it. From the start it was mentioned for our newly restored livingroom, but as the colors appeared (yes, that IS how it works for me. The image in my head won't always transfuse through my fingers the way I've seen and imagined it) I realised it was waaay to nice.



Akryl på duk, designpapper och chipboard. Målad 2010. Stl 80 x 80 cm



En sån tur att vi har ganska lika färgskala i större delen av huset, så den kunde bo i spisrummet istället. :) Egentligen bor den väl inte där heller än, jag har faktiskt bara hängt upp den på en krok för att kolla om den passade..... hm. Vad tycker ni, är det likt min skiss eller inte?

I'm just so lucky we've got pretty much the same color scheme throughout the house, so I could make a home for it in the lounge instead ( and Ah! these english words.....'lounge' to me sounds soo posh, but I dunno really what to call it, second livingroom maybe..?). To be honest, the painting doesn't really live there, I just hanged it on an available hook to see it it fitted in...and it's still there. :)
What do you think, is it anything like my draught?

detalj med slott och hjärta

Skisstavla

Taggad efter I oändlighet din ville jag prova på en annan tavelidé som skramlade i huvudet. Liite för feg för att börja med ett stort projekt direkt gjorde jag först en skissliknande sak på en mindre duk: 

Akryl på duk. Designpapper och div. accessoarer.
Målad 2010 Stl 15 x 15 cm.



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Nu blev det ju ingen skiss direkt, utan en tavla i sig...men det gick iaf min väg från huvudet till händerna, på ett ungefär. Satte igång med storprojektet, och f.a.s.t.n.a.d.e. redan på bakgrunden. Attans.

I oändlighet din

Min allra första tavla, på beställning till bröllop. 


Akryl på duk, dessutom stämpelfärg, designerpapper,
naturmaterial samt div. accessoarer.
 Målad 2010. Stl 80 x 80 cm. Privat ägo

 

detalj med fjäril


Det var verkligen SÅÅÅÅ kul att pensla, dutta, stänka och scrappa fram den här. Jag hade fått förfrågan om en "dekoration, ett hjärta eller nåt" bakom honörsbordet och tänkte och tänkte och 

tänkte

på hur jag skulle göra. Så här blev det! Brudparet blev jättenöjda, och jag också. Tjohoo! :)