Many Challenges, One Project

A big welcome and thank you to folks from many of the challenges that I participate in for stopping by to visit! Today's project started out for Summer of Color's pink challenge from three weeks ago, but ended up being considerably more labor intensive than I expected. As June transitioned to July, fate would have it that this same work also meets Michelle Ward's Crusade 53 challenge. Lastly, as it includes variety of painting techniques, I'm also sharing it for Paint Party Friday!


I'm inclined to think my muses guide me by leaving bits and pieces of things on or near my work table that they mean for me to use. I seem to have the best outcome by using whatever is laying around, so it is meant to be, right?  How many times have you had your mind set on a specific thing that you KNOW you have somewhere in your stash...spend hours or even days looking for it and IF you manage to find it, it ends up looking horrible?! Next time this happens to me, I will stop myself about 5 minutes into the search and see what is on the floor next to my table instead....


but i digress....


Summer of Color
To begin the pink challenge for summer of color, the Muses left me the backboard from an old desk calendar to use for my base substrate, a book of piano sheet music and two miniature heart-shaped art quilts (one that I made, and one I received in a swap). Re-using one's art is a topic that has come up frequently lately, so I photographed the two hearts, worked some photoshop magic on them and printed out several sheets in different sizes.
The bonus option for the pink challenge was to include wax in your work. Though it has been YEARS since I first (and last) used wax, I really enjoyed the technique and love the truly unique look and feel it gives to the finished piece. I used a blend of paraffin pellets, pure beeswax and a tiny piece of red beeswax left over from a candle to seal and adhere the hearts to the background.

Crusade 53

For this month's Crusade challenge, Michelle wanted us to experiment with the colors we mix up and give them names. When creating the silhouette, my muse whispered a reminder that i should always mix and layer my colors--so black by itself would never due. Since i was working with a pink pallet, red was the obvious choice to blend with the black watercolor.

and something kind of reddish-purple color emerged...

and i call it Bittersweet Berries.

And for all my Paint Party Friday friends, there's acrylic, watercolor and slightly colored wax...lol....

I really enjoyed working in the larger format (18x22). 

Thanks for stopping by!

Maria