Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Artastic December Challenge

Another month has gone by ... I can't believe it's december already ... Christmas is just a few weeks away. Time sure flies! Another month, another challenge over at the Artastic blog, and this one sure is a challenge!!! I struggled with it a bit at first. We were to draw inspiration from Botticelli painting "The Mystical Nativity".

I know, it's a tough one!!! And if this wasn't hard enough, here are the criteria which you should try to work into your LO:

  • A stable (1 point)
  • Angel(s) (2 points)
  • Gold embossing (3 points)
It took me quite some time to get a clear image in my head of what I wanted to do, but once I did, it came together beautifully (whole page of the sneak peeks I showed you earlier)

The picture shows my 1 month old son (picture taken 11 years ago) and our German Shepherd Jenny, who passed away several years ago. She was extremely protective of my kids, and this picture means a lot to me. It really shows her wonderful and kind nature.

I painted a "brick structure" - which represents the stable - as the background. I first drew the outlines of the wall, covered the inside with gel medium, and put ordinary sand over it. After letting it dry completely, I painted over it with acrylic paints. The sand really gives it a "bricklike" texture. Here's a close up:

I copied the angel from an image by a very talented artist named DJ, you can find her blog here and here's the work I copied the angel from:

Isn't that just gorgeous!???!!! Thank you so much DJ for letting me use your image, I appreciate it.

The texture of the wings (and also the hair) was once again done with mere gel medium and a palette knife. I just smeared a lot of gel medium inside the drawn lines, and used the palette knife to create some distinct lines. Once it was dry, I gave it a ground colour and later on dry brushed over it with white acrylic paint. Because of the "lines", only the top is covered completely with white, still showing the underlying colour. This really is a wonderful technique to add some texture to a page, it looks fantastic, it really does, and it's so easy!!

And I used stamps on my LO!!! Yeah me!!! Those of you who have been reading my blog, know that although I love the look of stamps on a page, I myself am terrified of stamping. And stamping now reminded me of why again. The first stamp I used was the one on the left hand/bottom side of my picture. I placed it too much over the photo and it turned out too dark!! After my heart stopped racing at 200 beats a minute, I frantically began to dry brush gesso over it, to tone it down a bit. Thankfully, it kind of worked, though I'm still not too happy with the result. As if I hadn't done enough damage, I decided to use my new stamp (oh yes, I don't let my fear of stamps stop me from buying them LOL) on the right hand side of the picture. I inked up my stamp, more or less tried to position it where I wanted it to be, and ... it fell out of my hand, ink faced down!!!!!! Hence the smears on the top of my pic. Now my heart stopped beating alltogether!! After settling down from the shock, I gave it another try though, and I'm quite happy with that attempt. Will I be stamping again any time soon ... I think so, I'm kind of a stubborn girl :-)))
All in all, no matter how hard a challenge might seem at first, if you set your mind to it, you might just create something you really love. So why not give it a try??!! We all have some angels to scrap, don't we? I look forward to seeing you try... Be sure to visit the Artastic blog to see my fellow DT members' take on this challenge!


Christina scrapped!!!

I'll leave you with a LO my youngest daughter Christina made. She wanted to document her comfort blanket from when she was a toddler and how she used to be a thumbsucker...

She managed to use just about all of the bling I own on one single page LOL. As is typical for Christina, she asked me what I would do, and then did the entire thing her own way LOL. However, she did it all on her own, didn't ask for help once, and I think it turned out great! Not bad for an 8 year old, right???

Talk to you later
xxx Peggy

22 comments:

  1. Beautiful Peggy!! I love how creative you are. ;)

    And miss Christina, your page rocks!!
    - April

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW Peggy!!!!! Wat is dit een geweldige LO! Wat een mooie achtergrond heb je gemaakt en de engel is helemaal perfect. De structuur is ook al zo gaaf gedaan, echt een toppertje.

    En wat leuk dat Christina heeft gescrapt, die gaat echt haar moeder na ;)

    Groetjes Viv

    ReplyDelete
  3. You told me about DJ and this layout (thanks for the link, I will visit DJ's blog in a minute) and it turned out marvelous! The way you did all those textures, wow girl! I learned a lot from you here! Sand, and palet knives, my hands itch!!! I LOVE your new stamp! You just make sure you hold it in your hands next time hihi! And wow for Christina, what a gorgeous lay-out!!! LOVE the colours and that crown on her head is so cute! She's really talented!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That brick wall is gorgeous! Please check my blog. I am passing on a blog award to you! Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  5. WoW!!!! That's all I can say. The way you're mixing art and scrapbooking these days is just amazing. I love the texture on this.

    I too love DJ's work, and I think it's great that her work inspired yours.

    Yay for the lovely page Christina did too! Looks incredible!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have really rocked this stunning challenge with this layout, I love how you did the brickwork and that angel is just stunning, and how clever is Christina, she is super talented like her mum. Melxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. Een grooooooote dikke pluim voor ons Tinake, ze heeft dat heel mooi gedaan, je ziet van wie ze het tallent heeft, wat me bij mijn maateke haar LO brengt, ge hebt dat weer prachtig gedaan, je doet Jenny alle eer aan en de technieken die je allemaal hebt toegepast waaaaaw, en ook je tekentallent is weer fameus boven komen te drijven.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wat een artistiek werkje Peggy!
    Supermooi gemaakt die muur en wat een dierbare foto!
    Leuk dat je dochter aan de scrap is.
    Jong geleerd, oud gedaan... :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. GEWELDIG Peggy!!! Wat een vondst om echt zand in dat muurtje te gebruiken!! Het ziet er zo realistich uit!! En die engel... zo mooi en hoe je de vleugel hebt geschilderd vind ik SUPER!!
    De foto is zo lief!! Ik had weleens gehoord dat een huisdier juist jaloers wordt op een baby maar nog nooit dat het dier er ook een soortje over gaat moederen...
    En dan de LO van je dochter... 8 jaar zei je??? Nou, volgens mij een natuurtalentje hoor!! PRACHTIG!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow Peggy, dit is echt weer een topstuk van je, hoor!!! Wat een aandacht en tijd heb je aan die prachtige achtergrond besteed!! En ik kan me zo goed voorstellen dat je hart stil stond toen het stempel viel... Maar wat heb je het goed opgelost en wat is het prachtig geworden!!! Heb net even een kijkje genomen op de site van DJ en wat je daar allemaal niet voor moois ziet...goh!!
    Christina is een natuurtalent, dat is duidelijk te zien!! Prachtig gedaan hoor!

    XXXJenneke

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jee Peggy, wat een mooie werken weer! Die muur is een goede vondst, en door het gebruik van echt zand spat hij er echt uit. En dat engeltje... zo mooi!
    En wat zul je een trotse mama zijn: je dochter is een natuurtalent! Echt goed gedaan!
    Liefs, Natalie

    ReplyDelete
  12. WOW! Peggy...this is just fabulous. I have been looking at it over and over again. Very clever. Your daughter has created a beautiful page too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Prachtig werk Peggy!!!! Enne... je dochter deelt je talent hoor! Supermooi!!!

    Geniet van het weekend!

    Groetjes, Saskia :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh my sweet friend....this is just stunning!!! The texture makes me want to reach out to the screen and touch it!!!! You are so talented!!!

    I love your daughters LO...look at her go!!!! Another talented artist in the making!!!

    Wishing you a wonderful day!!! You know I just adore you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. wow Peggy you nailed that challenge!! I would have had a hard time incorporating a stable but this is gorgeous!!! I love your DD's layout too, adorable! I am also super dooper proud of you for busting out your stamps and I can't tell you now many times I've had a stamp drop onto my layout or project!! haha It just makes it more interesting I say!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oh Peggy!!! You are such an ARTIST!!! Ooooh I am totally blown away by your LO for Artastic!!

    wow wow wow!!!
    The texture and the paint ...that brickwork!!!

    WOW WOW!!

    You really fit in will on that dt at ARTASTIC!! WHAT an asset you are to that blog!!

    hugs xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  17. What a fabulous infusion of art into your LO. Can't get over all the thought and effort you've put in it. The use of sand, 'sculpting the wings' and creating your own brick background. Just love your creativity!

    ReplyDelete
  18. haha you are so funny with the stamps! that is gorgeous, girl! gorgeous.

    have you ever seen Somerset Magazine? You should check it out, your stuff would look amazing in there.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Very beautiful ARTastic LO Peggy...love your artwork & Christina's LO is marvelous!! Wow!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow Peggy. Fantastic work. Love it. your creations are always so beautiful.

    And your daughter's layout is awesome. She has her mom's creativity.. =)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wauw! Prachtig! En het verhaal bij de foto vind ik ook heel mooi. Wat een lieve hond was dat, meestal reageren honden andersom. En Christina heeft talent hoor, zeg dat maar tegen haar! Toppie!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Peggy,

    Hopelijk heb je genoten van de Kerstdagen, en brengt het nieuwe jaar je veel creativiteit en vriendschap!!

    Lieve groetjes, Saskia :)

    ReplyDelete