Mother-Daughter Art Day

Hello friends!  I hope you are all enjoying your holidays.  We had a wonderful, peaceful Christmas with family, and are having a fun week.  Ever since I went to a weekend with Donna Downey at her studio near Charlotte, NC, I've been wanting to try my hand at a canvas, a la Donna's Inspiration Wednesday videos.  My daughter really wanted to join in the fun, so we bought ourselves some blank, pre-gessoed canvases, watched some videos, and played for the entire afternoon in my craft room.  I just love her style - vintage, shabby chic, but with bright colors to fit her personality and match her blue-with-big-colored-polka-dots walls in her bedroom.

Some details, Meghan's first....

As soon as Meghan spied my Golden's gold paint, she had to use it!  Here, she has accented some of the images on some stamped tissue paper that she tore and gelled onto the painted canvas.  She also used a splatter technique with the gold.  A bit of Tim's tissue tape and some K and Co. keys keep the vintage vibe going.

Meghan is becoming a fan of anything French, so the chipboard Eiffel tower, spritzed with golden glimmer mist, was a natural choice for her.  More stamped tissue in the background, and a little bit of a resist, sprayed "breathless LOVE" panel behind the star.

Aren't all tween girls dreamers?  This stamp from Unity was a natural choice for her. ;)

I adored *this technique* that Donna demonstrated in her video.  I tore pieces of vintage sheet music, text, and patterned papers to create my background.  A bit of tinted gesso, then lots of different paints, stains, splatters, and crayons over the top.

I had found a vintage book of poetry that was written on in the margins.... in pencil.  When I adhered this page to my canvas using gel medium, the pencil writing turned purple!  Oh happy day - love when that kind of stuff happens!  A little birdy over the top of the poem (To the Skylark), spritzed with glimmer mist and outlined in Neo Color crayon.

And speaking of Caran D'Arche NeoColor II crayons..... I. am. in. love.  Oh! Yes!  I had purchased a few at Donna's studio just to try them and see if they were worth the considerable expense.  I fell for them - hard - and just bought a bunch more individual colors from Dick Blick (they were having a free shipping special, and they always have great prices).  I decided to buy them individually, rather than in a set, because I know that I love the soft muted tones rather than the brights.  Better to spend a little more and get exactly what I want.  Anyway, back to the canvas..... I stamped the peony onto pale pink tissue paper and adhered it to the canvas with gel medium.  I used Golden paint to paint in the stems and spritz on some brown speckles.  Then I went to work with my as-of-then very limited NeoColor crayon palette (I think I had 6 at the time).  A bit of brightening of the flower, some shading all around - so easy, so simple, so worth it (to me, anyway, tee hee)!

I hope you get time to play during this busy season - especially if you can play with family and friends!  We are switching gears for the long holiday weekend - it's volleyball 24/7, with my daughter in her first big tournament of the season.  I'm hoping to be able to get some downtime on the ol' iPad to vist all of your lovely blogs.  Until then.... Happy New Year!