May Theme
Touchy Feely (Texture)
May 23 – Week 21
Art Challenge: Cheesecloth
Journal Prompt: Say Cheese
I LOVE to use cheesecloth in my mixed media work! Don’t have cheesecloth? It’s readily available in hobby, hardware and even grocery stores! Inexpensive and versatile, cheesecloth adds great texture and flexibility to your art work!
I thought I might try this week to recreate a fresco type painting similar to ones I saw in Florence. A lot of the fresco’s were covered in textured plaster so I played around with some ideas and came up with this sketch of an angel. I cut the cheesecloth in pieces that were a bit larger than the wings and didn’t bother to follow the outline – I just cut “chunks”
Using gel medium and a flat brush, I dabbed at the cheesecloth and moved it around to fit in the outline of the wings. When I was happy with the placement, I painted more gel medium over top and let the wings dry. I also painted the entire angel in white gesso.
I used gelatos for the face and body of the angel – remember, I was going for a ‘fresco’ look, so I left it very rough.
I painted several coats of different shades of acrylic over the background. When it was dry, I took sandpaper to the entire page and sanded off a lot of color – giving it a worn and old look.
Golden makes a gorgeous line of iridescent acrylics and I lightly painted the wings with a pearl color.
At the last minute, I thought the pearl was a little much, so I added watered down Payne’s Gray fluid acrylic to the wings. I’m not sure about – I’ve put both pictures up so I can keep looking at them to decide how I want this picture to look. I do that often. I can always paint over the wings again and cover the blue with the pearl. Hmmmmm – going to have to take a few days to decide!
So excited to see how you all say “CHEESE” this week! Happy Documenting!
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Comments
She is beautiful Lorraine!
Thanks Sabrina!!!!
Absolutely gorgeous Lorraine.
Thank you Shawna – this one was so fun!
Angel wings – how perfect! I love cheesecloth ( and just cheese) and seeing it as something other than spider webs and ghosts is really a great change of pace. Can’t wait to get some and try this. I feel like Irkel saying Cheeeeese.
Do you know how much I look forward to your commentary every Saturday, Mary? You always make me laugh!
She is beautiful Lorraine. I like the pearl!
Thanks Cindy – I’m leaning toward the pearl now too!
She’s gorgeous. I especially like the soft look of her face and the pearl wings:)
Thank you Janice! You don’t know how hard it is for me to have loose and soft images – I fight so hard to make everything so precise and perfect – LOL – glad I left it alone!
This is so creative and she is beautiful!
Thank you RM!
That angel is so beautiful. The fresco look is a success!
Thanks so much!
Gorgeous angel, Lorraine! I like her wings both ways. I wondered if you left her dress softly colored at the bottom of the page for journaling?
Thanks Sandi and great idea – I never thought of that!
What a great look to those wings, Lorraine! Love the texture the cheesecake adds!
Thank you again Kathy! Give it a try, it’s so easy!