Sunday 15 March 2015

Birds for Mothers Day

Hello there!  I thought I would share with you this piece of art I've made for my mum for Mother's Day.  Mum is an avid birdwatcher, so although I have created something a little bit modern and funky, I know she will love it.

Thanks to Barbara Gray and the Clarity Design team for their inspirational work.  Seeing what they make always gives me ideas, and the confidence to try them out.

 
Having stamped the parakeets using Black Archival, they were then coloured in using the following Distress Markers:  Spun Sugar, Cracked Pistachio, Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Mustard Seed and Tea dye.  I then added some extra shading using the Spectrum Noir pencils.
 
 
These were then carefully cut out, so that the parakeets could be moulded and shaped.  In the meantime, I made a background using Distress re-inkers in the following colours:  Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Tumbled Glass and Cracked Pistachio  These were simply dripped onto a blending mat and spritzed with water, before pressing the card onto the ink.  I find its a good idea to keep drying the card in between layers to prevent the colours getting too muddied.  Here you can see me choosing my favourite bit of the background.   
 
 
Then I cut out a frame, and using super sticky tape on the back to keep it secure, I wound various coloured embroidery silks round it;  knotting the ends together to create simple tassels.  Although at first glance, this might appear to be completely random, I tried to loosely follow the colours in the background.
 
 
I modge podged a co-ordinating piece of copy paper onto an A5 canvas board, then mounted the panel onto it.  Then plenty of patience was needed to separate the strands of the embroidery silks before trimming them back.
 
 
All that was left to do was to mount onto an A4 canvas board, add a couple of words from the word chains, and finally some little flower buttons in the corners of the frame.
 
 
Hope you like it.  If you have time to leave a comment, I really appreciate your thoughts on my work.  I'm off now;  things to do ready for lunch with Mum and the rest of the family.  Till next time.  Xxx 

 
 
 
 


 
 

 

8 comments:

  1. This is by far one of the prettiest pieces I've seen recently. I just love it and so will you Mum xxx

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    1. Thanks for such kind words about this project Julie. Xxx

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  2. Lovely card, it must have taken ages to put the threads on. x

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    1. Glad you like it Pippa. Yes, it was a test of patience wrapping the threads, but there was something quite soothing and satisfying about doing it too. Xxx

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  3. it is a lovely piece of artwork. beautiful hues. love the idea of tassels. i'm sure your mum will be delighted with it, if not i'll have it xx

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    1. Its nice to hear that you like it so much Theresa. Sorry to say its not looking for a new home... lol! Xxx

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