Watercolour Wet-into-Wet Wolf

Have you ever had a dream of a multicoloured wolf howling at moon? Well join the club. It is always great to draw inspiration from the most unlikely places, and for me this means even my dreams, just do not ask me to interpret it! After having this dream, I considered watercolour to be the perfect medium, particularly using the technique wet-into-wet. This is a simple idea which you can have a lot of fun with. As mentioned in last week's blog, it is just another watercolour technique that has an unpredictability to it. The basic process of this technique is applying a wash of water onto your surface and before letting the area dry add pigment and watch the colours spread, intermingle and mix to create new shades and hues of colour. Pretty simple stuff with some great results, here's what I came up with;


Materials;

• Mont Marte Mop Squirrel Brush 24
• Mont Marte Artist Sable Round 4 
• Mont Marte Watercolour Pad A4
• Mont Marte 12 ml Watercolour Paints.

Step 1. Draw with a faint outline of your chosen design. 

Step 2. Load your brush with water and paint in the areas you want coloured. For the wolf I have left the eyes, sections in the mouth, ears and fur dry, this is because these areas will be white.

Step 3. Act quickly when painting with water.




















Step 4. Load a mop brush with pigment then drop into sections, watching the colour seep into other areas. 

Step 5. Clean off your brush and continue this pattern of adding more and more pigment into the artwork. You will find that the pigment only seeps into the areas that are wet.

Step 6. If you have added too much water, use a small sponge or paper towel to soak up the excess. EASY!

Step 7. Add in a moon for the wolf to howl at then allow to dry and see how the multicoloured wolf comes to life.

Step into art; Customised Puffy Paint Shoes.

I know it says on my Mont Marte Super hero profile that my favourite product is the Two Seasons Spring and Autumn Watercolours kit and I have to say it still is, BUT the product I worked with this week came in a close second. The Puffy Fabric paint is not only fluro in colour but it is 3D in execution.  I simply cannot stress how awesome art materials are when they become textural; you can really enjoy your art projects from different sensorial perspectives, touch, feel and sometimes even smell is the best.  

This puffy paint is one of products you can use on almost anything and still retain its vibrancy in colour. I have tested this out on wooden surfaces like frames, greeting cards, t-shirts and have even used it on my camera bag. So it does not only work on fabric but also other surfaces. I decorated my camera bag a few months ago and haven’t stopped touching the puffy paint ever since.

Let me start by saying do not be afraid of fluro, fluro is your friend, it is a real attention grabbing tool perfect for customising a drab piece of clothing. This has led me to customising a boring pair of canvas shoes I own. Have you ever wanted a t-shirt to express your funny bone, ever had this urge to put a saying on a shirt for the whole word to see? Well join the club, the pun club; I was busting at the seams to paint this on something... a shoe to be exact. So I finally did it, I jumped on the pun bandwagon, “Hello, how are shoe”, get it? Get it!?

No matter if you don’t, have a go at this quick tutorial and your sole will thank you. 

I few housekeeping items to take care of first;

• Although the paint dries in a quick time, wait for 12 hours before using a hair dryer to cure it.
• Don’t hold the hair dryer too close.

 1. Pick your victim piece of clothing. 

 2. Draw on your design and maybe your hilarious pun!

 3. Paint on with Acrylic or fabric paint as a base.

 4. Apply the puffy paint, contrasting colours works well. Watch out sometimes the paint may spurt out.

 5. Apply the paint in different textures, see here I have created spikes out of a dotting action. 

 6. Add embellishments to the edges of the shoe.

 7. Laugh as hard as you want at your own joke.

I sure did!

Happy Creating. 

A-Thank you very much!

Every year we all go through many traditions of birthdays, baby showers, weddings, congratulatory events, ‘I’m leaving’ parties, ‘I’m coming home’ parties, 'I won a trophy and I'm fabulous' parties - I think you get the point, but basically plenty of celebrations to go around. There is one consistent element crucial to making these events happen, the cards! Invitations, thank you notes and congratulations in little envelopes, I have lost count of the amount of cards I have received over the years, but in all honesty I have only kept a few of the important ones.  For me, there is nothing worse than getting a generic card. No offense to my parents, but their card will probably end up in a recycling bin 3 months later (I know, you must think I’m the worst daughter in the world, but sometimes it is 6 months later!).

There are however just some of those cards that make it into the keepsake box for me to treasure for years later and these are either heartfelt long messages from my friends and family OR handmade cards.

Recently for my birthday in June, I received a handmade card from a friend I had only known 1 week. As I opened the envelope the gleam from the metallic gold, cut out lettering struck me first, “Happy Birthday”, wonky and adorable and clearly made for one person, me. To my delight, as I opened to read the contents which sprung from the page, literally, it was a pop up card! This gift was more so personalised by the fact she knew I loved skulls; this skull pop-up card was amazingly the best gift I had received that day.

I’m sure I am not alone with my reaction when experiencing this special treatment. That handmade little beauty sure did put a smile on my dial, so what’s to say you can’t achieve that with a special friend or loved one of your own?

SO, the purpose of this blog; handmade cards for special occasions, there are a myriad of different handmade card approaches I could have taken this week, but I thought I would attempt to replicate a foil card. These cards are often made at a great expense at your printer but I will be using silver imitation foil. The only limitation you have for when using this medium is your own imagination, so go for gold... or in this case, silver. 

I have decided to go for the traditional thank you card and some quite kitsch, iconic symbols that you could use for any occasion but are quite pretty and effective. 

Step 1: Pick out your card and re-size it using scissors or a cutting board. I have picked the Fluro card stock because the colours will provide a vibrant contrast against the silver foil.

Step 2: Make the fold before applying any design or adhesive. This way you do not damage the foil later.

Step 3: Paint the leaf size using a small brush into any design you want. Allow this area to become tacky and dry for a few seconds.

TIP:

To get straight lines grab a ruler and paint along it.

To get perfect typography (lettering) print off the words you want and use tracing paper for accurate, clean lines. 

Step 4: Gently remove the foil from the packaging, you might want to use a soft brush to help you, and place over the area you have applied the adhesive to. Either blowing onto the foil or using a brush with soft bristles pat down the foil. If you come across any areas that has a tear, simply rip off a small piece of foil and add to only that area.

NOTE:

The Silver Foil is the most delicate out of copper, gold and silver, so it it more inclined to tear. Be gentle and make sure you are not near a window or fan!

Step 5: After patting the surface down leave for a few moments then using a brush with a broad, flat edge, sweep away the excess foil.

NOTE:

Be prepared for the foil to stick to anything with moisture.

Step 6: Once all the excess foil is cleaned off, write a personalised message on the inside, give to your special friend then brag about how you made it all by yourself!

These designs could be used for a tea party, a pool party, an engagement or maybe you will want to have a moustache party! The freedom is yours to create. Happy creating!

Fluro Polar Bear Attack!

What happens when you leave a blank sculpture and a girl with fluro paints? THIS. Unfortunately the monitor colours DO NOT do the fluro colours justice. In fact looking at it with the naked eye, the fluro orange is almost blinding. Oh well, I had to show you this little activity nonetheless. This Polar bear I actually grabbed from another lesson that Mont Marte Joe did on sculpting with Air Hardening Clay, see it here if you like! This little art attack serves the purpose of showing you that you can jazz anything up with just a few simple block colours. What was a majestic polar bear perhaps to be used for a science 'show and tell' has transformed into a vibrant piece of decoration/ paper weight/ desk friend for anyone. Stay tuned for more fluro related blogs to come over the next month, watch this little video on how the fluro Polar bear came to be.

Happy Creating!

If you are having any trouble watching this video in Internet Explorer, try opening this page in Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome :)

Is your face ready for the Olympics?

 

You see this on the soccer field at your local game, on the face of a spectator in the grandstand screaming GOAAAL and on the cheek of a young chap visiting a grand sporting stadium for the very first time. Body painting is a way in which a fan can really express their support for their team and be a display for their more intense interest than everyone else sitting around them.  Obviously called fanatic for the reason they are willing to paint their faces and bodies in their team’s colours, symbols even mascots, sometimes even in very vibrant team colours. Personally I believe there is a wondrous power between wearing body paint and being able to scream louder. How else are the fans able to bellow over the football field, stadiums or from my experience even through water?

Painting my face every sporting carnival was normality, especially in school houses and teams, painting your face and putting the same coloured ribbons in your hair (yes even if you’re a boy) would be warranted all in the name of pride of your sporting house, war paint I called it. 

But it doesn’t just stop at school sporting events, often we see painted faces at our biggest football game or we might even see it on a grander scale. Yes, at the 2012 London Olympics not only will different countries be flying the flag with their countries colours but they might even be painted on spectator’s skin.

We all know that it is the athlete that wins the game but it is with your screams, chant and ultimate body painting support that inspires that athlete. So this Olympics or at your next local game, try a few body painting colours on your face or even go the whole nine yards and do the full package torso.

My Main tip for this venture.

•  When applying to large surfaces apply multiple thin layers instead of gluggy large bits of paint.
• Wear sunscreen along with your painted faces if watching outside. Inside spectators should be fine!

 

Body and Face Painting: Festival Painting

Hello Art aficionados!

Once again body and face painting is the hot topic of the hour. The focus this time is decoration of the body and face for festivals. This particular context for body painting is one of interest to me as it provides a safe place to be expressive, artistic and always crazy with your designs. During festivals is perhaps the most socially acceptable time we can be a little Avant-garde in society, so of course creating art using your body and face as the canvas would seem the obvious choice! 

Coming from someone who loves body painting, I would of course love to see a world of people wearing body art in the most unusual of circumstances. Perhaps fashioning a floral face motif at their local grocer or even painting their face just to visit their grandma. But for now festivals, fairs and community events are the perfect medium for showing what one can do with their paint brushes and body paint. 

Some great painting ideas that are simple and always trending are simple shapes, flowers, swirls lots of fluro colour and geometrical shapes. Below is an example of a quick 5 minute design using just triangles and fluro body paint to paint some friends for a music festival. As you can see the design’s intent was to be quick, colourful and allow for the subjects to 'stand out in the crowd'.

The above design is more for modern day festivals however this week I was on the pursuit to re imagine a design for a festival in the 60s or 70s like Woodstock. Creating something inspired by 'flower power' was most certainly helped by the fact I was wearing a 60's dress with a psychedelic print on the day (seen in the mid section). This was the inspiration and reference for the choice of colours, as you can see with the   yellows, green, red and white hues. I have also created orange with the combination of red and yellow to create another element. This little inspirational body work focuses on colour, shape and line, using triangles, dashes, dots and swirls , and showing off their potential as a funky 60s body print. 

Here is just an extra suggestion, if anyone ever does go to their grocer with face paint or perhaps has a body paint dinner party, post your photos, we love seeing art mediums being transferred into different contexts. 

Happy Creating!

Body and Face Painting: Snow Leopard & Guido Daniele

As part of our Body Art Month we take a closer look at working with the living canvas, the human figure, and share a step by step to creating an artwork to disguise and transform the human hand into something much more!

When discussing hand painting, Milan artist Guido Daniele comes to mind with his highly realistic hand paintings, which depicted animals. Our quick twenty minute blog does not pale in comparison to his sometimes three to ten hours to complete one hand painted artwork, carefully researching each animal and bringing them to life on different subject's hands. Noticeably with Guido’s work he uses to his advantage the creases and imperfections of the human skin, which develops the uniqueness of the animal's character more so, this can be seen in his creation the elephant.

To achieve some of these 3D effects, Guido has used method’s such as Trompe-l'œil, French for ‘deceive the eye’, a technique involving realistic imagery to create optical illusions, see his Zebra.  

Now, Guido would have used other forms of paint but for the purposes of this blog and for the safety of cosmetic grade materials on skin, we are using Mont Marte Body Art Materials. 

You will need;

• Mont Marte Body Art Kit in Bright Colours
• Wet Cloth
• Camera
• Hand
• Gallery Paint Brushes

What was truly the saddest part of this art creation was watching the paint run down the sink when it was time to wash my hands, so you must always have a camera at the ready, or, simply paint again!

 

Step 1. Start with a reference picture or sketch our your design on paper prior OR if you're feeling confident and know your artistic design inside and out then skip to step 2!

 

Step 2. A great tip when planning out your motif or design is to paint it in white first. This way if you make any mistakes, need to make rearrangements or change proportions, this can easily be removed with a wet cloth. Easy!

 

Step 3. To create the facial hair of the snow leopard we used the Mont Marte Body Art Colours Black and White in the bright kit. We have used a light to dark method when applying to the hand. Firstly add the white beard using a dry brush method. Mix black and white to create a lighter shade of grey then add in as a block colour. Following your reference photo (or if you have seen a snow leopard in real life, your mind!), gradually add more black to your mix applying in areas that are visibly darker.

 

Step 4. Add more white pigment over the grey shades to accentuate the whiskers and give detail to fluffy hair. Before adding in a black outline, colour the eyes with a dark shade of green, then add the highlights to the eyes with a yellow, this is the 'shine you would see on an eye ball. Then you can add in a strong black outline to the eyes and nose, adding detail to the whiskers and speckled forehead.   

 

Step 5. Remember this is your artwork so there is no need to follow the colours given, take some creative license and  maybe make your snow leopard a blue hue. 

Is there any other animal you would like to create, perhaps one you have seen from Guido Daniele??

Happy Creating!