Artist in Residence or Project Lockdown #2...

Happy Saturday Evening Tando-ettes,

Hope all you artists in residence are keeping well.  We are all keeping safe in the Tando Underground Bunker for the Creatively Insane, but I must admit, this week, I've had a mind numbing migraine that eased to a simple blinding headache by Wednesday, but that threw my creativity to the ground and gave it a damn good smothering! It was not nice! However I did get a couple of deliveries that cheered me up enough to get my act together and helped me finish a couple of W.I.P. The problem with migraines is that they affect your eyes (light, focus, concentration all get slammed), so you cant do much for long, and forget looking at a screen!

So, my deliveries were... some squares of textured wallpaper for mark making, from my teamie and fellow Seth Apter groupie, Celia. We use them like stamps and were an unexpected treat. Believe me, for textured stamping they work brilliantly!

The other delivery was some acrylic inks that I've been wanting to try for ages. Here's the colours I got... they are soooooo gorgeous...

I mentioned finished projects: I'm a fan of crochet. Ive taught myself with the aid of youtube videos, and can sit and crochet for hours. I've just finished this buff, just in time for the drop in temperature today. So easy to make (let me know if you want me to link this really easy to follow pattern).

The second project I finished is a lesson from LifeBook 2020 run by Willowing.org. LifeBook is a year long project that has lots of tutorials, some in depth and some more a guide to creating, in lots of different areas of art. I can highly recommend it. Its been perfect for this lockdown year. Here was my piece (taught by Lisa Oxley).  Di posted that we'll be running a new '24 Technique Tags' in the new year, and I'll be adapting what I've learned here in to one of those tag sessions (this one is made on a big piece of Tando Greyboard), because we all love a fb live session right?

Well thats me done for this week. Now my head has cleared I can get back to the million and one ideas I have floating round in there! Is it any wonder I'm forever starting projects but am terrible at finishing them!

Stay safe my friends, and keep checking the blog and the Tando fb pages for inspiration, and please don't be shy to join in with the Artists In Residence shinanigans. Lets keep each other inspired.

Cheerio 

x

‘Goth Box’ by Jan

Hello, were you a Tando 'Jarma Llama' last month? What a fantastic creative time we had 💜. If you didn't join in this year, maybe you'd like to join us for the next one? Keep tuning in to the Tando fb group to be the first to see dates and booking details...

This weeks colour theme really appealed to me. Purple and all it’s tones, however as I sat and thought about my project something completely different began to emerge! Hopefully you’ll of seen the matchboxes that Di launched on Hocahanda last week and from Celia’s project on the amazing 'Comfy Pyjamas Retreat’... I couldn't wait to have a play with the smallest one...

I assembled the matchbox and gave it a dark coat of chalk paint, then rubbed on some resist paint and then a top coat in a paler colour of the chalk paint. When it dried I rubbed back where I'd put the resist medium, so that it gave a worn paint look. I did the same with the drawer and one of the thin greyboard pages. Stamping a Chocolate Baroque background stamp with some versafine ink I heat embossed some powder and let that all cool and dry properly, covered everything in some crackle glaze and when dried rubbed in some white antiquing cream, which was also rubbed back before using crackle paste for the word. Phew!

The wings and the little bird skull are resin from my stash, painted (inspiratation from The fabulous Natassa Blazaki https://www.facebook.com/natassablazaki) and grunged up with waxes and some stippled paint, some scraps of fabric and a metal embellie were all added to some scrap greyboard (to give it height) and stuck on with some heavy duty goo.

Here's what i was supposed to be working towards! Creativity sometimes takes you down a completely different track doesn't it 😅

What I used:

Matchboxes: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/MTCHBXBNDLE.html

Decoart Chalk Paint: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/category-103.html

Decoart Antiquing Cream: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/CLDADMM153.html

Decoart Crackle Glaze: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/CLDADMM16.html

Decoart Crackle Paste: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/search/for/crackle+paste/

from my stash:

Chocolate Baroque texture stamp: https://www.chocolatebaroque.com/gothic-fragments-unmounted-rubber-stamp-sheet-a4.html

Resin and metal pieces, pieces of fabric, beads.

Embossing Powder: https://www.tando-creative.co.uk/cs-andy-skinner-mixed-media-embossing-powder-granite.html

Thanks for stopping by 👍