Kraaft Shaak Challenge Jan 2015

In the Kraafter Kommunity on Google Plus, Heather gave us this month's challenge of color -- blue and orange:

I was ecstatic! These are my favorite color combos, my "go to" colors!! And to think she and others found this "challenging" blew my mind -- lol. Sometimes I tend to think others must love the same color combos as I do cuz they are just down right YUMMMMMY together -- but they don't and I LOVE that. I love to see others challenged like this, to step outside their comfort zone. It just leads to pure eye candy, just some amazing creations fellow kraffters come up with. You can check out their work by visiting kraafter kommunity and search on hashtag #KSCJan15

But since this IS my favorite color combo, I had to challenge myself in other ways, and boy did I ever on this one!!!

     I seldom, rarely, work on canvas so I decided I HAD to work on canvas. But I had no canvas and I wasn't gonna buy any. So.... I decided I would adhere some "duck cloth" to a couple of pages in my journal. I used Liquitex Matte Gel to glue the cloth down. After it was dry, I used Liquitex Acrylic Gesso to prep the cloth.

     I knew I wanted to use Lindy Stamp Gang Magicals for my colors on the background. Their luscious multi-color, sparkly, shimmery magical goodness is all I could envision on this project!!! I used:  Moon Shadow Ink Gossamer Gold, Magicals Cattail Copper Brown, Magicals Canna Lily Burnt Orange, Magicals Hydrangea Blue and Magicals Tibetan Poppy Teal. I also made a Gloss Gel from each of those colors using finnabair artbasics 3D Gloss Gel. I wish you could see the shimmer on this. It is amazing!!!

To preserve some of that back ground yumminess, I stenciled 3D Gloss Gel on, using TCW Harlequin Stencil and Dylusions Dot and Flowers Stencil (DYS34018) and Stencil Girls Multi-mini dots Stencil,

knowing when the Gel dried, I would have a resist area that would still show that sparkly background through.

When all was dry, I added more of the same LSG Magicals to deepen the colors, and extend the range.

I challenged myself by free-handing everything in this scene on the "canvas" -- the palapa, the chairs, the palm trees were all painted by me!!! Now, that is truly out of my comfort zone!!! I used Artist's Loft Acrylic paints in Titanium White, Viridian, Burnt Sienna, and Lemon Yellow.

Once I painted the palms, palapa and chairs, and all was dry, I used Copic Markers to accentuate.
     On the fonds, I used YG67 Moss and YG63 Pea Green.
     On the edges of the palapa post and palm trunk, I used E15 Dark Suntan, E86 Pecan, E37 Sepia, and E44 Clay. On the palapa, I used the same "E" colors plus a Sharpie Paint Pen in white to add highlights for dried palapa grass.

     Then on the chairs' slats, arms and legs, I used W6 and W2, both are warm greys.

When I got all that done, I wanted to use those gels I made from all the LSG Magicals to showcase the blues and oranges and the shimmer that is magical to LSG Magicals.

So, using a great Kite Stencil - KS019 Nouveu Fern - which was apropos to the theme here, I balanced the canvas with Magicals magic!!
     Adding "ferns" here in Tibetan Poppy Teal and Hydrangea Blue. Look at that yummy shimmer!!!




And "ferns" here in Tibetan Poppy Teal, Canna Lily Burnt Orange and Cattail Copper Brown. That Cattail Copper is sooooo rich in coppery goodness!

In all the pictures you can see the 3D Gloss Gel (I applied in the beginning) popping through the canvas adding texture and, I think, a great visual in the background. Some even look like stepping stones from the beach into the water...











I called this piece "My Place" because it is.  It is the place I go to in my mind when I need de-stressing and quiet-time. I love the beach, the colors of the sands and the waters. Each beach is unique in this respect, especially in the Caribbean. Oh!!!! The colors of the Caribbean waters are so different, ranging from brilliant lapis to teal to turquoise to green and gray. The sands on beaches vary from brilliant white to golden yellow to orange brown and even black. Is it no wonder why and how much I love the colors blue and orange together!!!

Now I wish I had done a canvas because I would love to hang this on my wall, I am that pleased with how it turned out!!!

Thank you stopping by and reading all these words!!!