Dance Prop - Sign

Hi! It's me! Back from the ... road, I guess!

The title of my post is Dance Prop - Sign,

because, well, it's a sign that we needed for our

Nationals number we'll be doing in

Orlando next week; but more importantly ...

I got to paint!! I painted!!

I'm. So. Happy.!!

That's enough, I don't want to be too

wordy after being silent for so long, it might

throw us all into some sort of shock.

 

I tried to take enough step-by-step pics

so that explanations wouldn't really be necessary

for each photo. I always use tracing paper

and make a pattern of all of my letters/words first,

then I can play with spacing.  I chose the

granny/grampa pics because our number

is titled Church Ladies and it very much fits

our dance!  I included two pics (although not very

good ones ~ sorry) at the end, that I was able

to take during rehearsal last week.

Enjoy! 

This is the sign from March, which

replaced the sign from February,

and is now being replaced with a July version.

;)

Peace, Granny!!

 

~ Peace Out ~

One more photo if you've read this far;

today is my birthday.

This is the first pic I've actually been in

on purpose since my episode in December.

I mean, there's always that random

photo where I'm in the background talking

or chewing or making a bizarre facial contortion ~ 

those pics rear their ugly heads more often than

I'm completely comfortable with.

  I had lots of inflammation after

my emergency surgery, inside and out, and

I've had to change my diet and be religious about

it.  No sodas, no gluten ...I won't bore

you but it's been really tough, and requires

much longer stays in the grocery aisle reading

labels.  Which, by the way, are printed with such

unnecessarily tiny print ... and I already have

to hold the box out as far as my arm will

reach to read the label ... it's a long, long

trip to the grocery store, is what I'm saying.

I believe I'll start ordering my GF

foods online.  From the privacy of my own

home.  Where I can enlarge the print to

max x4000 and no one has to know.

Shh.  Don't tell!

 PPS  Yes, it's 1200 degrees outside

and I'm wearing my sweater.
I told you I was getting old!!

Clay Dough Ornaments

Bright, White Clay Dough

While I can always use the salt scrub effect

on my dry, papery man-hands ~

(you know, rinsing my paintbrush after every

color change really does a number

on my skin!)

~ I've made the salt dough ornaments.

You know, the classic 

"been there, done that"

so when I found a recipe for smooth, bright
white ornaments ... I had to try it!

Here's the recipe:

2 Cups Baking Soda
1 Cup Cornstarch
1 1/4 Cups Water 

 
 Stir ingredients together in a 2 quart saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat,
stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.

Continue to stir until mixture is boiling.

Once the mixture starts to boil,
things will happen quickly!  Continue to
stir ~ suddenly the mixture will
resemble mashed potatoes.
 

As soon as the mixture looks like mashed
potatoes, immediately dump onto
a cookie sheet and cover with a damp
towel.  Allow mixture to cool.

Spread work surface with a light
dusting of cornstarch.

Divide dough in half, keeping the
unused half under the damp towel to
preserve the texture.
(It dries out fairly quickly).

Use cookie cutters or small knife to cut shapes.

Don't forget to poke holes for hanging!
I used a straw.
You could also use rubber stamps
to make impressions on the soft dough.
Love the idea, but we were iced
in and unable to even leave the driveway
and my stamp collection resides
down the street and across the way in my
studio.  Which might as well be in
Siberia since I can't leave my house.

Shapes will air dry, but you can speed
the drying process along by placing
them in a preheated 250 degree oven.
After 15 minutes, turn the shapes and
continue to dry, or bake another 15 minutes.

Allow to cool before painting
and adding ribbon for hanging.

 

~ Peace and Productive Snow Days ~

 

Personalized Canvas

Now that I'm comfortable painting

Cardinals, it's time to switch it up and

leap outside my comfort zone ...

to Hornets!

I painted this personalized canvas for a

teenager - I wanted to make it big and bold

(since my last hornet was only 2" tall!)

 

 

 

Let's pretend I still have a photo

of the blank 12" x 24" canvas ... and that

I took pictures while I base coated it.

uh - hm.

Visualize a paper plate with a large puddle

of dark gray acrylic paint and a large

overlapping puddle of white acrylic paint on it.

Now visualize rolling a sponge paint

roller randomly through the paint and

applying it to the canvas.

 

Does your vision look something like this?

 

 

I made a pattern of the boy's name and

the oversized hornet and used

transfer paper and a stylus to get the

main pattern lines onto the canvas.

 

 

 

Then I took a flat brush and wet it,

blotted it on a paper towel, and dipped one

corner of the brush in a small puddle

of the dark gray paint.

 

 

 

 

 

Next I went around the left and lower

sides of each main pattern line,

reapplying paint to the brush as necessary

(usually after every long stroke).

 

 

You're just going for some quick dimension here,

don't focus too much on perfection.

I always shade again after the base-coating

has been completed.

 

 

Next, I added some short, quick highlights

on the top and right sides of the letters

with white acrylic paint loaded the

same way; on a clean blotted flat brush

with the paint only on one corner.

I base coated the main design.

(using school colors and more than

one coat for opaque coverage)

 

 

Yikes!  Scary eyes!

More fitting for a demon than an

aggressive little Hornet.  We'll fix 'em!

 

 

I added a basketball for this Hornet.

Grant is our basketball star, after all!

I used a darker shade of my base color

to go over the bottom third or so of each of

my letters.  This adds a bit of interest.

 

 

Now its time to repeat the shading around

the left and lower sides of the

letters and the hornet design.  Once the

shading has dried, I apply highlights in the same

manner, but to the top and right sides

of each design element.

 

I added some highlights to those scary eyes,

and to the parts of the hornet I

wanted to appear more dimensional.

 

 

I used a very thin liner brush dipped in black

paint to outline the hornet and the letters.

I used a 1/4" flat brush to add some

border lines around the edges of the canvas.

My paint supply at the house was limited,

so in order to paint the top third

of the letters with a lighter shade of blue,

I mixed a tiny bit of white in with my original

blue base coat color.

I thought the border outline was a little

boring, so I added a thin white

line to the top and right sides of the

main black border line, and a little gray

to the left and lower sides.

Still didn't pop, so I used the liner brush

dipped in black again and sort of

outlined each design element

(letters, border, and some of the hornet)

I added some highlight lines

with the liner brush and white paint.

Once the paint was completely dry,

I used an emery board (limited supplies here)

and sanded a bit off the basketball

and the right sides of the letters.

I brushed two coats of sealer onto the

top and edges of the canvas.

I used Mod Podge in matte finish as

my sealer.  I let it dry overnight and it looks

pretty great!  I hope Grant likes it!

~ Peace and Personalized Canvas ~