Sunday 29 May 2016

Wood, a Word and Something Wild

...is the theme over at Creative Carte Blanche and I finally found the time to create something inspired by these three things (so I could slip in my project almost at the very last minute...phew!).
To get to their post, click HERE.

The first idea that hit my mind almost immediately when reading "something wild" was "wild wire". I guess it was sparked by my love for stave rhymes mainly...but I love working with wire too. And wild wire is even better! ;)

So here's my entry for Creative Carte Blanche's May call:




It is a fact that we often tend to keep ourselves from wandering and exploring the world by the restraints of our own thoughts and concepts. And even if our feet and will were free to go out and make new and amazing experiences, meet new people and learn new things, we forbid them to do so because of some old family beliefs that we have been carrying around with us for ages and that no longer have to be a "truth" to live by! But it is so hard to recognise them as they disguise as old friends who (pretend to) keep us safe and comfortable.




So freedom of will exists! It's there - but it is being held back or silenced by our fear of the unknown or of conflicts that might cause someone to no longer love us (which mostly turns out to not be true at all!) The rusted wire is meant to symbolize these selfmade chains.

My substrate to create this piece of mixed media art from was a small wooden house which I bought at a sale at a home decor shop.




I love to alter things and add crackle, texture, layers of paint and antiquing media to create timeworn looking objects that tell a story (which they hopefully do ;).
So to start with I gave the house a thorough coat of Raw Umber heavy body acrylic paint. Over that I added some DecoArt Media white crackle paste through a stencil and let dry naturally.

To make them look more aged the feet were given a coat of DecoArt Media Satin Varnish and then a coat of heavily diluted DecoArt Media Antiquing Creams Carbon Black and Raw Umber.




The feet fragment is a piece from one of Prima's "Milagros" sets. I simply removed the tiny loop screw it came with and inserted my rusty wire in the hole.

I applied some washes of DecoArt Media Quinacridone Gold and Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide over the stencilled flourish and front of the house shape. The base was covered with DecoArt Media Texture Sand Paste first and covered with the washes too.



Being a huge fan of Michael DeMeng's online workshops, I adapted some of his typical patterns - like the little "flames" around the house's sides.

Using DecoArt Media fluid acrylics and DecoArt "Teal" Dazzling Metallics paint I added the turquoise dots and edge and painted the little dotted flames around the house's sides. These were toned down with a wash of DecoArt Media "Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide" afterwards.



also a



Grab button for Creative Carte Blanche” width=


Thank you, Creative Carte Blanche, for the inspiration
- I had a wonderful time in my studio thanks to your call -
and thank you, my dear (true) visitors and friends, for stopping by!





Join The challenge!
I would also like to enter this project to the May challenge over at Mixed Media Place, as some of the colours were inspired by their lovely mood board.




Hugs and happy crafting! 
Claudia xxx



12 comments:

  1. Ein großartiges kleines Kunstwerk ist da entstanden und ich weiß gar nicht, was mich mehr inspiriert, die Gedanken hinter dem Projekt oder die Umsetzung.Preisverdächtig auf jeden Fall!! LG Kerstin xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love this......right up my street!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Claudia...this is fabulous! I so love your artistic style! This piece is truly artistic! Love how you've taken a plain piece and transformed it into such a dimensional work of art! Love the crackle! Love the brown tones with the touches of the patina teal effect. Love the copper wire wrapping itself around the entire piece looks amazing. And I so love the "freedom" sentiment and the feet! You are just amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. A brilliant and expressive piece of art! I love the thinking behind it and the altering is absolutely fabulous! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this strong message, and the piece is amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Incredible art work Claudia I just love your creative mind and how you bring fine art, altered art and assemblage together to create wonderfully inspiring pieces with amazing stories and details xxx

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is just a fabulous piece, Claudia. I so, so enjoyed your blog as you walked us through your thoughts & musings as you create. I love symbolism in art and you've made this so meaningful. Blessings to you and thanks for sharing this on Creative Carte Blanche!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've been a fun of yours for many years, now it's the time to comment and junge this awesome work!!!Oh lady, you rock!!! Breathtaking work, fantastic techniques and unique beauty!!!Thank you for joining us in MMP, good luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amazing texture I love it thanks for playing at Mixed Media PLace

    ReplyDelete
  10. Holy Heck-oly! I LOVE this...so fun...so wild and your texture is amazing!!!! This one made me giggle and I am in love with your texture!!! Thanks for sharing with us at Creative Carte Blanche!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the ancient vibe and gorgeous texture you created on the wood block. The feet look amazing styled this way. <3

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your visit and especially for taking the time to leave me a short comment! This is highly appreciated! xxx