Inarticulate Desire

Hello all, Alison (butterfly) here with a canvas to share today.

I started this one months ago, and it's had who knows how many layers of paint, spray and then gesso over the top to start again!  The starting point remains a good one though, so I was unwilling to give up on it, and I think I may finally be there... see what you think.  (I'd like to say it shows better in the close-ups.)

So, that starting point was to take one of the newer Tim Holtz embossing folders, Script - the EF version of one of my favourite stamps; I was so thrilled when it was released! - and emboss some plain white cardstock with it.  I tore that and applied it to the canvas (A4-sized) in opposite corners, and then added some texture paste through the mini-Harlequin stencil.

So far, so good, and I won't trouble you with all the journeys in between (not least because I haven't got pictures of them).  Things started to go right when this fabulous woman from the Faces #2 plate coincided with my Virginia Woolf quotes.  I've had one happy collision with this combination already, my Anonymous Women tag, so I thought I might be onto something.

The colours are a combination of Dylusions sprays, Distress Inks, and acrylic paints.  There's spritzing, sponging, blending, dry-brushing.  Sorry I can't be more precise!

I know more about the stamping though... there's my favourite Calligraphic Mat #4, and some of the teeny tiny Mini Polka Dot background.

Some of the dots are in Olive Archival, and some were done with embossing ink and Wow Vanilla White powder.

The woman herself is stamped on Specialty Stamping Paper with Antique Linen and just a hint of Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs blended around the edges.

The quote is stamped onto some painted cardstock which I inked in different colours top and bottom.

Originally I stamped it in a teal colour, but it didn't really zing enough, so I used a fine black marker to hand-write over the top.  I quite like the result - handwritten, but not quite my handwriting!

I felt they needed to pop even a little more, so I mounted them on some cardboard packaging.  But now they seemed to be just sitting on the top, so I got out a charcoal pencil and a white pencil and added some more shading for a dimensional look - highlighting from the top left, and shading below and to the right.

And once I'd started with the white pencil, I used it to add some highlighting both to the stencilled harlequin texture and to the Paris text.

Around the edges of the canvas it was harder to get the gesso to cover up previous spritzings (and there had been some blood red ones, so they were a bit in the way).

I worked out that putting tissue tape around the edges meant that I could apply new layers of colour a bit more easily.  There were also places on the front of the canvas that needed a bit of the same kind of help.

Thanks so much for taking the time to follow part of this creation's history with me.  Come and join in with our Ladies Day challenge this month here at Artistic Stamper to be in with a chance at the prize draw.  For now, happy crafting, and I'll see you again soon.

Ingredients:

Artistic Stamper stamps: Faces #2, Calligraphic Mat #4, Mini Polka Dots

Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder: Script

Crafter's Workshop stencil: Mini Harlequin

Idea-ology Tissue Tape: Symphony

Dylusions sprays: Calypso Teal, Cut Grass, Dirty Martini, White Linen

Distress Inks: Gathered Twigs, Walnut Stain, Broken China, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo

Texture Paste

Wow embossing powder: Vanilla White

Archival Ink: Olive, Jet Black

Specialty Stamping Paper