Sunday, May 22, 2011

The Altered Alice Chapter 4 Challenge Week 4: Time

Thank you for dropping by to see my first The Altered Alice Guest Design Team Member piece!

Before we get into the mechanics of my piece I have to remind you to get on over to The Altered Alice to see what's been happening there. Seriously. What I create is OK, sometimes it's even very good, occasionally it's awesome: I like it in any of those states. But the art pieces that you're going to see at The Altered Alice will remind you of what you aspire to become as an artist.

I'm starting on my way with this piece in which I used the digi stamp "Wait for Me" from The Altered Alice's monthly sponsor, Fresh Brewed Designs. There's little wonder that I'm not the only Design Team Member, guest or otherwise, who chose this stamp since it's so completely cool!

My own piece started with a black and white print out of the Wait for Me stamp which I then colored with pencils and Sharpie markers: The Sharpies were used as I often do to highlight the hard lines and give the entire image extra depth.

I left Alice's face and hair with highlighting only before trimming the stamp and inking everything (except Alice, of course) with Distress Ink frayed burlap. This gave the tree and mushrooms a weathered look.

The trimmed image is mounted on a canvas that was sprayed with Butterscotch color wash before a clockwork mask was applied. A second wash of color, this time a homemade green-toned glimmer mist, was added and the rectangular clock stamp was added.

I removed the mask, added the round clock stamp and the game spinners which I'd made black and gold with Sharpie paint markers.The text, and the clocks, were stamped with black archival ink and the clockface near the top left is from a vintage watch.

Other items include the silver chain as a hanger, two idea-ology corners, lace dyed with color wash and clockwork bits from actual vintage watches adhered to the Wait for Me tree.

Whew, aren't you impressed with my description? I rarely worry about explaining what I've done, or with which products. I'm usually much more involved in telling you some random, unrelated story.

I guess the team at The Altered Alice are bringing out my professionalism: At least for now, before the silly genes overtake my I Can Be A Grown Up facade.

Until then you've got a few days to create your own amazing The Altered Alice piece, and show it off at, you guessed it: The Altered Alice!

7 comments:

  1. I LOVE this piece! Great debut! I also appreciate the tip about the sharpies and emphasizing some lines to get the boldness you want. LOVE the effect of the colorwash/masked/glimmered background. My favorite detail is all the time-related comments nestled in here and there, and the gears and sprockets on the tree, love that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on a smashing piece for your GD spot. I so agree with you that stamp is wonderful. A terrific piece. Enjoy your day, Annette x

    ReplyDelete
  3. wow what a great job on this tracy as always you do so well..tfs..loves ya

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations, its an awesome hanging. I think the stamp is great as well. Yvonne x

    ReplyDelete
  5. Such a wonderful project, love the image and all the clocks with there details.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Did I honestly not comment on this? I saw it on The Altered Lice and absolutely LOVED it! I've been having some computer issues where blogger won't let me sign in to my blog or Google account using my regular Browser and if I'm having my usual insomnia, I 'm too lazy to open something else. Anyway, FABULOUS project. I'm STILL trying to play along with this challenge. Congrats on the Guest DT spot! xxD

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tracy, congrats on your guest designer gig! They're lucky to have you, and I'm lucky to get to see your cool work of art! I love that you're developing a really wonderful style that's uniquely your own. I don't know if you realize it, but your work so cohesive, and you've got this awesome artistic "voice" that's recognizable and exciting. Great job, girlfriend-- you've achieved something a lot of us only aspire to, and I bet you didn't even realize it (or maybe you did and you're too humble to say so... ).

    ReplyDelete