Sunday 3 February 2013

This old heart of mine

I was so excited when I was asked to host at Take A Word this week, that I immediately started the concept drawing (such a child).  I hope you get some inspiration from the piece.
Heart in my art
Starting out with 300gsm water colour paper and using a fan brush I applied light strokes of white gesso.  Once dried I made three very weak washes using distress ink re-inkers in Milled Lavender, Tattered Rose and Old Paper. I applied a tiny bit of Old Paper, and then much more of the lavender and rose.  (The gesso acts as a resist).  Once dry, I applied some glass bead medium in patches over the gesso.  While the medium was drying, I cut a heart from rusty metal (it's real metal and real rust) and, cut the heart in two.  Using a Crop-A-Dile I punched the holes and applied large grommets.
Next came some 'industrial' stamping with Black StayzOn, the stamps are all circuit boards and warning signs.  Then I laced the two sections of the heart with some soft apricot ribbon finished with a bow.

 Several more layers of the weak distress wash, each one dried before applying the next, then a drop of  undiluted re-inker over the beads.  Next came some stamping with swirls using London Fog Archival Ink and then Golden Iridescent Bronze was dry brushed over the beads.
The words were printed on my computer and edged with Tattered Rose and the small hearts were painted with Golden Iridescent Bronze and punched with a small heart punch.
Finally, I dusted the edge of the whole piece with Pumice Stone distress ink.
Thanks so much for looking and your comments.

14 comments:

  1. I love, love this, Liz...absolutely gorgeous!!

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  2. WOW, what an awesome piece, Liz, I love the concept of the broken heart!

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  3. wonderful - love all the texture here!

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  4. Inspiration galore, Liz! Stunning art!xx

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  5. Awesome piece of Art, I love it.

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  6. Such a lot of work and the finisged result is gorgeous!

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  7. love the heart and the colours you have used
    hugs Pia

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  8. This is beautiful work, Liz. I love the soft colors!

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  9. Bonjour Liz !
    jolie réalisation !
    j'aime beaucoup !
    Amicalement Mary.kg

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  10. Liz I think this is such a cute idea what a great Valentine!

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  11. I like the clever way in which you connected the 2 heart pieces. Blessings!

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  12. This is such an interesting post with the description of how you made this piece, from the different paints with the lovely names of colours, the broken metal heart and the mending ribbon, the text, the clever stamping, the small hearts punched and painted ... and everything else. Oh, and there is the finished result! - so beautiful and complex, it's wonderful creative art.

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Thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment, I really appreciate it - Liz