Flamenco - Sheepski Designs, mixed media, Prismacolor pencil

I recently went to see a performance of Riverdance for a friend's birthday and the first appearance of the Flamenco dancer inspired me to create a piece using the lovely Flamenco from Sheepski Designs as my inspiration piece for the May blog challenge with the theme "Favourite Colour". Red is one of my favourite colours, so the dancer in red under the sun sang to my soul.

My mixed media piece features Prismacolour pencils on canvas board with Distress paint and foiled die cut sun. The frame has been embellished with die cutting and colours to heighten the red.

Come join us in the Sheepski Designs blog May challenge. Show us your favourite colours! https://sheepski-designs-challenges.blogspot.co.uk/

Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SheepSkiDesigns?ref=hdr_shop_menu

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Putting It Together

For this project, I wanted to use canvas in my project and my inkjet printer only works with paper. One of the challenges of using digital images with surface mediums other than paper is 'how do you get the printed image transferred'. I've done tracing with graphite paper before, but the resulting lines were rather heavy black and I wanted to avoid that. So I decided to try a rub transfer.

This transfer method worked best for me when I dampened the surface of the canvas board. I used a wet wipe over canvas but likely just water would have worked.

I printed the image on vellum. The ink stays wet on the vellum longer than on paper because it can't sink in. Plus, the vellum is translucent so it's easier to align placement. The printed sheet gets placed on the canvas printed side down. If you're printing something that needs to be a particular direction, such as writing, you need to reverse it before printing or it will be backwards. Since I wanted the sun to the left, the reverse of the image was actually perfect for me. Printing on plastic for this technique might make the ink more smeary. I'll have to try that another day. I have a more cheap vellum in my stash than usable plastic.

Rub the lines firmly. Hold the sheet in place while rubbing (unless you need to click a mouse to take a picture).

You can check progress if you lift a side while holding the rest to the surface.  Careful not to move the sheet or your lines will be doubled or blurred. However, if at first you don't succeed, go back to the first step and wipe away the ink from the surface with a wet wipe (which is how I discovered this works best with a damp surface).

The fresher ink will leave a darker impression with the rubbing, but if you're quick, you can get a good overall impression. I let the ink and surface dry overnight because I ran out of day, but, you can speed the drying with a heat tool. You want the ink and surface to be fully dry. I wasn't intending to do watercolour so I don't know, at this time, how this method will stand up to a water-medium. A future project :)

I used Prismacolour pencils to colour the image.

If you look close on the right, you can see where I forgot to use something under my hand while colouring to prevent dragging pigment with the side of my hand. The background will hide this.

I keep track of the colours I use while I colour so I have them for the post and my own future reference.

• skin: Dark Brown, Sienna Brown, Burnt Ochre, Salmon Pink, Light Peach, Beige, and Eggshell
• hair: Black, Dark Umber, Chocolate, Beige, Tuscan Red, Terra Cotta
• stockings: Black, Cool Grey 90%, Cool Grey 70%, Cool Grey 20%
• dress: Dark Brown, Tuscan Red, Crimson Lake, Crimson Red, Scarlet Lake, Jasmine, Poppy Red
• ground: Sandbar Brown, Sepia, Putty Beige, Jade Green, Slate Grey, Cool Grey 90%
• sky: Mediterranian Blue, Non-Photo Blue, Sky Blue Light

For the sun's rays, I used a stencil from My Favorite Things and a mask cut with a We R Memory Keepers die. I used my Big Shot Plus to cut the circle from an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet.

I used Distress paint with a brush.

I used different colours to give the rays a bit of an umbra look with red at the centre. Later I extended the rays with the lightest colour.

Squeezed Lemonade, Fosilized Amber, Carved Pumpkin, Ripe Persimmon, Candied Apple.

I added a foiled die cut sun from Spellbinders which I adhered with foam mounting tape to give it added dimension.

For a subtle sparkle on her dress, I went over it with Wink of Stella.

At this point I started to think about framing.

I dashed to the dollar store and bought a frame. I liked the broadness of it and the deeply etched lines. The frame feels like molded plastic.

I dry fit the canvas to make sure it would fit (even with measurements on both canvas board and frame, I am scepticle). I left the glass out since the canvas board is thick.

I painted the frame with Distress paint Ground Espresso and let it dry thoroughly (and spent a lovely evening having pizza and a movie with a friend. My sweetie made "Toad friendly" pizza. My friend, whose nickname is Toad, has a gluten allergy and dairy sensitivity but still loves pizza.)

When it was dry, I went over the frame with Cosmic Shimmer polish in Chocolate Brown and then added Art Alchemy wax in Fire Ruby to bring more red into the project.

I dry fit the canvas again and felt it still needed something.

I looked through my stash and found this lovely die that I hadn't used yet. I used my Big Shot Plus to cut it from 12" long heavy watercolour paper. For the top and bottom, I clipped one in half.

I dry fit the borders on the frame.

I tried a few finishes: Rose Gold embossing alone, Rose Gold over the Chocolate Brown Cosmic Simmer, and Rose Gold with the Ruby Fire over it. Embossing alone came out on top.

I used a Versamark pad directly on the flourish, doing one half at a time so I could have an area to hold while heat embossing.

I decided to double emboss by adding Versamark and embossing powder over the embossing. This makes the embellishment more metallic with a metal-base embossing. This picture shows single embossed on the left and double on the right.

After embossing, I used some Art Alchemy wax in Vintage Gold to cover the edges and add a light distress gilding.

I dry fit the first flourish before doing all 4.

After embellishing all four, I dry fit them before adhering them with Zig glue pen.

Supplies

Challenges

Come join us in the May challenge for Sheepski Designs, the theme is Your Favorite Color.

Scribbles Designs: Feminine 
Try it on Tuesday: Die Cuts and/or Stencils
More Mixed Media: Anything Goes
Scrapping 4 Fun: Anything Goes

Creative Craft Cottage: Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner: Anything Goes
Love to Scrap: Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft: Anything Goes