High Desert Inspired Ornaments
As a child growing up in the high desert I found many inspirations for my artwork in the surrounding area. From sagebrush, seasonal flowers, quartz glistening out of the earth, to animals roaming in the distance. My recent painted ornament collection comes from those childhood inspirations.
One of the most unusual and iconic images of the high desert is the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), a member of the Agave family. An important part of the Mojave Desert ecosystem, Joshua trees are home to all types of wildlife. Birds, mammals, insects, and lizards all live with, in and around Joshua trees. A favorite subject for many southwestern artists to paint, carve and sculpt in their preferred media.
Sometimes seen as unruly, these slow growing trees create a striking silhouette in the high desert. For many living in the high desert, snow covered Joshua trees are seen as a traditional holiday image. Following that tradition I wanted to create holiday ornaments highlighting the Joshua tree.
Another familiar sight to the high desert is the relentlessly gorgeous sunsets and sunrises. In hues of red, pink, yellow, purple, blue and soft grey, the sky is an ever changing canvas. These unfiltered displays of colors are the natural background for Joshua trees in Winter months.
Using photos of Joshua trees, high desert sunsets and sunrises that I took as reference, I painted blank pine wood slices. Layer by layer early morning and twilight high desert scenes came to life.
By painting in a folk art style, I found the process of making each ornament relaxing, bringing back happy holiday memories. Once each pine wood ornament was painted, they were signed and varnished. Many of the ornaments now have happy new homes for the holidays.
Until Next Time, Stay Crafty, Stay Safe!Palm Frond Stencil Art with FolkArt Color Shift Paints
In my last Blog Post I talked about attending the 6th annual Prime Networking Event. The event was educational, informative, had great food and drinks and free product samples provided by this year’s sponsors. At this event, bloggers, designers, authors and brands in the craft industry came together to network, make new partnerships, and learn about new product information. Afterward, the event attendees were encouraged to try out and create art for the Favecrafts Best Blogger Craft Event.
One of the sponsors was Plaid, who supplied a wonderful assortment of their water-based, non-toxic FolkArt Color Shift Paints. These paints indeed do shift color and luminosity with light. In low lighting they produce a soft shimmer and in bright light the color is just stunning.
While the paints can be applied to any number of surfaces and base colors I noticed they have the most impressive result when painted on a dark or black hued surface. Keep in mind each color will dry a bit different from how they look wet. In some cases becoming brighter and in others softer when dry but any color will end up having a metallic shimmer, reminiscent of a lovely mica coating.
The bright and cheerful color selection of the paints made me think of Spring and with the trimming of my plants to encourage growth I got an idea to create a quick and easy stencil art.Supplies:
FolkArt Color Shift Paints in Yellow Flash, Green Flash, Aqua Flash, Blue Violet Flash and Pink Flash
10×20 Canvas
Paint Brush
Acrylic Paint in Black
Mini Paint Roller
Plastic Salad Lid
Gloss Varnish
Palm Fronds or other fresh plant trimmings
I started with applying a coat of black acrylic paint to a 10×20 Canvas. I made sure to get good coverage of paint and let it dry as per manufacturer’s instructions.
To be able to turn fresh palm fronds into flexible yet not brittle stencils I placed them between two pieces of parchment paper and then placed several heavy books on top and let it sit overnight. This way they would be easier to lay flat and yet still be green enough to not break with repeat paint applications.
*In more humid climates you might need to let the plant material sit for 2-3 days pressed by books.
A single use plastic salad container lid got a second life as paint pallet in this project. The lid being flat with some grooves around the edges makes a perfect paint pan to apply paint to the roller and catch any excess paint in the groves. I squeezed out a little of Pink Flash FolkArt Color Shift Paint and moved the roller back and forth to get splotchy coverage, I didn’t want to over-saturate the roller with paint so I used a little at a time.
*A plate or nonstick craft mat will also work.
I placed the pressed palm frond on the canvas and rolled the paint coated roller over the frond carefully. A temporary adhesive was not necessary to keep the frond from shifting as I didn’t mind if I got a little paint seepage around the frond as it gave it a softer edge to the painted image.
I then carefully removed the frond to see how the paint application turned out.
I blotted the roller lightly with a paper towel to remove any excess paint. I then added a little of Blue Violet Flash FolkArt Color Shift Paint to the side of the pink paint on the pallet and moved the roller back and forth to get splotchy coverage, making sure once again not to over-saturate the roller.
Using the smaller palm frond as my stencil I applied the Blue Violet Flash paint with the paint covered roller carefully. As you can see in this photo the Blue Violet Flash paint turns a gold with a blue hue on the black painted canvas.
I repeated using the palm fond as a stencil with the other FolkArt Color Shift paints until I covered the canvas and let it dry as per the manufacturer’s instructions. To enhance the color and help the metallic shimmer become a touch more intense I applied a coat of gloss varnish and let dry.
Noticing that when I used the same two palm fronds as my stencils without cleaning them there was at times slight paint transfer if I flipped over the frond quickly enough and used it as stencils before letting the paint dried. So using another black painted canvas I repeated the same paint application process as the previous piece. This time I got even more paint transfer and slight blending of the different FolkArt Color Shift paints, creating a variant of the original project.
After creating my two canvas pieces I noticed the Palm fronds were covered in paint but looked too good to throw away! I put them back between the two piece of parchment paper, with books on top to fully dry out so I could use them in future art projects!
I really love the vibrancy of color and shimmer created by Plaid‘s FolkArt Color Shift Paints and I look forward to using these paint in future projects.
Until Next Time, Safe Travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry