Thursday, March 10, 2011

something fishy


one of my art friends is hosting an altoid tin swap. in each group, each participant asks for a specific theme for their card. one of the player's theme was fish or flamingo. there is something about fish i love. it could be that the way they swim so gracefully is meditative to me. or maybe it is their ability to breathe underwater. as a little kid i use to think i could do that when i stood under the shower!

it's been a long time since i explained how i did a piece of artwork, so since this piece is more than meets the eye i thought i'd let you know how i ended up with the finished piece.

i first used bleach on a swirl stamp and stamped it on a purple piece of cardstock. then i took a different swirl stamp and used black staz on ink to stamp on the cardstock. i put that aside to dry. i painted, stamped and did some journaling on a piece of deli paper. i cut out strips to resemble plant leaves. i found an image of a fish and cut it out. i used oil pastels to brighten the fish and then added india ink to make his face stand out. i glued the leaves and the fish to the card stock. i used a white marker to add bubbles and then when that was dry i used a white gel pen to brighten the bubbles. i used the india ink to define the leaves and the bubbles. then i used oil pastels to add areas of shadow to the leaves. i also added various colors of blue oil pastels to the purple background.

11 comments:

  1. Roc....glad you talked about this piece. I was going to ask you about those beautiful leaves when I saw it the first time. They have such an awsome shimmer to them. Interesting to hear that it is the old faithful deli paper!!! Great job

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  2. This is just wonderful! Love the plants, I can almost see them waving around in the water. Thanks for sharing your process - cheers!

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  3. This is so creative and wonderful!!!! I truly enjoy seeing what you create,such a pleasure.

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  4. Wow, Wow, WOW!!! The old bleach and deli paper trick!!! I hope that everyone enlarges this piece so they can see the yummy details, Roc. This piece is really amazing and truly has a beautiful "underwater" and motion effect. BRAVO!!! Hugs, Terri xoxo

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  5. Very cool! Love how that lil' guy is peeking through the plants. Cool!

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  6. This is beautiful! I love all the colours you have used! I can almost feel the water gently lapping and rolling.
    I have an award for you on my blog today :)
    xoxo Karen

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  7. I love all your vibrant fanciful creations on your fantastic blog. Thanks also for all inspiring descriptions and sharing your ideas and tutorials.
    Wish you a nice new week tomorrow,
    Anja

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  8. What an enchanting work or art - it really does capture the fish under water - superb

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  9. Beautiful colors! I love how you've described the process. Thanks.

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