/* */ Beulah Bee: oil pastels
Showing posts with label oil pastels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil pastels. Show all posts

February 03, 2023

Time Goes

After a month-long absence from posting, I bring you my first bit of crafting for the new year using an image inspired by, no surprise, how quickly time goes by.

After printing, I masked the child and clock then stamped (Hero Arts Succulent Bouquet) into the background using gray archival ink. For tinting, I used water-soluable oil pastels and a white Signo Uni-ball pen to highlight the dress lace.

I sanded some areas to give it a more distressed appearance and fussy-cut around the flowers before mounting on a piece of Paper Stash.

The text came from a song recorded in 1969 by Fairport Convention called "Who Knows Where The Time Goes." Here's a link if you'd like to take a listen.


As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.


August 31, 2022

Seedless Preserves

I usually keep my posts short and sweet since there are many craft bloggers that provide step-outs with detailed instructions and most of my work isn't, as they say, "rocket-science."

But this time I thought my readers might like a more detailed explanation of how this tag was made.

It began with an image transfer on heavyweight card stock after modifying this photo with Photoshop.

As you can see, the photo had damage (gray areas on flesh) that I corrected using the "film grain" filter followed by my usual image transfer technique. Here's the reversed image after editing.

I filled-in the hair on top of her head, redrew parts of her necklace and extended her eyebrows with waterproof black ink. I use a Uni-ball Vision Fine--it's been my go to for years. I scratched out the dark shadow beneath her chin and replaced it with lighter shading.

I trimmed and pasted tissue paper in the background using Tim Holtz Collage Papers and a Simon Craft Glue Stick. I seriously like these sticks--they have a long working time and clean up easy with water.

Her dress was decorated with plain white tissue paper stamped with dots (Tim Holtz Dots and Floral) and tinted with this post's title, Seedless Preserves Distress Stain. I don't think there is a more potent color in my toolbox than this one!

I made a mask of the woman's body so I could stamp the tree branches with birds in the background (Penny Black Winter Ledge). I painted over the bird bodies with white acrylic later tinted with light brown ink. I used inexpensive Pentel Oil Pastels to tint the background. They are mostly transparent (which is a great feature) and I just scribble on a bit and rub-in with a cosmetic sponge.

Some final tweeks include shading around the edges of the woman's face and arms to provide a little dimension and the addition of gold paint to her jewelry and the remaining frames edges. There's a spot of Glossy Accents on her turquoise medallion and the text is a Holtz Clippings Sticker.

I'm linking up to Simon's Monday challenge, this week it's Make Your Own Background.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

July 14, 2021

Possibilities

Journal Page

I created a journal page using some new supplies--Carabelle Studio's Stitched Mixed Media Background, Simon's Floral Garden stamp and their Tiny Dots stencil.

I stamped the background first, stamped the flowers on top, then used white paint to fill-in the flowers and a watered down version of paint to knock-back the background. The color came from water-soluble oil pastels, inks and colored pencils.

The snail was stamped (Carabelle), cut-out, pasted on, filled-in with paint and tinted with inks. The text is from Tim Holtz (I peel the thick cardboard off the back). The border was hand drawn with a black fine-tip marker.

Journal Page
 

I'm linking up to Simon for this week's theme, Lazy Days of Summer.

As always, I hope this post finds you well and happy and I appreciate your visit.

Until next time, take care.

October 10, 2017

Field Notes


Tinted mostly with water-soluble oil pastels, an image transfer, some stamped images, Tissue Wrap and Quote Chips came together on a support made from an old textbook cover. I've got step-out photos if you'd like to see the particulars.

(Click on the photos for a larger, lightbox view.)


I stripped the cover of a textbook which left me with a sturdy gray board that I covered with Tim Holtz Postale Tissue Wrap using Modge Podge.



I edited an image (coincidently, also a book cover) and then transferred it to the board using Golden Polymer Medium (Gloss). You can read about my technique in this post.


I used dilute gesso to obscure the background details and this also provided a good surface for applying color.


I stamped the keyboard image (Tim Holtz) on tissue paper using archival ink, tore the edges and pasted it on my support. I added a border detail/frame using a dark brown Pitt Artist Pen. They are made with india ink and waterproof with almost all mediums.



The Quote Chips (Tim Holtz Idea-ology) were delaminated because I wanted the text but not the thickness. They were later stained and distressed to blend in with the background.



The snail (Carabelle Studio) was also stamped on paper, which I tinted then cut-out and pasted on.


Most of the coloring was done with water-soluble oil pastels. I like that they are transparent, easily blended with your fingers and can be diluted and spread with a water brush for thinner coverage.



I made this to link-up with Simon's Monday Challenge Blog, this week's theme is to make anything except a card. This may be out of the box for some but if the challenge was just the opposite, I'd expect to struggle a bit as I haven't made a card in quite some time.

March 03, 2016

The Red Chair


The journal page I share today was prompted by Simon's Monday challenge, Take a Leap Into the Unknown, and it was all that and more!

I took several photos of each stage so my post is longer than usual but I hope you'll enjoy seeing the process. As always, you can click on the individual photos to see a larger version.

I found this lady's image on the net and know nothing about her but wanted to give her a bigger presence because she is so captivating.

I took a leap and cropped out the frame, reversed the image, then printed the photo in a larger size than I normally work with so she'd fill up the page.


I applied polymer gel medium over my trimmed laser-printed photo, placed it on the page and once dry, began the process of rubbing off the paper to transfer the image.



I penciled-in a scene then went over the lines with a black paint pen.



The next photo shows how I used various stamps with black archival ink to create a pattern for the walls, an orchid for the window sill, and a face and frame for the picture on the wall. I also filled in her dress using black and gray paint then took a leap and decided to add bits of tissue paper to her skirt to give it more interest.


Then I took another leap and decided to use oil pastel crayons to tint the window because I knew they would be easy to smear and help create the look of vintage glass.

I used chalk pastels to tint the wallpaper and brown acrylic paint on the wall base and floor. The orchid was tinted with colored pencils because the design is so small a paintbrush wouldn't be practical.

The wall base looked too plain so I stamped a row of images using brown archival ink. My last color decision was the chair and yes, I took a leap, and painted it with bright red acrylic.


I wasn't too happy with the lady's skirt so I dug out some black tissue paper which I added in strips and then finally opted to trim the skirt with washi tape.


Here's one more look at the final outcome (so you don't have to scroll to the top) and in case you're wondering, my journal is the large format Dylusions by Ranger (each page measures approx. 8" x 11").


To learn more about my image transfer technique, click here for a post that further explains the method I use along with some tips. Maybe you'll take a leap too?

February 04, 2016

Orbital


Simon said "stamp," so I did. Same style/technique as the tag in my last post only this time I added my hand-carved owl stamp.

The drawing was copied from another, similar British Library image--this one came out of a Boston school atlas published in 1831.

Mine is decidedly more colorful.

I will again link to the Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is a ray of sunshine.


February 02, 2016

Eclipse

An eclipse cannot exist without a ray of sunshine.

Click to Enlarge
Sorry, Simon. While inspired to make this tag from the Monday blog challenge prompt which is ray of sunshine, I didn't use a single stamp in the process.

Instead I drew a diagram I stumbled upon at the British Library Flicker photostream (a favorite place to look for inspiration) and tried out a technique using oil pastels that's been on my to-do list for awhile.

Here's a link to the tutorial, the artist's name is Loretta Grayson.


Oil pastels are fun but messy which is the main reason I don't use them too often. That, and the fact that they resist water-based paints so are less desirable in mixed-media projects. Still, their resist quality can be useful and Loretta's tutorial helps to illustrate that fact.

They have two qualities I really like--they are smooth as butter and the pigments are strong. Here in the US, you can purchase a student-grade box for a reasonable price (I used Cray-Pas). If you've never tried them and like to experiment, then perhaps I've tickled your interest.

November 04, 2015

Snow Birds


Many birds migrate to the Arizona desert during the winter months and we call the humans that come here "Snow Birds."

Their presence is keenly felt right now--it's a big change from the slow quiet pace of summer and is my inspiration for making this tag.

I used a stencil (Stampendous) to create the trees which were covered with Crackle Accents (Ranger Ink) to give the illusion of bark.

It's been my experience that when you use this product on paper it's best not to use a liquid over the cracks for emphasis because the product may peel-off. So I used oil pastels instead.

The birds are from a stamp called Birds on a Wire by Tim Holtz and I used a gel pen to ink them individually before placement.

A bit of white from a Souffle Gelly Roll pen was used to accent the branches with snow.


I'm linking my tag to Simon's Monday blog challenge--
this week's theme is So Glossy.

November 07, 2014

Remember Paris


Inspired by Tim's November tag, I created this one using some of his techniques and also everything but the kitchen sink.

Oh wait! I did use the sink to wash off some ink at one point...

Click to Enlarge
It all started when I hand-cut a flower shape from corrugated cardboard, filled it in with paste medium and after it dried, added an image transfer on top which was then covered with clear crackle paint.

Ink pens, acrylic paint, oil pastels, and colored pencils were used to add color along with some splatters of gold embossing. The letters were hand-cut and then distressed with paint and crackle.

Tim's tag reminded me of inlaid parquetry and I was inspired to experiment!

April 11, 2014

Washi Paint

Before and After


I linked this tag to the Wednesday blog challenge at Simon Says Stamp where the theme is Easter.

But, I didn't like it that much and it really didn't reflect this week's theme.

So, I peeled off the tape and washed over it with gesso and started over.

And this is the new tag:


After applying gesso, I traced the outline of the cone flowers (originally applied with a stencil) using pen and ink then traced the outline of a bunny photo. I used oil pastels for tint and applied washi tape on a few of the petals.

Click to enlarge
I really like the washi tape I used on this version. It's bright white and has good sticking power and I favor it over other brands. Here's a link if you want to know more about it.

So hopefully, I've learned a lesson here.

When I am less than satisfied with something, and it can't be rescued, then I must learn to listen to that voice inside my head and just start over.

December 14, 2013

Christmas Angel


tag, angel, christmas, believe

I made this tag using the resist technique presented by Jill Foster during Day 10 of Ellen Hutson's 12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist event for a chance to win a $150 store credit (fingers crossed).

For color, I used oil pastels after embossing a stamped image onto a tag primed with gesso. A bit of washi tape, some glittered snowflakes and text stamped onto tissue paper, completed the tag.

Thanks Jill, your instructions were terrific and I was glad to try this new method.