Back in the Land of the Living Again:)

Hi Everyone:)

Well after long silence,

(sorry if you've been checking in

and finding the same old post!)

I'm back in the land of the living,

although still not 100% yet,

but feeling better enough to 

finally be getting some Art-Time in!

I started this canvas quite a while ago,

but after being laid up nearly a month,

it's been staring at me from the easel in

the art room, screaming to be finished!

(It's also been in the way in the art room

as space is at a premium!)

The canvas size is a odd one,

12 x 30 inches, that I've had

hanging around in it's packaging

for a few years, never quite knowing

what I had intended to use it for.

I used Claudine Hellmuth Paints for the first time

and found them to be really something different!

And the colours are wonderful!!

The canvas I call

'Urban Wildlife'

As you know, ( or at least

learning about me:),

I'm a wildlife, pet,

animal freak:) I always think of

the saying that the 'animals were

here before we were' when it comes

to Urban Development and in the 

area where I have lived for nearly

24 years, I have slowly watched 

our incredible wild countryside

give over to the urban setting.

I've had to photograph the canvas in stages

so you can see the details, as it was so

large, I couldn't get the camera to capture

the bits and pieces in the pictures.

What if the Apartment Building

were home to the animals

was sort of my idea for this.

The garden, are all hand made flower heads,

that I punched out of plain paper, stamped,

inked, mounted on chipboard, used layers to

create depth, used brads and vintage

buttons for the centres, then mounted

them on tea stained round tags.

The leaves are wonderful ribbon leaves,

made from what seems to be satin, that

once I started using, thank goodness

my Art Buddy Leslie still had extra of!

(Just goes to show I was flying by the 

seat of my pants, and didn't check before

starting the project if I had enough supply!)

The 'Apartment Building' 

itself, is a piece of chipboard wrapped with

the new 7Gypsies Tissue Paper which 

I am absolutely in love with!

I've included lots of metal bits and pieces

that I had purchased from 

Retro Cafe Art!

I love the rusty fences, and the door knob

is a Tim Holtz Hitch!

(As you know from my previous posts,

I used these Hitches for feet on an

ATC Project!)

I love coming up with more ideas for using

them!

Each window of the building has a photograph

mounted on hand made paper backing,

and the window frames are also new

wonderful cut-outs from

Retro Cafe Art:) that I covered

in Vintage Dictionary Paper and inked.

The 'Residents' are

'Bubby' the deer (top left),

'Doodlebug' my Kitchen 

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

(as a baby when he first arrived:)

(top, right)

(bottom right)

'Hop-a-Long' another of our

local deer community at my home

and 'Oliver Howard' 

our wonderful Spitz.

Love all the rusty metal bits! (Thanks Kristin!)

And all of the Lazier Cut's of the birds 

were from Retro Cafe Art too!

All of the little bee's on the canvas are a stamp

from 'Magenta' that I have had great fun 

playing with, and colouring and cutting 

them out for all sorts of uses:)

The top of the 'Apartment Building'

are also wonderful products from

Retro Cafe Art

that come in masonite kits 

that you put together,

embellish and create with.

(Previous Posts ATC Holder also 

one of Kristin's kits!)

I lined this one with the Vintage Dictionary Paper

before adding the embellishments.

(The mini feather is from our Budgie's

shoulder, which she doesn't moult 

very often, so I 'prize' these feathers

for special projects:)

Then I added the 'top' which was

a piece that I made of another

of Kristin's wonderful kits!

I had great fun making this 

piece, and the colours in

the photo's just don't do it

justice, as in person it

is such a cheery thing to look at:)

Now I have to find a place to hang it!

(grin).

Hope you enjoyed this piece and

hope it gives you some new ideas

to play with!

Enjoy!

(More posts to come, as I am now

back in the Living!)