Nature Tiles by Fliss Goodwin

Hi there, I have a nature themed mixed media creation to share this week which was one of my samples for last week’s Hochanda shows but has yet to be seen so it has it’s debut here! Anyone familiar with my artwork knows how much I love nature so I was thrilled to bits with the sell out wild flowers set of greyboard embellishments and couldn’t resist the gorgeous poppies for this one.

Ingredients:

That’s Crafty! Surfaces – 8x8 Round Corner White/Greyboard Panel (from mixed pack)

That’s Crafty! Surfaces Bits and Pieces Greyboard Sheets – Small Wildflowers, Small Butterflies & Dragonflies

That’s Crafty! Clear Stamp Set – Textures Set 1

That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencil – Grid Background

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paints – shades of Green, Orange and Red, Cobalt Teal Hue

White Gesso

DecoArt Media Gloss Varnish

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks – Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade

Ranger Archival Inks – Watering Can, Olive, Fern Green, Potting Soil

Mixed Media Paper

Silicone Glue

Brayer

Craft Knife

Water Mister

Sharpie Fine Black Marker

Soft Graphite Pencil

Recipe:

I hit upon the tile idea when I saw something on Pinterest that had a painted tile effect in the background but I decided to make actual tile shapes for added texture. I cut a piece of mixed media paper into 2x2 squares to fit the size of my panel.

I coloured 10 of my 16 tiles by adding dots of green paint to my craft mat, spreading the colours with the brayer and pressing the tiles in to pick up the colour. Some of the paint was quite thick so I dried it with a heat gun, which caused some of it to bubble a little and add texture.

I then coloured the remaining tiles with the Oxide inks, pressing colour to the craft mat, misting with water and pressing the tiles in to pick up the inks. I dried with a heat gun and carried on until I was happy with the inky effects.

The next step was to add some stencilling which I did with the grid stencil using darker green paint to 4 of the tiles. I stamped the script from the textures set on 4 of the yellow tiles with Fern Green ink. The remaining yellow tiles were stamped with the woven texture stamp using brown ink.

I then added feathers to 3 of the green tiles using a 3 step process to give them a 3D look. I stamped first with the Fern Green ink, layering stamping with olive green on top slightly offset. I then dipped the stamp in white gesso and lightly pressed this over the ink stamping. This gives added depth to the image and really makes it pop.

The remaining green tiles were left as they were as they all had quite a lot of texture from the paints I added and I didn’t want to cover it up.

I painted my poppy with the red, orange and green DecoArt acrylics as the colours are highly pigmented and came out looking really bright. The butterflies were painted bright blue for added contrast. When the paint was dry, I used a graphite pencil to add details to the poppy to make all the elements stand out and give them life. I doodled on the butterflies with a black Sharpie pen, practising my rusty drawing skills.

I then placed the tiles on the panel in a chosen arrangement to check that the poppies stood out on them and made some minor adjustments to the placement to do this. I can recommend this step as it ensures that the focal point will pop before you’ve stuck down the tiles and then can’t remove them if you don’t like the placement!

Once happy with the arrangement, I glued on the tiles and when everything was firmly stuck down, turned the panel over and trimmed the excess off with a craft knife. At this point you can sand any rough edges to smooth them down if you wish (I did this with an emery board as these are ideal for small areas)

To finish off my panel I glued on the poppies and butterflies with my trusty silicone glue so that the embellishments stood out a little to make them even more 3D.

We have another new challenge for you today over at That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog so do check this out to see how you can win a voucher for the online shop (a mouth watering array of goodies) just for entering.

Have a great weekend and see you next week.

Fliss x