The Lily Pond by Fliss Goodwin

Hi there, I think my post today should actually be called the tale of how the lotus flower became a waterlily as that’s the stencil I used for my mixed media pond life scene.

Ingredients:

That’s Crafty! Surfaces – MDF Panel 8x8

That’s Crafty! Bits and Pieces Greyboard Sheets – Small Butterflies and Dragonflies

That’s Crafty! Clear Stamp Set – Lynne’s Affirmations Set 2

That’s Crafty! Dinky Stencils – Lotus Flower, Dragonfly Flight

That’s Crafty! Shimmer Paints – Green, Dark Blue

That’s Crafty! Metallic Paint – Copper

White Gesso

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paints

DecoArt Media White Modelling Paste

Mixed Media Paper

Ranger Black Palette Knife Set or similar

Recipe:

I first spread a layer of modelling paste all over the MDF panel, it doesn’t need to be too thick, just enough to give a good texture to the surface. When the paste was dry, I painted on a coat of white gesso, following this up with a mix of blues and white for the sky element and a mix of greens for the pond surface. When it was dry, I added a little green shimmer paint to the water for some subtle highlights.

I then used the Lotus stencil to add my waterlilies with modelling paste. This took 2 goes as I had to stencil on 2 quite a distance apart and let them dry before adding the rest to avoid smudging the flowers. Once they were dry, I painted them with shades of pink, white and a touch of yellow. I used grey to add a shadow round them to make them pop.

I drew the lily pads on mixed media paper and cut them out. As I wanted to fit some round the flowers I placed the stencil over the flower, put the lily pad on top, lifted it up and flipped it over so that I could draw a pencil line in the sections that needed cutting out. I painted them with a mix of greens, adding copper highlights for some shimmer. I glued the leaves on with dimensional tape for a 3D look.

I painted some dragonflies with Green and Turquoise, adding Grey to the bodies and a touch of Copper. I added a pattern to the wings by inking up the dragonfly wings stamp with Copper paint and pressing the painted dragonflies onto the stamp. I added these to the panel with dimensional tape.

I stencilled on a few tiny dragonflies with the Dark Blue Shimmer paint to add interest to the sky to finish off.

Have a great weekend and see you next week.

Fliss x