That's Crafty!: Mexicana by Fliss Goodwin

Hello!

My artwork this week was inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest of a colourful block of Mexican tiles and I loved it so much I tried to recreate the look on a Chunkie from That's Crafty!

Step by Step:

My chosen substrate for my project is a 6 x 6ins MDF Chunkie which I fully assembled with That's Crafty! Multi Purpose Craft Adhesive before starting to decorate it.

I gave the front and sides a base coat of white gesso because I wanted to paint it Orange to start with and the Multi Surface Orange is a little translucent. The white undercoat helped the orange to go on smoothly and less see through. The end result is a little grungy but that's perfect for my intended finish.

I next brushed on a coat of Crackle Glaze and once it was tacky (this took around 20 minutes left to dry naturally) and then added a coat of Bright Blue Multi Surface Paint. Once this was dry, lovely cracks appeared.

I then took the elegant panel stencil which resembles a tile and applied a pattern to the front with white Texture Paste.

Once the paste had dried, I replaced the stencil and dry brushed on some Orange Multi Surface Paint.

I then created my embellishments using a mix of Craftyboard inchies, twinchies and dominoes. I painted them with Light Blue, Apricot and Orange Multi Surface paints and then stamped on them with toning inks. I heat embossed them with clear powder and when set brushed on Acrylic Wax quite thickly. When dry this gives a lovely effect of tiny crackles which you might just spot below.

I also stamped some butterflies with blue ink and painted these with Orange, Red and Blue Satin inks.

I then placed my elements in situ to decide on the final look and added a clear inchie in the centre to bring out the central element of the stencilling.

I glued all the elements in place, raising some pieces up on scraps of leftover MDF from pressing out shapes (I always save these as they're brilliant to cut up and make things more dimensional). The butterflies were a perfect finishing touch to add a little softness to my artwork.