LONDON CALLING ...

SIMON SAYS TAKE YOUR PICK ... LONDON/PARIS/NEW YORK.  

In honor of my British buddies I've come to know and love, I'm "chuffed" to say that I chose LONDON.  I "lurve" that city...it's beautiful architecture, it's rich history and SOME CRAZY TALENTED PEOPLE! (smile)

This week, yet again, I am stepping out of my comfort zone to try a new transfer technique that I incorporated into a 5x7 canvas featuring LONDON!

I began with a basic canvas that I painted with Claudine Hellmuth's wonderful Studio Paint color, Traditional Tan.  While that was drying, I pulled out my new set of "London Underground" Artistic Outpost Stamps.  LOVE THEM! 

I wanted to cover most of my canvas with the Union Jack but the stamp was smaller.  What to do....  Ahhh!!!  Idea!!!!  Using Stormy Sky and Barn Door Distress Inks, I brushed color onto the Union Jack Stamp and stamped it onto a piece of white cardstock.  Then I scanned the stamped image and saved it to my computer.  I could then size the image to the 6 1/2" x 4 1/2" size that I wanted it to be.  I printed it out on white paper, cut it out and using Matte Multi Medium, I glued and sealed it in place on the canvas.  Perfect!

 

I then created a wash with a little water and the Traditional Tan Studio Paint and added it all over the Union Jack image.  For more depth of color, I created another wash using a little water and Sable Brown Studio Paint and washed the outer parts of the canvas with it.  Now only a hint of the Union Jack remained in the background but that was okay because I was adding lots of images and elements on top of it.  

Now...for the new transfer technique....Big Ben.  I intentionally left a strip of Traditional Tan so that my black illustrated image of Ben Ben would show up better.  I found the image online and sized it to fit my canvas.  Then I printed out the image on a LASER printer.  That is important!  This technique works much better with a Laser..not inkjet..printed image.  I turned the image facing down onto the canvas and applied a heat tool to it.  This heat tool has interchangeable tips.  The one I used has about a 1" flat round head that you can apply directly to a surface in order to transfer an image.  It worked really well as you can see from this picture.  Big Ben is behind Queen Elizabeth.  Then I added just a little more paint wash to blend the image into the canvas background.  Love it!

Next I added the other background stamped images; all from the London Underground set.  Next to Big Ben is a partial image of a London Newspaper. Cheerio! is a blend of two inks:  Archival Manganese Blue and then a touch of Stazon's Stone Grey to tone down the brightness of the blue.  "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON" was stamped using Blank Canvas Studio Paint and then outlined using a black permanent marker.  If you look closely, you can see the remnants of the Union Jack I used as my background behind "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON".  Underneath "Keep Calm" are a couple of London Beefeaters stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink.  That completed the background for my canvas.  Then I added the "vintage postage stamp" to give a bit of red color on Big Ben.

Now to add the other elements that really gave my canvas that British spirit!  What would a London piece be without the Queen?  Queen Elizabeth was taken from a "vintage" souvenir London postcard.  I sized her and cut her out, inked the edges with a Sepia Black cats eye ink pad and glued her in place using Matte Multi Medium.  Then using Stardust Stickles, I gave her crown and jewels some sparkle. 

Next I added the beautiful Parliament Buildings in front of Queen Elizabeth.  I found them online, sized them and cut them out to fit my canvas.  Again, I edged them with the cats eye ink pad to remove any white paper edges.  I ran a piece of Tim's Traveler Tissue Tape across top of the Parliament buildings and heat embossed "UNDERGROUND" on top of the tape using Black Embossing Powder. 

The inspiration for this entire piece was given to me by this precious little vintage British girl that I found online.  Isn't she just adorable?  I sized her to fit the canvas, cut her out, lightly distressed her with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then edged her with a black cats eye ink pad.  Then I pop dotted her in place.

Finally, I added pieces of Ideaology to give the canvas some dimension and I love metal!  There is a Game Spinner and a Sprocket Gear right underneath "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON".  Then I added this stacked Ideaology pieces consisting of an Ornate Plate, a Time Piece and a Regal Adornments Crown.  I think it resembles a royal crest.  I antiqued all of the Ideaology pieces with a Juniper Paint Dabber.

That's it!  Cheerio and Carry On right on over to SIMON SAYS STAMP AND SHOW to see the wonderful creations that my Design Team buddies have waiting for you!  Inspiring!!  Then create your own piece of art showcasing London/Paris/New York and post it to our blog.  You could be the lucky winner of our randomly chosen ....

Be one of the TOP THREE entries for the week and you'll receive special recognition on our blog and also a TOP THREE BLINKIE to proudly display on your blog!  
 I can't wait to see YOUR challenge piece!