Hi everyone. Karen here. I am back for another dose of Mixed Media with Karen. Last month, I took the Brave Girls Art Class - Wings session and one of the things Melody taught everyone was how to draw and collage butterflies.
I thought it was super-fun and since I adore butterflies, I wanted to give it a try and see what I could create with my beautiful My Mind's Eye papers.
The first thing I did was to draw the skeleton of my butterfly. Since I knew I was going to add my gratitude, I decided to make my butterfly big and have half of it off the page.
Then, using those lines as my guide, I cut pieces of paper and layered them on there to create the shape of the butterfly. I cut off flowers, too. Just tried not to think too hard and play.
Once I was all done, I glued everything down.
The next thing I did was to add some dots and small touches with paint. I also added a thin layer of blue paint to the background.
My next step after that was pretty drastic.
At least, for me it was. I took some brown paint and used it to distress my butterfly. I also used it on the background and then rubbed a lot of it (and the blue paint) off the background with baby wipes. I also added some twine for the antennae. I ended up with this:
I did a few more rounds, a few more layers, some more distressing, and a border. And, of course, added my words. My final page looks like this:
and here are a few closeups:
The page I ended up with is very atypical for me. I generally like to go with bold, happy colors and I don't distress. But, to me, the whole point of regularly creating art is learning, playing, taking chances and
not being afraid to mess things up.
It's only when you try things that you have never done before that you discover new gems. When you stretch yourself, you grow. You learn more about the art, about the materials you use, and about you.
Thank you for letting me share my process and my art. I hope, this month, you take the time to try something new. Something that's not "you" and see how it works out. You might be surprised!
Supplies: Collectable-Notable:all papers,assorted embellishments
