Author: karimarebeccapowellartist

Mixed media textile artist working with silk and wool as wearables, vessels and wall art pieces.
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Testing acrylic gel mediums

My parcels arrived from Germany and I am super pleased with the service and products. Over the last few days we did some product tests and experiments and I have almost finished the mixed media works from a few weeks ago.
We taped up some mixed media boards and used one for gels and one for pastes. Acrylic paints in neon, pearlescent and opaque were used along with acrylic inks, some were used under the mediums, some over and some mixed in to see how they behaved.
These are the gel mediums: Golden Soft Gel Matte, Galeria Black Lava Texture Gel, Liquitex String Gel, Impasto Gel Mat and Impasto Gel Gloss, Galeria Glass beads and Golden Glass beads also the Iridescent Medium. Continue reading Testing acrylic gel mediums

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Mono printing fun

While I am waiting for my delivery of goodies from a new supplier I found in Germany/Austria I decided to post a piece about some monoprints I was working on earlier this year. I love to try new ways with mediums (new to me that is!) When I was small, less than 6 years old, I remember my grandfather showing me his dark room where he was processing black and white photography. Something about it stuck with me, no idea if it was the magic of the process, the strange smells, or just childish curiosity, but I remember. I like the idea of black on white where the imagined greys tell a story in the shadows. I have tried a few times to make lino cuts and not been really enamoured with my efforts so I thought monoprints might be more fun for me…not realising how addictive they might turn out to be. I love them. Continue reading Mono printing fun

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It’s often in the little things

This week I have been working on a collaboration project which we hope to start to bring online in a month or two so keep an eye out for Wildly Created’s amazing products coming soon on a device near you…and in an Etsy shop. Also, I have been busy with my mixed media pieces. After the 60 x 20 cm “Fishing for Compliments” piece I posted about last week, I decided to go much smaller and incorporating a range of foraged and found materials and embellishments. I have some 10 x 10 cm canvases and some mixed media boards. I am using my new favourite mediums… modelling paste, crackle paste and glass bead gel until I receive a delivery of other products. Everything is of course taking much longer these days and increasingly harder to source with shipping costs and Brexit, plus Covid changing guidelines and related costs. Those of us living in Europe are looking to other European countries more than the usual UK favourites. If I find any websites I feel worth recommending, I will share. Evans Art in Dublin have been wonderful, a family fun business, reasonably priced and shipping times. Currently looking at German sites, but a lot depends on the VAT which I am noticing way more sites than before are not including VAT with prices, and shipping costs are by quote only. Many have reasonably high minimum order limits too which can be prohibitive for the smaller businesses and creatives. Yep, the struggle is real folks. Continue reading It’s often in the little things

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Fishing for compliments

So here is the finished first experimental piece combining modelling paste, glass bead gel, crackle paste, home-made air dried paper clay, acrylic inks, iridescent medium, acrylic satin varnish and found objects from the beach on stretched canvas 60 x 20 cms. The piece is more vibrant than the camera shows with a lovely shimmer from the iridescent medium and inks. Continue reading Fishing for compliments

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Paper clay tests

Following my research and experiments into the realm of paper clay, I came across an amazing website with recipes. I was invited to write a guest post with my findings which went online yesterday. So here is the link. It talks about the differences of using ready-made joint filler versus dry powdered, with images of some test pieces. I wanted to learn how to make this type of clay for my latest project idea which combines different sculptural and textured mediums. I used the paper clay to make small hand formed shapes and in a silicone mould to make shells. They are lovely and light, so they won’t add too much weight to the pieces. They dried in a day too as they are nice and thin. The clay recipe does state that it should be applied in thin layers as too much may not dry in the middle and eventually rot. Therefore it is ideal for small features and very small moulds. Next stage is trying out the inks. Continue reading Paper clay tests

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Adding some texture

New goodies have started arriving and I’ve started testing them out. Gesso can be a bit of a hit and miss affair…the really cheap stuff is mostly cheap white acrylic paint mixed with a binder and dries shiny so I would recommend going for something mid priced to get a decent product. Of course that depends on what you are using it for. I wanted a shine free matt finish that I could work into to get marks, textures etc and then apply inks. For a primer to then apply acrylic paint, the cheap stuff would work fine. I am going to make my own gesso soon with plaster of paris so that will be for another time. These images are on a long canvas with cheap gesso and various mark making which produced a very thin layer and glossy finish. Not really what I wanted but may be useful on a different project, or, I may add some plaster to it. Continue reading Adding some texture

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Elemental Colours

With all this stay at home time I have, I find myself looking for new ways of doing and being. Social media seems to have taken a major backseat and I am researching new mediums and materials to take my artwork and creative projects into 2021. Years ago I started my Elemental Colours range of trifold cards and wall hangings which became collectable and treasured. Back then I used to take a stand in the craft fairs in Ireland and had an agent to sell my cards. They were made from coloured tissue papers, handmade papers, Moroccan sabra threads, gilt threads and found objects like tiny tiny shells. They depicted the five elements of Earth, Fire, Water, Metal and Air… Continue reading Elemental Colours

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Welcome

Having rebuilt my artist website at the end of 2020, I decided it was time to start a blog to give readers an insight into the inner workings of my creative pieces. I am not a journal writer but do scribble notes and ideas, keep sketch books and concept boards, so blogging works for me. My website is more of a portfolio and links to purchase items in my Etsy shop, so this will be much more informal and informative about materials and mediums I use and research as well as hows and whys to reach my finished artworks and products. Hopefully there will plenty of useful titbits for readers. Continue reading Welcome