#Artlove52 Week 5: Wellness

Oh my, I totally missed posting this project! My bad, lol. Last week's #ArtLove52 word was "Wellness" and I really struggled with this. And then I got to thinking about how I was hitting a brick wall with this word. And then Bam! It came to me...lol. Part of being well is knowing how to deal with brick walls. And the way to do that is one brick at a time!

To start this project, I wanted to use texture paste to create some kind of wall. I remembered watching Maremi's Small Art on Youtube and she had mixed paste with coffee grounds to get fabulous brick texture. So why not give it a try? Guess what? It works amazingly!

When the brick wall was dry, I put a couple of coats of gesso on it. When my gesso was dry, I started to add watercolors in browns and blacks to create the brick color. I used my Prima Classics Watercolor Pans and mixed different ratios of brown, red and black to make the right colors. I added the colors in layers, drying each layer before moving on to the next. I sprayed them with water as well, to make them run in between the bricks.

I rubbed the colors around the outside of the brick wall as well to make the page more cohesive and started to think about what I could use with the quote as the focal point. I had already decided on the text, so all that's left is to make it all come together.

After I decided which scraps I wanted to add behind the text, I realized I needed to single out one brick and add some highlights. I added some Art Alchemy Metallic Wax in Bronze Age from Prima Finnabair to the high spots of the bricks and then added quite a bit to cover just one whole brick.

This photo really shows the texture of the bricks. This technique is great for massive texture and effect!

To finish this project, I added some black ink around the edges of the page to frame it in, and some Art Alchemy wax to the edges of the paper bits to make them look worn and aged as well as make them stand out a bit against the dark background. Thank you for stopping by today! I have linked some of the products I have used to the 7 Kids Crafting Supply store. Thanks for stopping by for last week's #ArtLove52 word of the week: Wellness. This weeks word was "Dancing"! And of course it is also off schedule just a bit lol, but it will be up soon and I hope to be back on schedule next week!