DecoArt 'Under the Sea' challenge

Hey there beautiful people and welcome to another DecoArt Challenge......

This time we have a fabulous under the sea theme !!

Come and join in the fun and enter the challenge to be in with a chance of winning a $100 giftcard to spend on the fabulous DecoArt products from the online store.

Click HERE to enter and upload your piece before the 12th August and the winner will be announced on the 19th August......Come on give it a go !!!!

I was inspired by the swirling under the sea plants and knew that that was the route i wanted to approach for my piece........

I used a 7x5 Canvas board for my substrate and covered with gesso leaving to dry and chose the following media line colours for my background....

Prussian Blue Hue
Cobalt Teal Hue
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Turquoise Hue
Titanium White

Mixing the colours up on my canvas meant that i could create lots of different shades of blue for my background

Step 1
Using my fingers i started with the lightest colours towards the centre of my canvas board building up the layers and darkening the colours as i moved to the outside (i like to use my fingers to do this stem but it can be equally acheived with a paint brush id you prefer!!) I continued to build up the layers until i was happy with the result.

Step 2
Once the background was dry i heated up my hot glue gun and layed down the basic shapes of some under the sea plants (you could sketch this with a pencil first if you are worried about freehand!!)
I didnt worry if the hot glue wasnt completely smooth as it came out of the gun and has little lumps and bumps, i think this adds to the effect. I then added some little bubbles with the glue around the outside of my design.

Step 3
Using the following Media Line colours......

Green Gold
Phthalo Green Yellow

I then started to colour in my leaves using a touch of titanium white to highlight and using the darker phthalo green to create shadows.

I continued to build up these colours until i was happy with the result

Step 4
Next using my very favourite Metaillic Lustres in the gorgeous Gold Rush i began rubbed this over the top of my hot glue outlines. i just added some of the metallic lustre to my finger and started rubbing over the top of the lines until the desired opaqueness was acheived.

Step 5
Using the titanium white and the prussian blue hue paints i added a small amount of these to my fingers and dotted them around my canvas board

Step 6
Back to my fabulous Mettalic Lustres in Majestic Purple i rubbed this all around the outside of my canvas board with my finger and also added some to the leaves for cohesion.

Step 7
My final step was to add a pre cut chipboard quote to my piece and this was adhered with Matte Gel

I love my final piece and will definately be trying this technique again in the future, maybe ill create a whole garden next...mmmmm.....the possibilities are endless !!

Thanks for stopping by and i hope to see you all again soon

bright and painty hugs
Tracy
xxx