Hold On Tight To Your Dreams – Rusty Mixed Media Art Journal Page

Happy February!

Today I am sharing my February DT project for the MTW Main Challenge this month.

I really loved the challenge image for this month (I might have had something to do with this one!) and I got a bit obsessed with trying to recreate that rusty truck effect, so here’s a few process photos of how that happened.

I had these truck and gear frame chipboards from GSL that I wanted to use, so I covered them in white gesso, and then with this Azure blue acrylic paint.

Then I got started on making my rust effect.  I didn’t use any special products to achieve this effect, I fell back on my knowledge of paint treatments that I used to use for home decor, and started sponging, or in this case, I was using a paper towel but same effect.

Then I started to lay out all the elements I wanted to use and FYI it was pretty difficult to find a background that didn’t clash with this rusty colour!  In the end I used one of my peeled paint effect gel printed backgrounds I made back in September – you can read all about them in this post.

I wanted to preserve my background as much as possible so I covered it in transparent gesso for protection.

Then started to cover it in paint splatters using Burnt Sienna and Turquoise colours, and some Distress Ink blending around the edges.

While all that was drying, I did more work on the truck.  I wanted to put some coloured cardstock behind it so that it would show through the cutouts, and then decided to add some acetate (leftover packaging) to act as a windscreen and windows.  I wanted them more aged looking, so I watered down some acrylic paint and gave them a light wash to make them look more sepia tinted.

It looked a little lighter than this once it was dry.  The background is an 8 inch square so I wanted to add some burlap around the edges – initially I was going to use my Dina Wakley journal which has full burlap pages but I didn’t really want to waste a whole journal page that I would much rather use for painting in the journal.  So I found this burlap fabric in my stash and cut it down to size, and then edged it with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.

I did have to iron out the creases from the folds, but it wasn’t much ironing and my little dinky iron was perfect for the job.  Also when this stuff gets ironed, it gives off a really cool woodsy smell.

I adhered everything down using matte medium and white glue, trying to give the effect of the card driving out of the frame from the past to the present.  I added the finishing touches of some Tim Holtz Idea-ology ephemera snippets and word stickers. The final step was to adhere the panel to the burlap backing and that is the finished page, ready to go into my journal!

Here are the details for this month’s More Than Words main challenge:

I’d love to see what you make so don’t forget to enter the More Than Words February Main Challenge which is open till the end of the month!

Challenges

SanDee & Amelie Steampunk Challenges – February Challenge

PROJECT RECIPE:

GSL Cuts – Truck 2 C25D,Chain and Gears Frame D20H
Tim Holtz Halloween paper dolls – ancestors, Small Talk word stickers, Distress Markers, Distress Ink, Ephemera Snippets,
Finnabair – Azure and Jade acrylics, Burnt Sienna, Turquoise liquid acrylic, White Gesso, Transparent Gesso
Jane Davenport – Copper metallic acrylic
Decoart Matte Medium
Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
From Stash: gel printed peeled paint/weathered wood backgrounds, acetate from cake box, blending brush