Something Fishy – Mixed Media Wall Art

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all staying safe and getting your craft on during this surreal lockdown time.  At least it gives us more time for crafting and contemplation which is never a bad thing.

This is my challenge entry for the Funkie Junkie May Challenge, the subject of which is: Oh man!

“Fathers Day may be a way off yet but there are always other occasions and reasons for making something for the men in our lives. For this challenge create something which you feel has a more masculine look.”

I was in two minds whether or not to enter because of Father’s Day coming up and everything else that has happened but as soon as I saw the challenge I knew what I wanted to make so eventually I convinced myself I should just make it.  A few weeks ago I won a random prize from Craft Stamper Magazine which was these great feather stamps and a feather stencil.  I am using the stencil, which I happen to think looks like a fish when you turn it on its side, so I wanted to make a fish thing with it and this was the perfect opportunity to try.

For my water background, I am using this Distress Oxide background that I made two years ago lol. That does seem like a long time to keep it unused but it was because of the paper. I ran out of the good stuff and so this was sketch paper and it did not like the amount of water I was using so it was very fragile and prone to tearing so I just put it away somewhere safe until I could think how to use it without damaging it.

I decided to use the fish feather fish stencil and some Frosty Pearl Icing Paste.  Yes they are feathers but don’t you think they look a wee bit like fish?  Look at that one second from the bottom, it has a smiley fish face!

I had to leave the Icing Paste to dry and something interesting happened.  You can see below that it is no longer Frosty Pearl but several different colours as the DO from the background reacted with the wet Icing Paste!  It’s actually perfect for the fish scales!  So I left that to dry while I sorted out what else I wanted to use. I have this Spicy Yogurt cardstock which I’ve had for at least a year and still have a few sheets left, then I have these watercoloured embossed backgrounds I made last week (the green ones on the left).

And then I have this lovely corrugated cardboard from – guess what?

Yes thank you kitties, for the endless supply of cardboard boxes!  To get to the corrugated bit, just dampen the box down with a damp cloth and then peel the inner paper off.

I’m using the full sheet of Spicy Yogurt so I needed to work out a framing for it out of the corrugated cardboard and an old amazon box!

I skipped some process photos this time, but basically glued them down to the other layers and then started colouring them in to make them look more like fish – trout in this case.  Trout have kind of speckled dotty skin especially on their upper half so I concentrated on that part first with black for definition, then a silver Polychromos pencil, then some paint pens in different colours adding all the little speckled bits. I used Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Archival to darken up all the edges of all the different layers and give them more of a vintage feel.

Here’s a closer look…

I was curious to see how it would look in a frame and I like it!  I used one of the sentiments from the feather stamp set that says CATCH YOUR DREAMS which is supposed to work for feathers but actually also works for fish if you are a keen fisherman!

Here’s another angle so you can see how much the little fishes shine when the light hits them…

Back Story

So my dad is no longer with us and I miss him every day.  He was a very keen fisherman and he liked nothing better than standing in the middle of a river all day and catching nothing.  He worked as a miner so after spending so much of his life underground in the dark, being outside in the fresh air in the middle of a river was bliss. I used to go to the fishing with him as a kid as I guess I just wanted to stand in the middle of a river too lol.  He even bought me a fishing rod for my birthday once, I was beyond excited to have my own, especially because my Dad bought it for me.  It wasn’t all sunshine and roses though, there was the day that he was teaching me how to fly fish and I managed to hook myself in the back of the head and fell into a dam! My Dad had a lot of explaining to do that day when we finally made it home and I was soaking wet LOL.

Here is a very bad, blurry photo of us on the edge of a river.  I think my Mum probably took it and she was never very good with cameras, but you can make out enough to see he has his waders on, ready for a day standing in the middle of a river.  🙂

I think he would have appreciated a fishy gift like this, and I plan to find the right spot to hang it in my house, maybe with this little blurry photo tucked inside.

Thanks for reading,

CHALLENGES

Funkie Junkie Challenge – Oh Man!:

Project Recipe

Feather stencil and stamps (contest win)
Finnabair Icing Paste
Copic Multiliner
Silver Polychromos
Paint Pens
Versafine Black Ink
Distress Archival – Vintage Photo, Black Soot
Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive
Altenew Spicy Yogurt Cardstock
From stash:  amazon box, cat food box, scrap card, 2yr old DO background! watercoloured embossed background (green)

I started something new for April and continuing in May:

Since we are all stuck inside and can’t leave the house, I thought I would try and do two things:
1. use this time to finish any unfinished projects
2. use as much recycled materials as possible (I do this a lot anyway) but also not to buy new stuff!
So, with that in mind, I will note the above on any posts, if applicable.
UNFINISHED PROJECT – NO
RECYCLED MATERIALS – YES! amazon box, cat food box, scrap card,

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