Papier Mache Rock Pools

It's been a long time since I've played around with papier mache, it's something I used to do lots of as it was cheap and relatively easy. It was one of my 'go to' crafts for my children to do during school breaks or dreary winter months when they were stuck indoors. I used the simple method of soaking paper in water for a few hours then squeezing the water out and adding good 'ol PVA glue.

I made 3 little bowls and added a few rock pool details, in a couple of them I added some glass pebbles, the type you can buy for flower arranging etc.

 Painted with acrylic paints in lovely bright colours.

A great 3D effect

 Added a couple of coats of varnish

They look good individually or grouped together.



These are just paper and pva, the mixture I used was a bit lumpy because I didn't work it very much, it's more difficult to get any detail when it's like this, if you want more detail and a smoother finish there are lots of different recipes online, u-tube is a great source for information and ideas.

I'm pretty pleased with them and I love the design, next, I think I'll try something similar with Polymer Clay.

Jan x

Trees at Brandon Park

I finished some of my 'for sale' canvases this week, I thought you might like to see these three. They are part of a collection that have been put up in the tea rooms at Brandon Country Park

You can't tell by the photographs but they have been painted in acrylic that has put on very thick using palette knives rather than brushes. It's a great way of painting texture and I love doing trees in this way, it really captures the roughness of the tree bark.

Jan x

A Canvas for a gift

Gosh, the week has gone by so quickly, there have been a few frosty starts and some lovely sunrises, I keep telling myself that I need to get out early and take some early morning photos but I peep my head out of the door at something silly o'clock and dive straight back into the warmth.

This week I thought I'd show you a canvas I painted in December. A few weeks before Christmas I was contacted by a customer who had previously bought one of my Beach Hut Magnets, she had also seen one of my Beach Hut Canvases. I was really pleased when she ordered one as a present for her Mum.

The beginning of the canvas

She chose a 8 x 8" deep edged canvas.

The start of the detail

The canvas is painted using Acrylic Paint.

The finished Canvas

I was really pleased with the finished painting and more importantly, so was the customer, I hope you like it too.

I have linked this post to 1st Unique Gifts so please pop over and say Hi to Wendy and check out all the other great blogs that take part.

Wishing you all a great week

Jan x