Plastic Painting Project Part l

Daughter’s contribution: acrylic painted background.

Club Creative Studio art has a main focus on bead-making, jewelry making and using hand-made clay and glass beads in interesting ways. But, because creativity is limited only to one’s imagination, it is natural that other materials take center stage from time to time.  This post informs you of a group project using mixed media on a painted canvas.

Exploring the uses of a variety of supplies opens your mind to new techniques and use of materials. Sometimes the most unconventional materials used, make a project extra interesting. There is a growth and a new-found appreciation to be found in using new materials. In our mother/daughter art project we used primed canvas, acrylic paint, permanent markers in black and metallic silver, heavy gel gloss medium, recycled plastic soda bottles, ink and hand-made polymer clay beads.

This post is part one of a two part explaination of what we created as our group project.

Many enjoy the challenges of recycling. There is also the thrill to know that you have not only helped develop a creative mode but, you have used throw-away objects in a new and exciting way.

Recently my daughter and I joined forces to create an inspirational painting for the new studio space of Club Creative Studio. I knew that I wanted to incorporate many texts within our canvas because I love being inspired by creative quotes. And my daughter knew that she could contribute by painting the background of the canvas for me to use as a colorful backdrop for whatever was developed on top.  To begin we set up the easel and let her go with the flow for the painted background portion.

acrylic painting swirls of color help create the feeling of movement.

Next, we added the quotes about creativity throughout the entire canvas, using permanent markers and varied the are thickness and font style of each quote applied.  Glossing over the entire surface, we added protection and a slight sheen to the canvas surface. Adding a gloss seems to also intensify the paint tints too so it is a double pleasure to use it.

Inspired by quotes about CREATIVITY.

Finally, we added some unexpected elements by adding recycled and melted plastic bottle flowers, with a hand-made polymer clay bead for each center bloom on the canvas.

Melted plastic bottle formed to be a flower bloom.

Follow this blog post on Two-Cent Tuesday for Part ll of this Plastic Painting Project. I’ll show the completed creation and explain how we made the recycled plastic bottle blooms.

Related articles

• Breakthrough in mixed plastics recycling as new plant opens – Rebecca Smithers (greenerscience.wordpress.com)

>Hungry? Feed Your Artistic Tummy

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Are you hungry?  Have the need to feed your creativity?  Tired of being a starving artist?  Crave a fast, satisfying way to curb your appetite and thirst for creating?  Time to fuel up, gain energy and become mobile with finding inspirations.

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The best visual cafe is located  right around any corner.  It’s a place where you go to get “soul food”; the nourishment for your creative tummy.  Inspiration is virtually everywhere.  You do not have to go far to find it.  Look around.  Soul seek in obvious places and find and consider the over-looked settings where you can go to for inpiration or work space.

Some obvious choices for inspiration:

• magazines
• art/craft books
• craft store
• websites, message boards, forums

Other places of inspiration:

• museums
• galleries
• historic places
• public gardens (nature)
• blogs, groups, clubs, networking events, school, workshops

Overlooked inspirations:

• flea markets
• antique stores
• thrift shops
• old books, library
• fabric store
• art/craft fair
• listening to music
• attend an art retreat-creative vacation
• your dreams

Join forces with the community in which you live.  Feed your ideas.  A new outlook equals a new vision- now that’s food for thought!

>Keepin’ It Fresh

>A creative person for the most part… feels the need to create on many different levels. Creating the same type of art or craft in the same way may make for an “master of technique” but, that isn’t always enough. Speaking for myself and perhaps others, the additional challenge comes by way of how something can be created differently. Using your trial, errors, and successes to create a new product or different method of creation all together is challenging but rewarding.

Providing yourself with opportunities to “keep it fresh” challenges you to explore your own limitations and scope of imagination. Remember the phases of Picasso, for example in the Rose Period or Blue Period? If an artist does not try something new from time to time, their art may become routine to them and show in their expressive work. I even find that I am more productive if I allow myself to move around my work station, to work on several tasks at one session. If I get frustrated or distracted, I simply move to a different focus area and carry on. My productivity is not interrupted, it is merely switched in tasks. This is not always my consistent method or usual work ethic but, I allow myself the option of moving on from a project if I need a fresh view of something else. It’s a “re-focus” time so to speak.

For the sake of keeping products fresh, developing new line items is also an important expansion effort. I am on a continuous hunt for a variety of ways that I can possibly incorporate my hand made beads. Club Creative Studio is about to launch a few new concepts. Each new line item is planned and perfected to showcase the hand-made beads we create. We strive to provide a festive decorative item as well as a uniquely functional object of art. Also, our mantra/motto: “Art That Sets You Apart” is a constant reminder that our art must continue to hit the mark in originality. And it is great to have a goal to work toward on a daily basis.
It is that particular challenge that is also a rewarding aspect of creating in the first place.

>Motivation from the Mountains

>Everything around you and any place you go can serve as a source for creativity. The Club Creative Studio artists strive to be aware and open to their surroundings and the creative possibilities that can come out of a seemingly “ordinary day”.

Aspects that can make the world a better place, are right in front of you. Start by being aware of the next sight that inspires you to be creative. It is your creativity that will make the world a better place! A recent visit to a local shop filled with prom gowns for example, was an overwhelming yet satisfying few hours of gathering mental visions of color combinations both popular and unexpected. I was inspired by the prints and sequins, and thought those ideas would make beautiful beads. An upcoming trip to the mountain regions of western North Carolina will serve as inspiration for me as well. I plan to take many photos and incorporate the colors that I notice there, into Club Creative Studio’s upcoming beads. I hope to be motivated by the mountains.

I hope the mountains are further inspiration for me to incorporate a bit of natural or raw look to some future beads. Usually, I love creating using bright and bold color combinations. The “back-to-nature” ruggedness will become yet another different style offered to chose from.

The color combinations found in Club Creative Studio beads are not mixed by accident. They are deliberate reflections of inspirations drawn from my surroundings on a daily basis. I will share upcoming examples on how the gown shop and the mountains directly influenced how a series of beads turned out. It may further illustrate how the motivation went from a molehill to a mountain and the final product will reflect the sights and surroundings I experienced.

To be continued…
-Club Creative Studio