[loved]

This was a painting done mostly out of inspiration, but partly out of desperation.  When we were in college, my fiance and I sometimes had a hard time making ends meet, much less buying gifts.  I always have paints and canvases and such, and I had TONS of pictures of us that I love.  I don't do much scrapbooking or album making, so, I decided to make this:



Granted, I painted this a few years ago, but I still love it.  This was before I realized how much I love mixing my paint with things, and so everything was done with really (really) thick artist acrylics right out of the tube/jar.  The hearts were all supposed to have a translucent quality, and I had three rectangles based on the primary colors.  This was my first attempt at using liquid masking, too, and it was interesting.  The "i love you" part was done in masking (hard to "write" with that stuff...), and I painted over it.  I learned a lot from the experience, specifically, you have to time your paint's drying time just right or else you'll smudge or rip a lot of it off when you pull off the masking.  Also, I freehanded everything, so that's why some things are asymmetrical.  (I tend to think of it as "freeform"  )

Still, I wouldn't change anything because he loved it, and still does, and that's all that matters!

[after]

This is one of the larger paintings I've done on canvas.  Horizontally, it's about 5 feet...I don't have exact measurements because this one's in storage right now.  Anyhow, here it is:



I painted this one with acrylics and gloss medium, and I'm really sad that the picture doesn't capture the real vibrance of the oranges and yellows.  Oh well, you get the idea.  A really strange thing is that after I'd painted this, I ran into a photo that looked similar to it.  Weird!  Just thought I'd share it with you all! 

*I'm not absolutely certain that this is the place for these, so let it be known that I'll move this post if I need to!*

Okay, so I jumped on the melty-train (late, I know) and used up most of my pony beads in the process.  Here they are:

This one is larger, at 13"x9":


I like the texture of this one.  Imagine 3/4-melted pony beads...they've fused, but they still have a bumpy texture on the top side.  The translucent beads melted better than the opaque black ones, for me.  I had a real problem with the beads shifting around.  The pan I used decided to warp randomly during heating, and so things aren't as nicely lined up as they once were.  I originally made this one to live in my window, but now its place is in front of the bathroom mirror where my fiance and I brush our teeth.  I like it better there, and I think he secretly does too 

This is the other one:


This one is slightly smaller than the first one, but I love it just as much.  I baked this one way too long, and it is very smooth and glassy.  Also, There are hardly any foil lines on the back of the finished piece, so I now have more confidence in my foil-smoothing skills.

I would love your feedback, especially from anyone who has melting experience!  Thanks!

Hello fellow craftsters,

I thought I'd share my acrylics-and-acrylics-related-medium obsession with you all.  I painted a 12"x18" canvas with Liquitex acrylics and gloss medium.  I used random brushes and palette knives, but the overall texture is very smooth.  Here she is:



I painted this awhile back, but better to share it late than never, right?    Let me know what you think!

I've always admired everyone's posts from a distance, so I think it's time for me to share something of mine!

My fiance's mom gave me a little desk that was all banged up.  After a lot of sanding and painting and sealing, this is what you get:



I was originally going to paint it like a giant video-game controller, but I really like how it came out with this design.  I kind of just winged it.  I'm left-handed, so it's a huge deal that I didn't smudge the words while I was painting!  By the way, the phrase is a lyric from one of the bands I adored in my mid-teenage years.

I did this a few years ago, and this is the only picture I have of it...please ignore the random garage-ness in the picture.  The actual desktop is the black thing sitting on the table in the picture