Mix Media Goddess Holiday Project

This may look like a difficult exercise but it's actually isn't, and I think creating a Goddess portrait is an inspriring holiday project for any gal, from pre-teen to whenever. Most of this project can be done with stencils, although you could decorate with your own doodles if you wish AND I have included a PDF for you to download if you prefer to trace my goddess face.

When it comes to materials, really the options are limitless. If you have been following other Crafty Crusaders blogs and trying out some of our awesome projects then you would already have a collection of Pebeo Fabric, Porcelain and Glass paints and for this reason I am using these materials extensively through-out because I want to show you they are not just for craft - you can create a beautiful mixed media painting with them as well. A mixed media project like this is a great way to use up whatever products you have on hand.

Here is a basic materials list:

• 16 X 16 inch Wood Painting Panel (you could use a stretched canvas but you may get slightly different results)
• Clear Gesso
• Graphite pencil and fine ball point pen for tracing
• Scotch Blue Painters Tape (available from hardware stores)
• Selection of stencils (I really recommend collecting stencils if you like doing craft or creative projects but if you don't have them - decorate your sections free hand).
• Selection of Acrylic paints, including Pebeo Setacolour Opaque Fabric Paints, Pebeo Vitrea 160 Glass Paints and Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paints. 
• Pebeo Porcelaine 150 in Gold
• Pebeo Vitrea 160 Iridescent Medium
• Selection of paint markers as above, as well as other brands such as Posca and Molotow. 
• White Paint Pen
• Schmincke Aero Color Ink in Brazil Brown
• Small round paint brushes

This was very experimental for me as I chose to work on a wood panel which I never have before and I didn't know how the materials I was using would react, but let me show you how it went...

Firstly, download a PDF of the Goddess here if you wish to trace it and I will show you how to copy it on to your substrate. Of course, alternatively you can draw your own.

Step 1. I used a 16 X 16 inch Wood Painting Panel available from art shops. Because I wasn't sure what I would do with at first, I covered with a coat of clear gesso. To be honest I am not sure what difference this would make to the rest of the process, but on the packaging it suggests to coat the panel with gesso primer so I did.

Step 2: If you are drawing your own Goddess, go ahead and do it in your preferred manner. If you are using my Goddess, make sure you have downloaded and printed a copy from this link. Print the PDF on normal copy paper A4 size from your printer. You need to colour the BACK of your photocopy, covering the lines you wish to trace with GRAPHITE. I used a Graphitint pencil so that the colour was different and you could see it. Then place the photocopy onto your panel in the desired position with the graphite side down. Now use your ball point pen to trace over the lines. The pressure of the pen will transfer the graphite onto the wooden panel. (Note you can see where I have coloured in with graphite because I am using my own tracing on transparent paper - you won't see this if you are using a photocopy).

It may be faint at first, if so go over the lines with your graphite pencil so you can see them clearly. You may need to add a little extra to the tracing in the shoulder and body area to take up the space if you panel is the same size as mine.

Step 3: This is one of my favourite techniques. Use Scotch Blue painters tape to mask out some straight lines and create "sections" to work in.

Step 4: Now you want to take your stencils and place a separate design in each section. I recommend  sticking to a similar family (such as blue, green and yellow) and one contrasting colour (such as shades of purple). The fun is in experimenting and creating for yourself, but so you have an idea I will give a bit of explanation for how I created each of my sections.

Section 1: First I stencilled using Pebeo Vitrea 160 Marker in Turquoise as below.

section 1

Then I painted over the whole section in Pebeo Vitrea 150 glass paint in Anise. Once that was dry I stencilled in the butterflies using Pebeo Setacolor Opaque fabric paint in Garnet Red.

Section 2: I first painted a rainbow with Pebeo Vitra 150 in Amaranto, Azure and Anise...

Section 2 and 3

Then once dry I stencilled over the top with a colour made from a mix of Setacolour paint in Buttercup and Vitrea 160 in Azure.

Section 3: First stencil with Pebeo Porcelaine 150 in Parma Violet. Use a marker, or the paint with a fine brush to touch up where necessary. When dry, the background is then painted with Setacolour Opaque in Oriental Blue.

Section 4: For this section I painted the solid colour first using Pebeo Setacolour opaque fabric paint in Light Green. once dry I stencilled over the top with Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paint in Lapis Blue.

section 4

Section 5: The background was done first blending the Setacolor Opaque paint in Cornflower, with the translucent Vitrea paint in Parma Violet. The stencilling over the top is in that same beautiful Olive Green colour I mixed my self using Setacolour Buttercup and Vitrea Azure (a yellow and a blue).

Section 6: For this stencil I used Pebeo SetaSkrib markers in Light Blue and Purple to do the stencil, then painted in the background carefully with a small round brush and Setacolour Opaque in Buttercup.

Section 7: Solid colour painted first, Setacolour Oriental Blue, stencil and Setacolour Opaque in Buttercup.

Sections 6, 7 and 1

Step 5: Once you are happy with the major work done in each section you can take off your painters tape. I then painted in my Goddess with Gesso. Once painted I redefined the lines I needed with a pencil.

Gesso your Goddess and redefine your lines. 

Step 6: Experimental art often leads to mistakes, which can lead to important lessons and sometimes blessing in disguise. To paint in my Goddesses dress I originally used a combination of Pebeo Vitrea 160 Iridescent Medium with Setacolour Opaque in Buttercup on top of Gesso that wasn't completely dry and the three products just didn't mix together and started peeling off. Lucky I was able to scrape most of it off with a paint scraper.

Goddess Dress scraped back.

I then went over it again this time using the Vitrea 160 iridescent medium with virtue 160 paints in Lemon and Brilliant White. I love that the wood grain showed through and I also got some really interesting texture because of the few bits of underpainting that weren't completely scraped off.

New Goddess Dress

Step 7: The colours I have used to create the hair are Pebeo Porcelaine 150 in Gold (look how beautifully in shines in the light) and Scarlet Red. The two colours will blend in beautifully on the substrate whilst they are still wet so you can creates tones of Gold, Red and Rose Gold.

The skin colour was created using a mix of Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paints in Ivory and a just touch of Scarlet Red and Gold. To get the darker shading I added a touch more red to the mix.

For the lips, Red SetaSrib marker, and the eyes Vitrea 160 Marker in Amber. Use a black Setaskrib for the pupil (don't forget to leave a white highlight for sparkling eyes) and to define the eyes and the eyelashes. I used a white paint pen to  add the white highlight in the pupil and the white of the eyes.

I also added a white hi-light to the bottom lip, and some dots on her cheeks for magical sparkle.

I used the the Vitrea Amber marker to draw a defining line around around my Goddess and drew in features such as the nostrils. 

I used red and Gold for the bird, but this could be anything you like.

Steps 7 and 8

Step 8: Once you have completed your Goddess its time to take a collection of paint markers, you can use the Porcleaine, Glass and Fabric markers you have in addition to any paint pens such as POSCA and MOLOTOW to add the little details you can see in each section. The Opaque Paint pens are also fantastic for covering up messy bits you don't like and fixing up mistakes!

Step 9: Use a circle template (a plate is as good as anything - its just about finding the right size) to mark in your pendant. I then used dots of red, white and gold paint pens to represent the chain. The word "Goddess" is written in red paint pen.

Step 10: Finally I decided try try and accentuate the woodgrain feel by using Schmincke Aero Colour Ink in Brown Brazil to stain the blank spaces. I love this look, but it's optional of course. You could also paint the sides of  your wood panel to match.

Done and ready to hang!