Deco Arts Media Line

I loved working with the Deco Arts Media Line! 

12x36" - "Owls" is comprised of these Deco Arts products: 

Interference - Magenta and Turquoise

Antiquing Cream - Carbon Black

Fluid Acrylics - Carbon Black, Primary Cyan, Primary Yellow, Burnt Umber

Mister - Primary Yellow and Primary Cyan

Crackle Paint - White

Day 1

One of the products that I couldn't wait to try out was the Interference Paint. I first had to find out exactly what that was though. Interference paints create a translucent shimmer. The color isn't from pigment added, it comes from the thickness of the actual pigment particle and how the light moves through it. Some light passes through it and some reflects back. When you look at the moon you get a definite glow, seen in this picture on the left side where the light was reflecting off. Isn't this an awesome effect?

Interference Paint

I painted in the moon with my Primary Yellow Fluid Acrylic first and let it dry. Then I mixed together together the Turquoise Interference paint with a plastic art spatula and a gloss gel medium. You must use a gloss medium because a matte medium will ruin the effect of the Interference paints. Since I used the Interference on top of a light color, my effect is very subtle, which is what I wanted. I added the Magenta color last to create a layered shimmer.

Crackle Paint

While the moon section was drying I painted in the tree with the Burnt Umber Fluid Acrylic and once it was dried I covered it with the White Crackle Paint. I used a small flat brush for this part as I wanted the brush strokes to show and give me even more "bark like" texture when combined with the cracks.

Day 2

 Loving all those tiny cracks and the way the crush strokes show up. Now the fun can begin! I watered down the Burnt Umber and spread the paint over the crackle paint, leaving some areas thicker than others for even more texture.

Antiquing Cream

To get the inky blue "night" background, paint a layer of the Carbon Black Antiquing Cream over the top of your Primary Cyan. It can be a bit scary at this point, thinking you have covered up everything but relax, it's all good!

The directions say to rub off the Antiquing Cream with a soft damp cloth but I used a paper towel and it worked beautifully. I just LOVE how the Carbon Black stayed in all the nooks and crannies of the canvas letting the Primary Cyan come out! It's a beautiful multi-toned night background, much better than a flat texture.

You can also remove all the Antiquing Cream by spritzing water over it, letting it sit for a minute and then blotting up the water which will remove the Antiquing Cream giving you yet a third layer of dimension! LOVE!

Misters

What fun and what a joy to be able to mist over layers of acrylic paints! The colors stay vibrant and can also be layered over each other. 

This completes day 2.

Day 3

I paper pieced an owl out of magazine papers. A lot of fun but a lot of work too having to use tweezers to place all the tiny paper pieces together.

There are so many more products in the Deco Arts Media Line, and I can't wait to play with them all! I hope my canvas encourages you to give them a try and experiment and see what you can do with them. I am sure Deco Arts would love to see what you come up with!