Guest Blogger Indigene Theresa Gaskin

Today's guest blogger is mixed media artist and art journaler Indigene Theresa Gaskin. She is going to share a mixed media project with us today, a very special one that helped her send her daughter to China!

When I was asked by Lisa to be a guest blogger, I was so excited because I love all of Artistcellar’s products!  When the beautiful 12”x12” stencils arrived I oohed and ahhhed over them.

It was such great timing, since I was in the middle of creating 100 mixed media pieces for a fund-raiser for my daughter’s trip abroad to China. I want a lot of my mixed media pieces to be inspirational so when I saw the Sea Foam stencil from Artistcellar's Water Series, I knew exactly what I wanted to create…

I used an 8”x8” wood panel and painted it a bright red. I also added spritzes of red Dylusions Ink Spray to enrich the color.

After allowing it to dry, I put the stencil over the wood panel

and painted it a turquoise green, once again adding Dylusions Ink Spray in blue and turquoise to make the color pop.

I have a lot of quotes to choose from, because whenever I see a quote that fits my life or experiences, I type it up and put in my “Quote File." Once a page is filled I print several copies of a page to keep handy for when I want to use them. I print them out in different fonts, page colors, etc. 

I decided to use the quote, “Love is an energy which exists of itself. It is its own value” by Thornton Wilder.  Once I decided on my quote, I tore it from the page and adhered it with Golden gel medium in the circles on the wood panel. I also smeared some of the ink on the quote, giving it a little bit of stress, or drama as I like to call it!

Since I’m a mixed media artist, I have loads of trinkets to choose from. For this inspirational piece I chose various buttons. I also used Mica to cover the quote and give it a sense of being seen through window or under a piece of glass. Mica comes in a variety of sizes and it can be peeled to the density level you’d like. 

You can also cut it with scissors to any size or shape you’d like as well.

Once I cut the Mica out (in circles) I applied more gel medium on top the quote and then put the Mica on top of it. I attached the buttons in a random fashion, using gel medium to adhere them to the wood panel. Once the gel medium dried (overnight) I put a coat of varnish over the entire piece, giving it a nice glossy look. Once that was dry, the piece was ready for hanging or putting on a miniature easel, whichever suits your fancy. Here is the finished piece. 

I loved using Artistcellar's Sea Foam stencil in the 12”x12” size because it covered my wood panel and I didn’t need to worry about trying to move it around and match the edges to fit my working art area.

To see more art for my fundraiser “China For Kayla” visit: https://squareup.com/market/indigene-art-forms. Please visit my facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/indigeneart where I post new art and goings-on in my art world!

Indigene Theresa Gaskin is a mixed media artist, whose work has been featured in various galleries in the United States and Abroad. She’s an avid Art Journalist as well!

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