Venetian Dreams

For this month's blog I was given the Venetian Masquerade Project pack to work with, and my goodness is there a lot to play with in this kit.  No less than three MDF masks, oodles of mdf embellishments, and some absolutely beautiful venetian rice paper.

How gloriously decadent.

I'm not lucky enough to have ever been to Venice, but I always imagine it to have a slightly surreal air about it.

I decided to create a triptych using three long canvasses.  Because of my perceived idea of what Venice is like, I was aiming to create a dream like feel. I don't know about you, but I always find Venetian masks gorgeous, but also slightly ominous, and I also  wanted to convey this in my final piece. 

To start off with I laid out my three canvasses, and placed my Powertex goodies on them to get a rough idea of how I was going to do this. I always do this in the full knowledge that my ideas will change once I get going, and I'm absolutely fine with this.  Go with the flow is my motto.

Once I had a rough plan, I set about creating a watery feel by pouring ivory powertex and blue powertex onto the canvas, and swirling them together with a scraper.  I then added some blue bister in patches to add a feeling of depth.

Now it was time to add the absolutely beautiful Powertex Venetian Rice Paper, which I did by tearinground the bits I wanted to use, and then carefully adding them onto the canvas using easy varnish.

I then painted my mdf masks in the Secret Art Loft Acrylic Paint Blueberry Pie, before adding some Easy 3D Flex on top of this.  I like to add a bit of colour underneath 3D Flex so that you get glimpses of it coming through once the cracks start to appear.  To make 3D Flex I mixed in in with Ivory Powertex to create a clay texture and then put this on top of my masks.  I left them in a warm place to dry overnight, which is when the cracks develop.

Now it was time to start putting the whole thing together.  I used the gorgeous inteference pigments to add an ethereal sheen to my masks, and for the lips I used red powertex sprayed over with brown bister to create an end of the night decadence to them.

Ages ago I had picked up the black lacy masks knowing that at some point the perfect opportunity for using them would arise, and here was just that opportunity.  I soaked these in transparent powertex before adding them to my masks.

I wanted my smaller mask to have a bit of bling to it, so added some chainmail junk jewellery I had in my stash to the beak. I then made a headress using more jewellry and the mdf feathers.  I  toned the whole thing down by spraying with brown bister before using my fingers to rub in more interference pigments and also turquoise throughout the whole piece where I felt it needed a bit more light and shade.

Finally, I felt the need to add actual feathers to my smaller mask.  I always know once I get my feathers out that it is time to stop, so I downed tools at that point.

If I'm perfectly honest, I did find this project a bit of a challenge.  But I'm really pleased with the end result.  I'd love to see what you do with your project pack.  Please do post them onto our Powertex Addicts Facebook Page.

You can see more of my work on www.facebook.com/artmuralsbydonnamcghie  and   www.artandmurals.co.uk