Carey Burns

I remember watching some TV show when I was a kid of some guy spinning a bunch of white plates on poles. He'd get one started and hurry to the next, then another, and back to the ones that were slowing and on and on. That's kind of what I've been doing lately but with projects. Right now I have at least seven going in addition to writing and working a full time job. Eesh. I took this picture of everything to keep myself honest. Most of my focus has been on my Edgar Allan Poe piece, "Telltale Heart for Nevermore." I had one extra heart pan and decided to rust it up and see what inspired me. After going through my Other People's Photos, I stopped at a photo of group of girls. They just look bad ass and I immediately thought, "Squad Goals." Weird how the mind works. Anyway, I dry brushed on some white gesso and when it dried, I created a very green wash of paint to give it a verdigris look. I added Tim Holtz ® Distress Stain in Walnut t...

Ah, WIP Wednesday! I've had a lot to work on lately, but I'll narrow it down to just "By the Light of the Moon." I had a pretty productive weekend which translates into me now having to clean up the mess I made. But it was an artful mess ... Step one for me was to sand down the Aves Apoxie on my wolfman. It was messy but I liked how it turned out. After I cleaned all the dust off, I painted it with black acrylic paint. (except the teeth and tongue) Caution: wet paint Man becomes wolf Once it was dry, I dry brushed on white gesso. Debating if I will add color to the highlights While I had the gesso on my palette, I took a bit and snuck it into a tough of black to make gray. I used the gray to paint the depressed areas of my full moon and then when that dried, I put the rest of the white gesso over the high points and sides. It resembles the moon, right? Next up, I aged the photo of my wolfman. I added Tim Holtz ® Distress Stain in Walnut to the tor...

For WIP Wednesday, I've made some progress on "By the Light of the Moon" and started another assemblage. The toughest part for the assemblage for me was connecting the wolf head to the action figure body. I knew Aves Apoxie was what I needed to use, but I'm not the most skilled at using clay. I blended the Apoxie and added bit by bit, building up a "neck" to connect the two pieces. Now that it is cured, I will go back and sand everything down to make it look (hopefully) like it was always one piece. The connection looks rough right now  I had a bunch of Apoxie left over and rather than make yet another pumpkin or skull with it, I decided to make my own full moon. I rolled it and flattened it into a disk and added "craters" by pressing the pad of my pinkie finger into the Apoxie. Next step for that piece is to paint it. Looking at the assemblage, there was a big empty spot below where the moon would be. It bothered me so to distract myself...

Today starts another new blog feature: WIP Wednesday! WIP (Work in Progress) Wednesday will give you a little peek at what new project I'm working on. I'll share the creation journey of the different art, craft, and jewelry projects I have and hopefully give you a little inspiration to start (or finish) your own! This week, I present to you "By the Light of the Moon," a fun little werewolf assemblage I've been working on for a while. Still a ways to go with this piece! This piece started out as an IKEA RIBBA picture frame. I took the easel out and covered it in Mod Podge ® and tissue paper, letting the crinkles fall where they may. Once it was dry, I used Tim Holtz ® Distress Stains in Walnut and Forest Moss and blended in the colors to get a very watery effect.  Next, I applied Golden Matte Medium on all sides of the frame with a plastic painter's knife. Once I had a thick layer, I pressed the flat side of the knife against the medium and lif...