Whats is on Your Workdesk #297 - Magic Cottage

Hello Friends,

It is time once again to run around the world via the Internet and take a peek at what people have on their desks. A great linky party hosted by Julia at Stamping Ground. If you are nosey like me..check it out :) Today I have nothing on my desk because I cleaned it off late last night after finishing one of my Lifebook projects for the week. The teacher was artist Violette Clark who gave us a tour of her very own magical cottage..her home. She challenged us to make a vision of our own magical cottage as it is..or as we wish it to be in our imagination. Here is my vision... it is most definitely from my imagination...you can't put an adobe in a tree! Although if anyone could it would be Pete Nelson the tree man from Treehouse Masters! I love that guy!


Warning: This project is much more involved then I expected so there are 10 steps!
I started out making a background with acrylic paints and a old credit card...scraping the paint around the page.


When that was all dry, I added some sponged clouds using a stencil I cut using a scrap piece of paper. I applied white craft acrylic with a cosmetic sponge.


Next I added some dimension to the clouds using a punchinella stencil and the same White acrylic. I also did some splatters right after this step but don't have a photo.


I set the background aside to dry and moved on to my 'cottage'. I made a sketch with pencil on some mixed media paper. Draw..erase..draw..erase..you get the idea :)


Then I painted my cottage using acrylic paints and a wet brush. After I was done I went over the lines with a black paint pen.


Now back to the background. One thing that I noticed on a lot of Violette's work was what I call a 'dental boarder'. I decided to add that to my page with a black sharpie poster pen. Then I went back in and touched up the white parts with acrylic paint and a brush. Finally..I drew a whimsical tree for my cottage to live in. I have wanted a tree house since FOREVER!!!


I painted my tree purple (my favorite color) and blended the face of the tree using a mixture of water soluble crayons and acrylics.


My tree was just begging to be outlined...so out came the black pen again outlining and adding details.


Now for some foliage! I used some rubber stamps and different colors of craft acrylic paints to add splotches, hearts, and stars as foliage for my silly tree. Then I glued on my cottage leaving the top part unattached to add my words.


The words were meant to be things we would want inside our magical cottage. I wrote them on some cardstock and cut them apart. Then I tucked them in at the top of the cottage.


My final step was to add some more details with my white paint pen. You know I can't help myself!

I hope you enjoyed my whimsical magical cottage.
<3 Shel

Comments

  1. Love it. I wondered if you had been watching the Treehouse Master marathons.

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    1. Thanks :) Of course I watch all the treehouse master shows..love Pete..and we need to go stay at Treehouse Point some day dude!

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  2. wowza! what a piece of art! this is amazing and huge kudos for doing it!

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  3. What a great page! And thank you for showing how you do it. Always interesting to see artists at work.I like the leaves of the tree. I might copy that idea but use punches.
    Have a great week,
    Lisca#38

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    1. Thank you Lisca :) I hope you do try making foliage with punches and show it on your desk next week. I will be there to see :)

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  4. Wow, what a fantastic page - I LOVE your magical cottage - it looks such a happy place! I enjoyed seeing the different stages that you went through - it is always so interesting to see how others work. Hope you have a great week,
    Diana #35

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    1. Thanks to you Diana :) It was fun using my imagination on this project and I like to show the process so others can try them out too.

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  5. Shel, this is just stinkin FABULOUS!!! I ABSOLUTELY love this piece! I am an adobe freak, which, if I could, I would live in! I move back to Georgia from Santa Fe, NM, so I am sooooo missing my adobe architecture!! You really have an awesome imagination and I love all the colors in this piece along with all the wonderful textures going on! Love it! :) Blessings

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    1. Thank you so much Felicia :) I do love adobe style houses and there a lot of them around here in AZ too. I bet one would look a bit strange in GA with all the southern style lol..but you could build it!. If you do I will come over and we can do some art.

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  6. Oh my I love everything about this. The background is fav, the tree hair inspired, I can't wait to take this class myself. Thanks for visiting me already and your kind words on my dreamcatcher.

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    1. Thank you for dropping by :) Your dream catcher was lovely. I am sure you will love this project and do something great with it once you get down the list.

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  7. Definitely want to move in - it's just wonderful!

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    1. Come on over Win..we will have a big color party of some sort :)

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  8. Fantastic piece Shel, love it. You have a great imagination to come up with something like this. Thanks for the visit and happy crafting, Angela x 37

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    1. Thank you Angela :) Sometimes my imagination gets a little 'out there' but it fun all the same.

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  9. I just knew you were going to come up with something imaginative for this project, Shel! Looks amazing! I love your treehouse idea!

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    1. Thanks Zsuzsa :) You know me..a little bit crazy. I really do want a treehouse but they don't fit in these darn cactuses..lol

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  10. Wow! Imagination come to life in an awesome way. Love everything about it. I can just feel your excitement each step of the way.Wonderful!
    Thanks for visiting my desk. Always much appreciated. :)

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    1. Thank you Nannie :) Yes I was having a blast making this project :)

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  11. Loving the finished result. It was good to see if progressing.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    Happy WOYWW
    Sue #29

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  12. Thank you for showing your process. Love the whimsical look of the tree house and all the details.
    thank you for stopping by my blog this week. Looking forward to visiting next week.

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    1. Great to see you here Diane :) I am glad you enjoyed the project! I will see you next week :)

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  13. Love your whimsical cottage - absolutely adore the tree it is housed in. Great project, great pictures and a great end product.
    Hugs, Neet 28 (late again I know)

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    1. Thanks so much Neet for stopping by :) Glad you enjoyed my silly cottage.

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  14. Love everything about it happy WOYWW

    Peggy

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  15. Michele...I enjoyed this expression of your imagination! Lots of fun colors and textures. Love your adobe cottage and your idea of putting words of things you would want inside your magical cottage. I think you are just having a LOT of fun creating? <3

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  16. I love that you built your own treehouse! :) Always enjoy seeing step by steps and this was no exception. Fab stuff!

    Carmen x #46

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    1. Thank you Carmen. I wish I could build it for real! Seen any purple trees around? :)

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