Hello Everyone and Welcome Hope you are all doing ok and are all set for the start of a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey. Yes, believe it or not, another month has passed ( the clock just seems to be ticking so quickly this year) and its time to launch July's theme 'Monochromatic' hosted by Tracy. Heres what Tracy has to say 'I love Monochromatic themes in my artwork. I love the balance dlook it gives to a design. If you ever struggle with knowing what colours to usethis should be right up your street, one colour alone or hues of one colour(plus black and /or white- simple! Please just check that your entry is vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, or steampunk to be in with a chance of being a winner or a pinworthy mention .' For my Monochromatic project I have drawn initial inspiration from a painting by Belgian Surrealist Artist Rene Magritte, The son of man and created a piece of wall art using some of Tim Holtz 2016 CHA new release products. I have remained true to my love of the classic monochrome palette of black, white and grey/ silver. Admittedly my finished piece is more 'real' than 'surreal but that's where my creative muse led me- this time... Unfortunately I forgot to take a comprehensive set of step by step photos but I can provide you with the details of techniques/products used. So lets begin I created a mask for the moon using a circle die. This was positioned and adhered to a pre-cut white card panel and remained in place until the background was complete, after which it was removed to reveal the moon. Tim Holtz Wrinkle free Distress technique using Distress inks provided an initial layer of colour. More colour was then added using the distress inks with a blending tool. Now to add some detail That included some background stamping and whilst the jet black Archival ink was to hand the Evolution Man(as I am calling him) was stamped onto a separate piece of white card stock and cut out ready to position in place later and some distress ink stencilling aswell as gesso stencilling for some added texture. With the products and techniques covered time for some photos of the background panel The gesso stencilling was enhanced with touches of silver gilding wax. Some picket fence distress paint splatters made an appearance too. You know I love my splatters! Moving onto the wood panel .... This was cut to size by my new 'mate' at the local building merchants. I had a few panels cut at the same time, various sizes and they were unbelievably inexpensive costing little more than a standard chocolate bar here in the UK .So its worth checking out if you have any similar merchants in your area as those pennies saved on pricier shop bought mdf panels goes towards more craft supplies, right? After sanding back the edges the panel was primed with gesso and then finger painted with Distress paints and Gesso. The corners and along the sides of the panel were crazed with Distress crayons blended into the crazing. A couple of ideology arrows were added to the finished panel. Why arrows? Well lets see if I can share my thoughts : The arrow is a symbol of direction/movement/progress. Man is at the point of the arrow- the pinnacle of Evolution but in this ever increasing digital age will man be pierced by the arrow as it progresses further into the future? Only time will tell I guess! I hope my piece of wall art along with the fabulous projects offered by my fellow Creative Guides(which can be seen here at A Vintage Journey) will inspire you to go create and join in this months 'Monochromatic' fun. I would like to enter this into the following challenges Country View Crafts-July Challenge- Have fun with Circles Thats Crafty- Masculine Challenge The Craft Stamper- Take it Make it Challenge- July - Take a Stamp: Anything Goes That just leaves me to Thank you all for stopping by today. As always your follows, visits and comments are much appreciated and extremely valued. Hope you all have a lovely weekend Take care Amanda xxx