Be Free. Be Free. Be Happy - Mixed Media

In my last post, I created a True Beauty Lies Within mixed media piece where I used a vintage woman. In this mixed media I used the same vintage woman, clock idea and vintage theme, using a different inspirational phrase. Couldn't help myself just like the vintage woman and phrase.
This time I used a real canvas. I painted Gesso over a painting that I made and ended not liking it (leave to us, to be our worst critic, right). I used a vintage looking scrapbooking paper as the background, to which I adhere Prima spiral bling. I also added an acrylic birdhouse and chandelier from Spare Parts (that's the brand name of the product). The vintage woman has a different lace design dress and headdress. Her necklace is painted using gold Stickles. I also used Stickles throughout her outfit and headdress, to accentuate her fabulous-ness.

Now for the clock. This time (no pun intended) I made the numbers out of polymer Sculpey clay. For the clock's background I used a red card stock paper and lace underneath the red paper. The center is a painted paper doily.  I used several types of Prima flowers. The tan flowers on the top side are made out fabric. The flowers on the bottom right are metal flowers from Spare Parts. I just love that contrast of metal, paper and fabric flowers surrounding the clock.
The phrase. I printed the phrase on paper made to look like linen (it really does, look closely). As for the frame, it made out lace. I surrounded the frame with miniature flowers from Spare Parts. The crown is a bronze necklace charm. 

True Beauty Lies Within - Mixed Media

So I decided to go a little vintage, not so much shabby, but mostly vintage. I like vintage photographs of women; there is some so forever beautiful about the women in these photographs.  All I knew is I wanted to do something creative around a vintage photograph. As I looked for photographs, a photograph of Lupe Velez caught my attention. She was a Mexican American spit fire movie star during the 1920s and 30s. This pose inspired the words for this piece. Lupe looks like she's posing for us, but thinking about something else...perhaps she’s thinking how she's more than just a movie star, but a real person who dreams, feels, hurts, laughs or that her true beauty really does lie within.

Now about the piece. I used a piece of cardboard as the canvas. For the background I used a vintage looking scrapbooking paper. It looked like wall paper. I used homemade texture paint with Tim Holtz Faded Dots stencil for the background. I also used swirly bling to decorate the background as well. Since I wanted to portray a room, I added a resin chandelier. I used real photo paper, then cut out the image. I used a resin frame a part of the room’s décor. In the frame is another vintage photo of a woman (don’t know who she is). This whole piece is a sort of self-examination of the self, the photograph of in the frame represent of the layers of the self.  I wanted to add a little bit of 3D to the image, so I used lace for her bra, mini skirt, and hat. I used pearls as a decorative accoutrement for her outfit. I used bling for her shoe buckles.

The clock has meaning, not sure if it’s artistically okay, but nonetheless it has meaning for me.  It represents that beauty is timeless. Is composed of layers, the bottom layer is made of red cardstock paper, then a paper doily which painted to be beige, and an image cutout of the clock numbers. I embellished the clock with fabric, natural color flowers from Prima (I love these flowers) and a fleur de lis. I used a vintage pearl chad as the clock’s center.