Hi Faber-Castell friends, my name is Karen and I am SO excited to be showing you all my first project here as a guest designer for Faber-Castell Design, Memory Craft!
Last week I bought a gorgeous pint of strawberries. They were shiny, plump and deliciously sweet tasting. I ended up sketching them in my sketchbook just because they made me SO happy! And then the more I thought about them, I had to turn them into a canvas!
Normally, I am a paint kind of girl. But I absolutely ADORE the pigment of the Faber-Castell Gelatos® Colors and felt the challenge to only use Gelatos® Colors for color – no paint, gasp!
I started with a piece of scrap wood. I used Faber-Castell gesso to lightly cover the top. I added a couple scraps of paper and then I literally, scibble-scrabbled Lime, Green Tea and Spearmint Gelatos® all over the top. Using a wet paint brush I blended them together. Since the three colors are Mix and Match, they all go blend together perfectly and give the background a bit of depth! Then I took Black Gelato® to go around the edge, like a frame.
So, I find that I am a little bit of an over-achiever (crazy, really) and like to cut shapes out twice. I use scrap paper to get the idea of the size and placement of the pieces on my canvas. (It also lets me edit typos . . . can you find the typo that I luckily fixed before I attached it?!)
To add to the background I used a white gelato and a stencil. In the Faber-Castell Gelatos® Colors tool set, there is a great dot dabber tool, I used it to mash the white Gelato into the stencil. Then I let it dry – overnight – because I made it SO thick!! It created a texture that actually stands out from the background, I love it!
Now, to make the strawberries as delicious looking as they were in real-life . . . I took a small chunk of Red Cherry Gelatos® and mashed it together with Glaze! It made the most intense shiny red color but is totally translucent … amazing!! I spread it onto old book paper. Then I mashed Spearmint Gelatos® with Glaze to make the color for the leaves and spread it onto another piece of book paper.
After it dried, I cut out the shapes I had planned and used Gel Medium to glue them down. (I was careful to only get the medium on the the back of the shapes, because I wanted them to stay as shiny as possible.)
Then I doodled with PITT® Artist Pens, used my Stampers Big Brush Cold Gray III to create some shadow and added some finishing touches! Now, get out your Gelatos® and Glaze and get painting!! You will be amazed at the colors, I promise!!
I hope you enjoyed my strawberries as much as I did while I was making them! Come visit me at my blog I Just Need More Glue, or my Pinterest page!
Supply List:
Gesso
Gel Medium
Glaze
Gelatos® Colors
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Lime
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Green Tea
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Spearmint
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Red Cherry
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Black
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White
PITT® Artist Pen
Stamper's Big Brush Cold Gray III
Karen you continue to amaze me! Love your work, so fun and creative. You go Girl!
Posted by: Mary Margaret Gregg | 02/19/2014 at 10:50 AM
As always I love your work Karen! Great job!
Posted by: Linda | 02/19/2014 at 11:09 AM
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Bonnie | 02/19/2014 at 12:39 PM
You are so talented!! I love your work Karen!!
Posted by: Karina correa | 02/19/2014 at 02:08 PM
How adorable!!
Posted by: Jean Marmo | 02/19/2014 at 02:52 PM
I love your strawberries. Thanks for the steps. Fun canvas!
Posted by: Sharon Young | 02/19/2014 at 03:48 PM
Gorgeous!
Posted by: Annie B | 02/19/2014 at 04:11 PM
I CANT WAIT TO GET SOME OF THAT GLAZE... I HAVE THE SAME STENCIL YOU USED BUT I HAVE NEVER HAD SUCH A CLEAR ABILITY TO SEE AS YOURS READS.... IT MUST BE THE THICKNESS OF THE GEL
ATOS. I CANT WAIT TO TRY THIS!!!! SO INSPIRING..... THANKS!
Posted by: gloria browning | 02/19/2014 at 06:42 PM
Love this project !!! Great job!
Posted by: Vicky | 02/20/2014 at 12:21 PM
Oh how gorgeous and amazing, I love the shiny strawberries and the texture you created with the stencil. I hadn't thought to mix glaze and gelatos; NEED to get glaze now....LOL. Thank you for sharing a wonderful project.
Posted by: Victoria H. | 02/21/2014 at 09:14 AM
Looks gorgeous!! I love the layers of text for interest. I’m just wondering... I have created a pastel drawing and wondered how I would fix the image? I haven’t added water to my gelato, just gelato sticks straight over an acrylic undercoat and blended the gelato with my finger. I want my piece to last and wondered if it is possible to add a fixative spray, or should I just leave it? Obviously I don’t want the colours to run, so any advise would be appreciated.
Many thanks
Posted by: Lindsey Baldwin | 09/30/2017 at 08:08 AM