Wednesday 21 January 2015

Dragons' Dream - Red and a Flower

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven. Today I'm dreaming with the Dragons again. Thank you so much for starting January with such beautiful tags for Elizabeth's Turquoise and Bling Challenge. The Top 3 and Guest Designer will be announced soon. This fortnight it's the lovely Helen who has chosen the challenge of Red and a Flower. If you hop over to the Dragons' Dream TIO here, you will see the fabulous inspiration from the team. We'd love you to dream with us. All you need is to create a tag featuring red and a flower and at least one real stamp. Well , it's been so cold outside the Magpie's Nest that I thought using red - a colour I've been trying to craft with more lately - would be a wonderful way to warm up these winter days!

For my background I gessoed a jumbo tag with some book text randomly stuck over it.



 I then gave it a wash of Yellow Submarine PaperArtsy Fresco and went to town with some stencils in Cherry Red and Blood Orange.



I found one Peterloo flower in my stash and painted this with the same colour combo, curling the leaves around a pencil.



My technique was to keep layering stencils in these translucents, adding some stamping and circles created by dipping lids into little puddles of paint. I liked the way that my text still showed through. Adding Aged Green Frantage and some Copper Crackle Paste by Prima gave an aged feel. I was liking my warm background, but what could I add as my central image?


Something about the colours on the tag suggested vintage panto. I wanted to dig deep into my collection of rubber stamps to find an image I hadn't used for ages and I came upon this Lynne Perrella stamp, which I stamped onto a little MDF heart painted with Brown Shed, Tango, Yellow Submarine and Blood Orange Frescos. It's a phrenology head, but that ruff always makes it look like a sad clown to me! Although I found circus clowns frightening as a child, I was drawn to beautiful posters for Pierrot shows and Harlequinades I saw in books. In the bitter cold winter months nineteenth century audiences would enter the brightly coloured world of panto to watch the antics of Harlequin and Columbine and Columbine's greedy and miserly old father Pantaloon. I wished I could step back in time and watch the spectacle in the glimmering lights amid all that rich gilt and heavy red velvet drapery!



The sad clown tradition from the 'wise fools' of Shakespeare, through to Charlie Chaplin's little tramp presenting a flower to a beautiful girl implies that the best humour is mixed with pathos and there is a profound insight behind the folly of the clown. I love this Sara Nauman sentiment, which I selected to go with my phrenology clown!

Thank you so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today. Please do join with The Dragons and create a red flower tag. May your winter days be filled with warmth and love and humour!

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful Tag Julie Ann, lovely use of the theme and the sentiment is fabulous :-) xxx

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  2. Beautiful tag, Julie Ann, so many interesting things to see here :)

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  3. Your entire tag is just stunning! glad you enjoyed the theme!!

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  4. Love the way that you have layered the translucent a Julie Ann. The colours do remind me of old circus posters and the stamp, in the heart is lovely! Xx

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  5. Oooh this is fabulous, love that background xx

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  6. Wow, what an amazing background Julie Ann! So many layers of painting, stencilling, stamping, etc., and the end result is lovely! Wonderful focal point of the heart too.

    Hugs
    Lesley Xx

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  7. So wonderful, a great composition.

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  8. Beautiful tag, the background is gorgeous.

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  9. This is gorgeous, julie Ann, that Lynne perrella image is perfect!

    Lucy x

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  10. Such a beautiful and inspirational tag Julie Ann! I love the flower you made! xo

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  11. Such fun to see your tag evolve and burst into bloom with such lovely details and the perfect quote too!
    You put so much into each piece you create adding such richness and interest.
    oxo

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  12. Great tag Julie Ann, the background looks amazing!
    Have a wonderful weekend,
    Alison xox

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  13. Thanks so much for this wondeful tag Julie, also for sharing your feelings about the clowns and reminding the sad clown tradition... though some words were a bit difficult to understand, it was really interesting. I love this image (I think I have it too but almost never inked it yet oops, a shame since this stamp is very beautiful!). Your colours and everything is FAB here, love your tag Julie!!! xxx

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  14. Ooh, you're really having fun with the bold colours at the moment, aren't you?! I love your Phrenological Sad Clown - the white highlights on the ruff are a great touch - and completely agree with Commedia characters over big red noses and orange wigs and oversized shoes. This is a wonderfully fiery tag - how appropriate for the Dragons!
    Alison xx

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  15. Brilliant tag Julie Ann! Very gorgeous background and the colors. The circles are stunning. I love the tiny butterfly and the small rose and I love always you put some small embellishment--lovely! xxx

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  16. Brilliant tag Julie Ann! Very gorgeous background and the colors. The circles are stunning. I love the tiny butterfly and the small rose and I love always you put some small embellishment--lovely! xxx

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  17. Well this has cheered my day - very grey here! I love how you have made the texture and those lovely zingy colours! Like you I was fascinated by Columbine and Pierrot - I had a book with beautiful images in - wish I'd kept it!! Chrisx

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  18. The sumptuous layering of the stencils and the way you handle the bright paints with such skill is a thing of beauty. Your tag is also so beautifully balanced in its composition, with the eye travelling freely around the tag is a whole, absorbing all the wonderful details and colour.
    Adore this!
    Wishes
    Lynne

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