Tuesday 12 March 2013

Fun With ATC's Gothic or Halloween

 Well I can not believe how fast seems to be going at the moment, and the time has come for us to start a new challenge over at Fun With ATC's, this fortnight we are challenging you to come up with a Gothic, Halloween or spooky style ATC.
Head on over to see what the uber talented DT have concocted for your inspiration.

Now for me this was a great fun challenge, It gave me a chance to play with the little plastic war hammer skeletons again. For a long time whilst I was making this it felt like the effort going in was not going to pay off but even if I do say so myself I really like the outcome, I think thats part of the journey when playing with paints, using washes and dry brushing.

I started by cutting a couple of ATC's from mount board, I marked out a frame and carefully cut the middle out with a craft knife, I added some sticky gems around the frame and gave it a rust finish that I learnt on the Andy Skinner online workshop Time Worn, there is a link on the side bar.
 I gave the bottom ATC a coat of gesso, marked out where the frame would go and applied Deco Art's crackle medium, whilst it was wet I pushed the skeleton in so the paste would crack around him.
The little plastic skeleton was given a thin base of gesso and then painted with acrylic paints. I cut his lower legs of and bent him a little so it would look like he is bursting out of the ground.This was all done before pushing him into the crackle paste.
 The crackle paste was given a slightly watered down dark brown base coat and then dry brushed with several lighter shades of paint to bring out all the details.
 The coffin lid was sent to me by my good blog friend and fellow Haunted Design House DT member Glo Bug ,and will be available in here Etsy shop soon, details are on her blog It was the perfect size for this ATC and was just a stroke of luck as it turned up last week as part of an ATC swap we did. On the right is the                                               ATC I did for swap with GloBug.



If you fancy getting your spook on, It can be anything at all, gothic architecture, a zombie collage, let your imagination go wild, we would love to see you join us at Fun With ATC's

Simon Says Stamp And Show are having a Shaby chic/vintage challenge, I have chosen to go with the Shabby side of the challenge rather than the Chic side ;)

I would like to enter this into a new challenge blog called Left Of Center Creative they are having an Alternative style challenge for those of us that are weird they are also running a buttons and or bows challenge for the more traditional crafters x


28 comments:

  1. WOW and WOW!!! This is absolutely cool!
    XOXO SanDee

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  2. Two words; Me Want! Super cool Mark. I've now decided I MUST get some of that crackle paste, is the one with the more plaster like finish? I also think I need to climb up into the loft and find my LOTR characters.....damn, I can't climb yet. It really is a fantastic ATC, you should be really pleased.

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  3. This is absolutly the coolest ATC I've ever seen before! A fantastic theme - just mine harhar - , a fantastic art and just everything fantastic wooohooo!!!! I will follow your blog now - you make it MY way ;)

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  4. The most outstanding ATC I've ever seen ... you've outdone yourself here. I MUST have this crackle paste ... Suzanne xx

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  5. I have no words! this is about the most fabulous ATC I've ever seen! The finished and textures are immense. Fabulous, fabulous! xxD

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  6. I'm with Donna... best ever!! What an absolute triumph of amazing creativity, imagination and technique - just made my day when I saw it over at FwAs. Fantastic to see it in more detail here, and also the Globug one... think I feel a haunted churchyard coming on in the Dollshouse Museum at some point in the future!! Fabulous inspiration!
    Alison x

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  7. Fabulously cool, Mark! I've been absent in commenting so this is for all below.......simply grotesque awesomely cool!

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  8. Wow Mark, truly fantastic, please can you bring it to are next meeting so we can all see it in the flesh or too speak! I bow down before you, clever friend.

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  9. WOW, what an awesome technique and fabulous outcome, Mark!

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  10. Absolutely gorgeous piece of art!!!!! Really loving all the effects!

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  11. Very creative and a good selling sample for the Andy Skinner workshops. I think the Timeworn will be my first, of many AS workshops. Fabulous ATC. YOU ROCK!

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  12. Hi Mark, this is absolutely amazing! I think it is my favourite of your pieces to date, the rusting around the edge is fantastic and I love your use of the crackle paste. A wonderful, wonderful piece of art which I bet looks even better in real life. Wow!

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  13. Oh Marc, your painting skills are stunning. Love the little guy. That is the coolest atc i have ever seen.(:o)

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  14. I cannot believe that the grey base is crackle medium, its so deep and looks fabulous! I went into warhammer the other week to look for figures to alter (boy they are expensive!) and it was like a scene from the comic shop on The Big Bang Theory....everyone turned and I swore I hear the murmer...."its a female!" :-)

    kyla

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  15. Amazing detail you have achieved on a small area....just great. These little figurs do come in handy plus andy's techniques. love Francesca

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  16. This is totally outstanding, Mark.

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  17. Best ATC I've ever seen. The three dimensions of your art is superb. Love the rusty frame effect. And what a suberb effect of the skeleton bursting through the crackle paste. Absolutely brilliant! Glad you persevered with it. Definitely worth it. Px

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  18. This is gorgeous work, Mark! Love the rust on the frame! And that skeleton rising out of the rocks is really amazing! Thank you so much for joining us at Simon Says Stamp and Show. Hugs, Sandra

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  19. Very very cool Mark, as kathy said, please do bring it along to the next class so it can find it's way into my bag :)

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  20. Well you already know how much I love this piece, Mark. Thanks for sharing it with us at Left of Center and hope you come back again. Vee :)

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  21. Holy Smokes ArtMan! You totally rocked this...LOVE It. My hubby is also just amazed. You are beyond FABULOUS!

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  22. Stunning Work!!! Thanks so much for joining us at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week! - Ashli :)

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  23. this is awesome! I love how he pops out, and the rust finish is really really cool! Will need to read about that one :)

    thank you for joining Left of Center this time, hope to see you for the next challenge too :)
    -Laila aka Koneko

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  24. ohhhhh WOW this is totally awesome!!!! I'm in awe and still need to pick up my jaw from the floor! Just became your latest follower!!!

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