Making my first Resin geode after I saw Mrs Colorberry

OMG Resin geodes!!!!!

About six weeks ago I was flicking through facebook when I saw a magnificent piece of art that I just wanted, I needed to create.  It was Mrs Colorberry, and I watched the timelapse of her making a geode over and over again and decided to try it myself because it was just too beautiful not to.

This is the end result of my attempt at a resin geode table.

I wasn't too sure about using MDF so I used plywood, I think it was 12mm thick.  I primed it ready to accept the resin.  If I didn't prime the wood it would just suck everything up like the Bermuda Triangle.  I use gesso now but for this one I used a paint and prime spray paint, white.

I googled for geode images that I really liked, the blue seemed to make me happy lol.  So I then drew out some lines which I wanted to the resin to follow, lol, resin to follow, lol.

I didn't cut a hole in the middle of the geode this time because I wasn't sure it would work, so I decided to use resin with black resin dye to pretend to be the hole in the middle.  I actually let this dry overnight so it wouldn't mix with the next colours, that pesky resin, always wanting to self level.

Then the next day I attempted to do the blue and white resin layers, using a heat gun to mix them together so they looked natural and pretty.  Remember, gloves, mask when using resin and a heat gun.  Even if the resin says it's ok the colours you are mixing in it may not be.  Better to be safe than sorry.  Also make sure the piece you are working on is level and in a safe and secure spot covered from wind and dust.

I have these awesome resin pigments from Solid solutions in Australia, they make the most beautiful colours ever!!!  solid solutions resin and dyes

This is my attempt at the middle and keeping the resin within the lines, hmmm, so far not too bad lol.  The rocks I placed around the area I wanted the resin to cover, they were some clear rocks.  

This is the next layer, though still technically the first layer, I used blue rocks, blue dye in the resin and white dye as well, and of course glitter.

I had the plywood sitting on my painting mason jars, yeah, don't do that, if there is resin dripping over the side it collects around the rim of the jars, and makes it super hard to remove when dry.

After the layers above had dried I then decided to do the black edge, which I didn't want mixing with anything.  I also had black sand that I put on the edges of the geode to make it seem more realistic and natural.

I wanted this geode to be the most beautiful thing I ever made, so I ensured that all the layers were dry before adding the next.  The next layers were resin and glitter, mmmmm glitter, so pretty.

Then I just placed some more gems and glitter in each of the layers, and then followed all of this with a few clear coat resin layers to make it smooth.

The base was made by my husband and son out of lightweight aluminum.   The end product is a layer filled, shiny glittery monster which I have fallen deeply in love with.

So shiny and glass like....mmmmmmmm

I love the iridescent glitter that makes it look green from one angle and blue from another.  I am super proud of this baby.

Moral of the story, don't burn yourself, follow the reference picture, don't put so much glitter on the final layer.  Do enjoy it, make layers and have fun.

Next up on the blog will be my Peter Stormare oil painting.  This is the painting that made me realise that I love to paint, and I want to get better.

Have a great week, an artists week.

Painting Tyrion Lannister's greatest moment in Game of Thrones........

Tyrion Lannister's greatest moment you ask, there's so many, True, but this......

Was his proudest moment don't you think?

To begin with I do not chose the easiest of characters to paint do I?  Peter Dinklage (Tyrion) was super hard to paint and honestly I am still not happy.  I can see the errors everywhere, but that is where time and practice come into it.

To start with I wanted to paint him on a wood canvas.  Aldi actually had some wood boards for sale a few weeks ago, so I got a few.  Got to be honest, I did not find them the greatest paint on.  There were also splintered edges on them,so I had to sand and gesso the board a fair bit.  Once that was done I began painting.  

As always, this bit is scary, it's the "Oh crap should I just burn it and run!" moment.  I drew him very loosely in and then went over him with acrylic umber, then I did the whole board in an umber wash, basically very watered down umber paint.  I use Golden Glazing Medium though because I don't want to use too much water because under binding just doesn't sound great.

I always have a problem with backgrounds, always.  This one just came to me though, I really did want it like the reference picture.  So I looked around at tutorials to see if anyone had something similar for me.  Of course The Art Sherpa had the perfect background.  This is the link to the background painting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBUu2gZ7-R8&t=4601s

I of course changed things around and added the extras that I wanted, and took the lighting in my reference photo into consideration.  Plus I added copper paint.  Oh my that is a wonderful colour!!

I went over the lines of Tyrion so the background would look complete.  This is all still in acrylics, mainly because I do not have the range of colours in oils that I have in acrylics.  Yet.

Then after doing a grey scale, which took longer than usual.  His nose and eyes and mouth were killing me, I almost gave up.  But I wanted to paint him.

I didn't have any natural light in the garage when I mixed up his face colour in oils.  As a result it was very pink, I need natural light.

This is a quick timelapse of my attempts to fix up the skin colour and get his face right.  Just doing the same things over and over again.  I needed to walk away.

After all the fiddling around I decided to just get on with it.  Just paint on the days I felt like I could handle it.  His face and angle was just so difficult, but I didn't give up.  Made so many mistakes, got super angry, but I kept going. 

I will make more in depth painting videos once I become more time savvy, right now I'm fumbling around like a little lost puppy.  This is all so new to me, I am used to hiding and not letting anyone see my work.  So this is really difficult.

I just needed to get back on the horse and start blogging, I have been scared, but I will persevere.

In a few days I will have the resin geode table that I made up on the blog.  It was my first foray into table making, large resin use and geodes, so of course I had to go big lol.  Yep, made mistakes, learnt from mistakes, I hope.  Please check out the result of my month long resin table top below.  I like it.

I will have a more in depth blog about the resin geode table, as it is long and complicated but sooooo worth it..........