NYC: A Mixed Media Layout Using Bad Girls Couture Paints & Media

This past weekend I had some time and got to do a thing! I got to create for a little while and let me tell you I really enjoyed myself even though it feels like it was totally chaotic and not the tranquil relaxing process I was going for. Actually, come to think of it chaotic probably represents my state of mind recently better than tranquil and relaxed...as they say art imitates life. 

I started with 3 colors of Bad Girls Couture Haute mess acrylic paints in Torrid, C-note, and Sweet Candy Kisses. I diluted each paint color with a little bit of acrylic gloss medium and water to make a good consistency for pouring and making a mess with. Using a palette knife I spread the blobs I poured out into an irregular circle shape. The haute mess paint usually has a chalky matte finish but I wanted this to dry with a little bit of a gloss and texture.  I added some glass bead gel and some black ink splatters and after I was happy with the colors and texture of the background I let it air dry overnight.

I had an idea for machine stitching with black thread in a spiral on my background and then doing some journaling along the spiral of the background. Of course when I went to look for my black thread I couldn't find any.  So I ran out to the fabric store for a spool. Of course when I got home and intended to thread a bobbin with the black thread- guess what I found in the cubby where I keep my extra bobbins- the black thread I already had of course. This is the kind of thing that happens to me more often than not. It happens when I am cooking too. 

I wrote out my journaling in white pen freestyle without planning it- just some thoughts I had about what was going on when we took this photo on our trip to New York last summer. It's funny because the topic I was writing about was how our trip started out really great and then eventually things spiraled out of control. So the spiraling stitching and journaling really expressed this quite well.

I matted my photo with some layers of the papers in the Kaisercraft Magenta kit and then embellished in 3 main clusters around the page. I used some of the floral ephemera in the kit for the clusters, along with some Rainbow Escape acrylic pieces that can be found in the shop. My title acrylic piece I had special ordered from Bramble Fox for the layouts I knew I would be doing about this trip. As a traveler I love that the Bramble Fox shop has acrylic pieces for different cities! 

Thanks for checking out this layout and don't forget the collaboration with Bad Girls Couture Bad Ass Art Journaling kit is available in the shop! This includes 4 media and 4 paint colors to get you started as well as the perfect art journal ! I love to paint my backgrounds whether its art journaling or scrapbooking. I hope this inspires you to try some painting too.

​-xGia