Monica Downing Designs: She Is Courage

Hi Everyone Monica D here with my Art Anthology Design Team Breast Cancer Awareness project.

I have been thinking about this project for quite some time. I was inspired to do this by a video I saw actually a few months back. When we decided to do a Breast Cancer project I knew I wanted to not only represent the amazing Art Anthology products, but also this amazing organization and artists doing wonderful things to help women deal with their breast cancer scars.

Ill show you my project then share some information about the organization, along with the a link to the video, that inspired me to do this.

She is Courage.....

So...it started as a paper mache manican that I bought at Hobby Lobby. I also bought the candle stick there as well...I covered everything in Art Anthology Gesso which I knew would provide me an excellent base to work from.

All of the color you see on this piece was done with Art Anthology products.

I started by painting the bodice with Sorbet Dimensional Paint in Buttercream. I so wish you could see the sparkle the sorbet has on this piece...its subtle but so beautiful. After that dried I used Colorations Spray in Warm and Cinnamon Toast ti give it more of a vintage look and I am extremely happy with the results...

The next thing I did was to apply the crystals to the bodice. I used Prima crystals and shaped them the way I wanted so they would flow with the body. My intention was for this to look like a tattoo...

Next I grabbed my white paper flowers. I decided which flowers I wanted to use then decided on which colors. The colors I used are Colorations Sprays in Juicy, Hottie, Wild Orchid, Plush, Glorious, and Waimea Bay.

I used Hottie and Juicy for the butterflies. I just misted randomly onto cardstock, then used a punch for the butterfly shape, then a stamp on top of that. ...

I outlined all of the flowers and butterflies with a fine gel pen. I applied the flowers to the bodice with a paintbrush and glue...this was all a pretty tedious process but I loved every second of it.

I painted the candle stick with Velvet Dimensional Paint in Fiesta, then misted with Hottie and French Toast...lastly I did a light misting with Raider...I glued the bodice onto the candlestick and she was done.

So...as I stated earlier in this post, I saw a video awhile back that really touched me. I myself am a cancer survivor, and have a very large scar. To have the option of covering it, and people who are willing to reach out and help women cope with this type of thing, is such an amazing thing to me. I hope you will watch the video, and go visit the website and share this information. Pink Day this year is 10-10-2014 and all the information is available at the ink below.

http://p-ink.org/

here is a link to the video that inspired me to do this project....

http://p-ink.org/the-next-p-ink-day-is-10-10-2014/