"Upcycled" Portrait finished... and more

I have been working hard on several paintings lately... too many at once I think =). I have a couple waiting on my dear sweet hubby to build frames for, so they will look all pretty.
BUT, I did manage to finally get photos taken of the "upcycled" project that I was working on. She came out quite beautiful, I think.

My talented hubby made the frame out of scrap wood leftover from a project that he was working on, he makes beautiful Primitive birdhouses and furniture. One day I will be a good wifey and share some photos of his work too =).

I used several layers of paint and crackle on the background, along with stamping with my new favorite tools.... bubblewrap and bottle covers for circles. Then I layered on some collage elements from scrapbook papers and some printed vintage sheet music.

I recently picked up Kelly Rae Roberts' book "Taking Flight". WONDERFUL!!!! I can't put it down! It is both informative and inspiring!!! I decided to give some of her techniques a try and this is what I came up with the first time around. I have a few more that I am finishing up using many of the same ideas.

I am really having a hard time figuring out where to list my paintings! I might try these out on ebay and see what happens. Selling paintings is still very new to me. Still testing the waters a bit =).

"Upcycled" Portrait Work in Progress

You may call it "Upcycle", or "Recycle" or just makin' fun stuff out of old junk... but regardless of what you call it, for the frugal crafter/artist it's the way to go! Not to mention saving trees and keeping waste out of the landfills =).

Lately I have really been thinking about ways to make my art a little bit more "green". Finding ways to use something that may otherwise have been tossed away. Hubby and I are in the process right now of cleaning out our storage unit, and I am finding loads of treasures! Old baby books that were damaged... or chewed on. The board books will be especially fun. Books of poetry and classic stories that had been water damaged. An old dilapidated bookshelf that I have already had hubby cut into perfect canvas sizes and layered with gesso. The possibilities are endless!!

Right now I am working on a beautiful portrait.... but if you saw the "canvas" beforehand you would have thought I was crazy!

Upon going through the boy's old baby toys I came across several board puzzles with missing pieces. I was able to pry the top cutout layer off of one of them, leaving a lovely piece of sturdy thin particle board. (i'm pretty sure hubby thought I was crazy) The only problem..... it was covered with animals =).
After a layer of Gesso, this is what I had.


You can still kinda see the animals peeking out. I'v been working hard on her all day, and am really loving how she is coming out. She isn't finished yet.... but this is what I have so far. The background looks black... but it's really Burnt Umber.


I will post more photos when she is finished.
Thanks for looking!