It's going to be a Dark and Stormy Night.....

Lora here for the awesome Alpha Stamps!
Here is a piece with some interesting elements..... a stormy sea with a ship teetering on the brink of disaster.
A woman looking away from the ship, gazing into the 'room' with a sea serpent coiled around her ankles.
What is the story? Is she a transformed mermaid seeking vengeance on the sea captain that imprisons her?
Is she about to send the serpent to rescue the crew of the ship?
Whatever is happening, it's going to be a rough, wet night.

The sullen glow of an angry sunset, lightning flickering in the distance.

I started out with the Arch Shrine Shadowbox....

I cut the papers I needed for the front of the facade, the sides and back. And gave the inside a coat of gesso and white paint to keep it light and bright enough to see the images inside.

I also applied gesso and a coat of whit paint to the Double Layer Window-Plain, cut paper to fit around the edge, measuring the area of the inside of the box, and added 'legs' so it would stand away from the back of the box and also give me something to glue down to secure the window.

I set this aside to dry and put together and painted the Small Chipboard Victorian Wall Shelf and ivory color, adding gold details.
I painted the window frame ivory and set it aside once again to dry.
I drilled a hole in the top of the shadowbox big enough to fit a tea light flame. (I turned the tea light upside down with flame pointing down through the hole. Very easy to turn on and change the battery!)

I glue my window in after checking to make sure I had everything attached to the back of the shadowbox.

I glued the facade on and once all that is dry, began attaching all the details like the shelf I painted earlier, various bits of collage images and pearls.

So fun!
Thank you for stopping by!

For a link to all the supplies used click HERE.
Collage Sheets:
Sea Green Mermaids, Sea Serpents, Ocean Waves, Stormy Seas, Edwardian Women,
Seaside Collage Sheet
Candlestick Holder
LED Tea Light
Wide brass Filigree Header
1 Inch Tall White Vase
Small Chipboard Victorian Wall Shelf
Double Layer Window- Plain
Arched Shrine Shadowbox
All papers from Seaside and Me collection
Stickles in Lime Green
All the seashells and other squiddy bits are from either the paper collection listed above or the Sea green Mermaids Collage sheet

Other: Acrylic paint (ivory, gold) mixed sized pearls

The Girl in the Garden

Hello all! Lora here continuing my obsession with old masters paintings in combination with mixed medium.
What I've got for you today is a beautiful painting done by Antonio del Pollaiuolo called 'Portrait of a Young Woman' that I have surrounded with very modern watercolor flowers. Love the juxtaposition!
I am calling her, 'The Girl in the Garden'.

A detail shot of her pretty face.....

I began with the ATC Shrine Box and the Layered Frame-Aria. I primed both pieces (well, three pieces as the Frame is two pieces) and then painted both background pieces black and the front filigree of the frame gold. After the filigree piece dried, I added a little Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold over the top. It makes the gold pop and it looks oh so much richer.

After things were completely dry, I papered the outside of the box (which i forgot to take a picture of) and I began to play around with the composition of the interior of the box.

I thought I could work around the fact that the frame was a bit shorter than the box was, but I decided in the end to cut the bottom bar off of the frame.
I am always trying to find the perfect solution to getting different levels of depth inside of a shrine/box and this time I chose to cut up lengths of a semi translucent green straw.
Easy to cut and easy to glue....

I also used foam tape when I needed just a little lift.

After the interior was glued in and everything dried, I attached the frame around the shrine box with glue. (I love Aleene's Tacky Glue)
And was nearly there. However, I didn't like how unfinished the bottom of the piece was since I cut off the bottom of the frame.
Then I remembered I had those awesome Victorian Corners-2. I prepped one just as I did for the frame and attached that to the bottom.  Much better! My junk store find of a cute little brass candlestick finished the piece off.

As a finishing touch, I added some dot detail to the filigree to tie it in to the detail I added to the image of the girl.

 SUPPLIES
 ATC Shrine Box
 Layered Frame-Aria
 Victorian Corners-2

Additonal Supplies
Liquid Pearls in White Opal and Garnet
Black Acrylic Paint
Gold Acrylic Paint
Quinacrodone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic paint
Antonio del Pollaiuolo's Portrait of a Young Woman
Floral collage images

Thank you very much for taking a look!