Jen Matott

A Necklace A Mother Could Love!

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 Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, to your mothers, and any fur moms!  Hope your day is beautiful and you are spoiled.  I certainly was spoiled this morning!  Mimosas, pancakes and a mani/pedi!  It is a treat for sure!  It was a busy week but I did manage to sneak in some creating time.  My project is a re-creation (one I created with other materials in the past) since I sold the original at an art weekend event.  I had photos so I made an exact duplicate for ME!  I loved this necklace so much.  

I used the Haute Mess Acrylic colors: Make it Rain, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Guilt Trip, and First Crush for the canvas part of the necklace. I mixed the paints with water to thin them out and blend them better on the canvas fabric.  ** I’m so sorry to say that I didn’t take process photos (I really got into my limited creating time and my fingers were quite messy!)…  I started by brushing the watered down First Crush onto areas of the canvas.  Then, blended Guilt Trip over areas.  I mixed Drop Dead Gorgeous with Make it Rain to create some blue greenish hues by overlapping areas.  Also, I left some areas more transparent with more water.

I stamped with a permanent ink and used some silver texture paste I had through a stencil to create the circles.  Once dry, I added the buttons, brads and gems.  I used fabric glue to add the ribbon and velveteen backing to finish this piece.  A tip… cut both the canvas and backing at the same time so that they match seamlessly.  

I will be wearing this piece to an art opening reception soon!  It’s a statement piece for sure!  I hope you will get a bit of creating time for yourself.  Happy Mother’s Day to you all and Happy Sunday!

Jen Matott

The Bee’s Knees…

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Hello, creative friends!  The design team has been hard at work transforming our Haute Mess Art Journal covers into unique works of art.  I am sharing what I did to my cover today!

I have the Haute Mess Postcards From Paris Art Journal and love the script and images on the canvas.  I didn’t want to cover it completely.  I was also going through some artwork that I recently created for an art exhibit this summer and was inspired to pull some elements from my encaustic mixed media piece below.  I have a fascination with honey bees and wax.  I love the way it smells, feels and is applied to a substrate.  So, encaustic is a natural art form that I fell in love with.  I infuse drawing paper with wax and then add pastels, metal leafing and image transfer on top.

Jennifer Matott “Hive” Encaustic Mixed Media

So, for my journal I pulled many items from my stash that fit my “theme” of honeybees.  I have honeycomb shapes, chicken wire, and bee images.

First, I used the Haute Mess Gesso to tone down some of the areas of the script.  I brushed it lightly over the outside edges of the book. Then,                                                                                                       I started gluing the chicken wire to my cover using a fabric glue and then applying the Haute Mess Modeling paste over areas to hold it down .  The modeling paste is thick and flexible.  It dries pretty fast and I can paint over it later!

I used the Haute Mess Acrylic paints over the Gesso and Modeling Paste areas.  I also painted some of the chipboard and the frame (after applying several coats of Gesso to the metal).  The colors I used were:  X-Rated, Caution Tape, Guilt Trip, Dive Bar, and Drop Dead Gorgeous (my favorite color!).

I used a sponge to dab paint through a stencil using X-Rated first and then layered Caution Tape and Dive Bar over before pulling the stencil off.  It created the honeycomb look.  Once dry, I outlined some areas with a black pen.

This frame is metal and it was a bronze color.  I wanted it to blend in a bit more.  I covered it with several layers of Gesso.  Then I could add color to it.  The chipboard letters were added inside.

I die cut this cute bee from some patterned paper scraps I had.  It was attached with a Pop dot and sits inside another metal frame.

Some more details of the stenciling and chipboard.  I splattered gold ink over the surface as well.

 

I love this crown on the Haute Mess Art Journal.  It has just the right amount of gold and I didn’t want to cover it up.  After all, it feel it represents the Queen Bee that I am.

It was so fun to work on this art journal cover!  I love these journals so much!  There is even a little pocket inside the cover to hold brushes or whatever little treasure you want.

The Bad Girls Couture supplies I used to complete this project are:

Haute Mess Art Journal:  Postcards From Paris

Haute Mess Mediums: Gesso and  Modeling Paste

Haute Mess Acrylic paints: X-Rated, Caution Tape, Dive Bar, Guilt Trip, and Drop Dead Gorgeous

Everything else was from my stash!

I hope you get creative with a theme that inspires you!  I hope our bee population comes back and thrives and I want to continue to celebrate these little artists/ builders in my artwork as a way to bring awareness and love to the bee! I’m inspired by their hard work, beauty and final products they create.  Bee inspired by the world around you! (See what I did there??)

Jen

Jen Matott

Colorful Journal Page

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I’m going to show you a page from the new journals today!  I needed more color in my life… it’s grey and snowy here in New York and I’m feeling a bit blah.  I love color!  It brightens even the dullest day!  So, for this page, I’m using a TON of acrylic color as a background.  I have a video to share with you on how I apply the Haute Mess acrylics and mediums here. Check it out!

https://youtu.be/ML-oKrOhbpY

This is my finished journal page.  I used a cardstock, stitched page from the new Bad Girls Couture Journal.   I love anything rainbow colored (I am an art teacher after all…)!  Starting with the following colors to create a background, brush a swipe of each across the page.

Haute Mess acrylic paints (from top of page to bottom):

Torrid

Bad Girl Gaudy

Sweet Candy Kisses

Guilt Trip

Oop!  My Bad

First Crush

Caution Tape

X-rated

Drama Queen

Million Dollar Baby

Kiss & Don’t Tell

Drop Dead Gorgeous

Make it Rain

Bye Felicia

Hippie in High Heels

Whew!!  That’s a lot of colors!  It makes a beautiful, rainbow background… sure to brighten any day!

I wanted lots of interesting fonts for the quote on this page.  I scoured my stash of stamps, letter stickers, and Thickers to create this fun quote.   My thought was to make it as artsy as possible.  I love this quote ” When we stop fearing failure, we start being artists”.  It is true.  Failures are chances to learn in art and learning helps us grow as artists.  Having fear of failure, stunts our growth because you will be afraid to start anything.  Materials can be pricey but if you just buy materials to look at them and not use them, well, are you really being an artist? or a collector?  Get that stuff out and play!!!  Haute Mess paints are so much fun to play with and I intend to use them right up!!!

I love the little containers that the Haute Mess containers come in and each one has a bit of twine with a tag painted in the color that the container has inside so you can see what it looks like dry.  It also has a beautiful metal key attached!  I took these off the container (I know… gasp!) and knew I wanted to use them on this page!  I tied them all together and make a little banner of sorts. It makes me super happy to see them all there!

I hope you enjoyed my journal page tutorial and are inspired to add a little color into your life (whatever season it is for you)!

Haute Mess Paint is made by hand by artisans here in the USA (Southern California).

We are a SMALL BATCH COMPANY. Every single color is mixed by hand ONE GALLON AT A TIME to ensure freshness.  There is a unique BATCH NUMBER on every single bottle of paint. We are able to tell by that number who mixed your paint and what date it was mixed on.

Haute Mess Paint is completely free of VOC’s. (Volatile Organic Compounds). Paint has chemicals that can stay in the air for years. It can also give you headaches, allergies, nausea and other health problems. Not Haute Mess! We are Eco Friendly. No VOC’s. Recyclable container. Container can be repurposed.

Jen Matott

Captured

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I’ve got a fun technique with Haute Mess media!  I created this sweet scrapbook page about my boys with lots of subtle blues and browns. The brick wall in the photo was my inspiration for the background of my page.

On white cardstock, I started by brushing Haute Mess paint in Dive Bar in a large area.  Once that dried, I used a brick stencil to add Haute Mess White Gesso with a sponge applicator.  It was applied pretty thick.

Once dry, I brushed on Haute Mess paint in Last Sin.   Spritz with water and wipe away from the Gesso.  The Gesso resists the paint for a subtle color wash.  It gave the paper a patina with the light blue tone.  I love the texture that the sponge gave the bricks.

Once I adhere all my papers, rub ons, embellishments and photo, I added some more texture with a stencil and the Haute Mess Molding Paste with a palette knife.

I love how the modeling paste kept it’s height and stays exactly as you put it down when dry!  It’s smooth and creamy … just delish!

Using the Haute Mess media makes me so incredibly happy and I’m sure I will find more ways to use them on a variety of projects!

Haute Mess Paint is made by hand by artisans here in the USA (Southern California).
We are a SMALL BATCH COMPANY. Every single color is mixed by hand ONE GALLON AT A TIME to ensure freshness.

There is a unique BATCH NUMBER on every single bottle of paint. We are able to tell
by that number who mixed your paint and what date it was mixed on.

Haute Mess Paint is completely free of VOC’s. (Volatile Organic Compounds). Paint
has chemicals that can stay in the air for years. It can also give you headaches,
allergies, nausea, and other health problems. Not Haute Mess!

We are Eco-Friendly. No VOC’s. Recyclable container. The container can be
repurposed. Haute Mess Paint and Mediums swatch book included. Swatch book is ACTUAL
paint and mediums. NOT computer generated images. What you see is EXACTLY what you
get. Inspirational Post Card with ideas to inspire your muse.

Thanks for letting me share my project with you!

Michelle Sanders

Textured Sea Glass Canvas featuring Haute Mess Molding Paste

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Hey guys!  Michelle here!  I’m excited to show you a fun way to use your Haute Mess Molding Paste in a great on trend home decor art project today!

For this project you will need a small canvas, Haute Mess Molding Paste, Haute Mess Glass Bead Gel, Haute Mess Matte Gel, Haute Mess Acrylic paints in your color choice (I used Drop Dead Gorgeous and Make it Rain), a hot glue gun, a pallet knife and coarse glitter.  You may also want to have a heat gun or blow dryer to speed up drying times.

I started by applying my Molding Paste with with the pallet knife to the canvas, making sure to leave lots of texture but thin enough that it won’t take forever to dry.  (use a heat gun or hair dryer to speed up drying if needed)

Next I began applying the acrylic paints. I stared in the center with the darker color (Make it Rain) and blended the lighter color (Drop Dead Gorgeous) with water while both paints were still wet.  I feathered the paints at the top and bottom as well and kind of gave the paint a watered wash over the top and bottom of the canvas, leaving the saturation of color more towards the center.  Again I set a side to dry (or you can speed up the drying with a drying tool).

When dryer completely I stacked and applied the sea glass, securing it to the canvas with hot glue.

Finally I added the finishing touches by giving it more texture with the Haute Mess Glass Bead gel first and then later adding some Matte Gel to some of the cracks to nestle some coarse glitter in for extra sparkle.  I also added a slight rub of some metallic rose gold paint for some shine as well.

I love how this make such an impact like a high end piece of art and how you could easily mix it up with all sorts of other options and combinations!  I know you will have a blast playing around with these techniques!