Today on the Paper Crafter’s Library blog, we’re continuing our all new weekly featured artist whereby each week spotlight a different artist/designer in the paper crafting & mixed media world and introducing you to their fabulous work.
Today we’re thrilled to welcome – Ronda Palazzari!! I have been a long time fan of Ronda’s work and was thrilled to have been able to meet her in person at the Maya Road booth at CHA 2012 in Anaheim. I just love the bright, vibrant colors she incorporates into her work…and her style? Amazing! I’m sure when you see the projects that she is sharing today you’ll agree! To add to the excitement, Ronda is sponsoring a give-away of her book Art of Layers – I own it, and LOVE it!
Before we show you her fabulous project, let’s get to know her a little bit more…
Ronda Palazzari is an Author, mixed media Artist, Scrapbook Designer, and an Instructor living in the burbs of Denver. She has been into art since early childhood. One of her most memorable Christmas presents was a Crayola Caddy that inspired her to create. She took many art classes throughout her secondary and college schooling. Ronda was also an editor on her high school newspaper. She loved photos, stories, and white space so layouts became her specialty. After the birth of her children she began scrapbooking as it brought art & storytelling together.
In 2009, Ronda became a Memory Maker Master for Memory Makers Magazine. She started doing contract design for many manufactures including Fancy Pants Designs, Lily Bee Designs, Crate Paper, Purple Onion Designs, as well as Guest Designing for many other leading manufactures. Her first book Art of Layers with North Light Publishing/F&W Media was released in March 2012. She has published in several magazines and idea books including Artful Blogging, Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, Scrapbook Trends, and Somerset Magazines.
Ronda is currently a license designer for The Crafter’s Workshop releasing 8 new stencils in January 2013. She is currently contract designing for Maya Road, Sizzix, and My Mind’s Eye. She’s best known for combining her mixed-media techniques with bold bright colors. Ronda is one to follow because you never know if she will be art journaling, scrapbooking, sewing or getting messy with paints; her art changes day-to-day. She continues to teach worldwide as well as providing inspiration and telling her dorky stories on her blog HelpMeRonda.
This tiny canvas trio is made up of three 3” canvases that could be displayed on their own or as a set. I used lots of techniques found in my book, Art of layers. I started the canvases with some gesso and old text. I used my 6×6 kaleidoscope stencil and heavy gesso to create texture on the background on one of the canvases. I then worked on each canvas individually. One the Pink Bloom canvas, I added layers of acrylic paint to create a warm background of pinks & oranges with touches of yellow. Next using my 6×6 quatrefoil stencil and distress ink, I rubbed the ink onto the canvas creating another layer of color. In my book I talk about repetition of stamped images. On this mini canvas I repeated the postal stamp images. I made the flower by stacking three layers of fabric circles and stitching through the layers with black thread. I added the brad to the center and painted a black stem.
The Yellow Quote Canvas is the one that started with heavy gesso & stencil as a textured background. I used acrylic paints to color the background and then stamped images in black around the background. I also doodle some images around the edges. Once these layers dried, I used my splattered paint techniques found in my book Art of Layers. I added the strips of the quote to the center of the canvas.
On the Blue Butterfly canvas, I used vintage maps on the background. I painted the background with acrylic paints in aqua, white, and grey colors. I then sprayed turquoise mist through my honeycomb stencil to add another layer of color. I added the leaf stamped images and splatters of paint to the background along with drips of spray ink. I also added splats & the heart on the background using my 6×6 confetti stencil. The stamped butterflies are another technique found in my book. They added the finishing touches to this canvas.
I like the sides of my canvases to look as good as the tops so I added stamped images along with hand written words. It’s a nice finishing touch. Lastly I attached all the canvases together using tiny eye screws to create this adorable trio.
Supply list for your project
Three 3” Canvas
Old Text and maps
Acrylic paints (Liquitex basic)
Gesso
Heavy body gesso
6×6 Kaleidoscope stencil
6×6 Quatrefoil Stencil
6×6 Honeycomb Stencil
6×6 Confetti Stencil
Distress inks: Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Aged Mahogany
Ranger Archival Ink
Uniball Vision Roller Black Pen
Hero Arts Stamps, Cocoa Daisy Stamps, Purple Onion Stamps, Antiquated Collection Stamps, Glitz Stamps
Maya Road Turquoise, Lime Metallic, Sunflower Yellow, Fig Magenta Maya Mist,
My Mind’s Eye Brad
Ranger Inkssentials Enamel Accents
We hope you have enjoyed today’s projects courtesy of Ronda Palazzari. We also want to extend a sincere thank you to Ronda for sharing her creation with us. You can get a copy of her book here. Also, be sure to stop by Ronda’s blog to see even more of her beautiful work (and let her know we sent you).
Be sure to leave a comment here for your chance to win a signed copy of Ronda’s Book Art of Layers!
Oh yum! Love the texture the stencils gave to the canvas. Beautiful art!
Simply amazing! Ronda your passion for art clearly comes through in this project! Love all the vibrant colors and the use of so many textures.
Beautiful work. I loved looking at it.
These are all so wonderful! So much layered goodness going on in each one. 🙂
Just love these mini canvases they are so adorable.
I’m drawn to mixed media work, but haven’t really gotten the hang of doing it myself–yet. Ronda’s work is very inspirational. I’d probably be a whiz in no time with her book in hand! 😉
Cool projects! Love her bold colors!
I love this little trio of canvases so much! The texture made with Ronda’s stencils is so awesome, and wrapping the designs around the edges is brilliant! I also love the idea of linking them together.
I’ve been reading Ronda’s blog since a while now and I’m always amazed of the vibrant projects she comes up with, full of bold colours. Thanks for this chance
These are wonderfull colourful projects, they look so good, thanks for sharing and for the opportunity to win your great book.
WOW I love these little canvases, that butterfly colouring technique looks inspirational. The templates are smashing…
I first learned abour Rhonda during the Creative Jumpstart in January this year and I have been following her blog since then. I love her techniques and adore her art work, and these canvases are truly awesome ! I would love to win her book.
So beautiful! Thank you for the chance to win.
I love all your artwork, but the blue butterfly canvas is amazing. I am a card maker just starting to make the plunge into art journaling and making my own canvas art, so I would love to win a copy of your book.
Your works are so inspiring. You are a creative hero to many. love your style.
I love Ronda’s work, the colors are so beautiful!!
Wow! I love, love, love these little canvases, they inspire me to create a little set for my own OLW this year and thanks to Ronda (I stalked her here from her blog) I have now found another awesome site! yippee! Love the post, love the blog, love the chance to win! Thanks so much 🙂
Love these little master pieces…. I really love how colorful your art always is…
These little canvases are so bright and happy. I love your work Ronda.
I love the mini works of art by Ronda and would love to win her book, “Art of Layers”. Can’t wait to try some of these myself, and the book would be so helpful for me to achieve my goal. Can’t wait to find out more.
Audrey
I love the variety of artists PCL introduces me to in this series! It is too easy to get confined in one little spot of the crafting world and not see different aspects of art. I am so glad not to have missed Rhonda’s stunningly colorful little masterpieces. They are so tiny to be so powerful. I liked that she gave the steps for the composition of each one. I’m definitely going to check out her blog. Thanks for the chance to win her book, but if I don’t I’ll definitely be purchasing a copy. LOL!
I absolutely love the colour combinations , the small
Frames and the simplicity of it all.
WOW! Amazing works of art. I love the all the color. Thanks for a chance to win Rhonda’s book. I’d love to try some of these.
I love all the layers that went into these three delightful works of art! I like them all together but the blue butterfly is my favorite!
Wow! Love the colors! This is inspiration city. I’m loving this. Thanks.
I love each one of these creations and would love to win the book. I love the intense colors of each one.
LOVE the canvases! Would be awesome to win your book. 🙂 will be checking out your blog now too, Tara
What beautiful art work. Thanks for the chance to win.
Love Mixed Media art…and this is fantastic! Enjoyed visiting your blog!! Thank you!
I really love Ronda’s art and would love to win her book. This trio of canvases shows how wildly creative she is!!!
I love Ronda’s use of different textures and color combinations. She really thinks outside the “box”. Can’t wait to learn more! Pick me! 😉
oh Goodness, these are extraordinary! and a bit of a tutorial of the how-to’s as well. I’m going to clear off my work table and give these a go tonight! I love them…your book would be awesome. I’d love to win it!
off to your blog while I finish my cup of tea, and then off to play! thank you!
I love all the beautiful layers in these canvases. Thanks for the give away opportunity.
Oh my gosh, I would so love to get into creating on canvas! I know nothing about it, but after reading this blog post I know I have to research this and give it a try. I would love to win a copy of Ronda’s book!!! Thank you, as always, Andrea, for providing us with another creative road to travel.
I am so motivated to try this today as Rhonda’s art is amazing and her use of colour is invigorating..I will be
so grateful if I won her book as I love her style. Thanks Andrea for your great site.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderfully creative project!
Now I too have to look into the technique of creating on canvas – gosh – and here I thought I could avoid canvas work – until now – going to check out Ronda’s book next.
hugs!
wow what awesome canvas! love the colors,and all the texture. maybe I will win a book and try out all her fun projects.
Ronda,
I love how you use the small canvas’ and your choice of colors. Your layering of different things is way too cool!
What a creative lady you are and I am going to have some fun trying something similar to what you did as I love new ideas of crafting. It would be awesome to win your beautiful creation! Thank you for the chance to win this and the help to be more creative!
Wow, love her work. Thanks for a chance to win.
Ronda’s work is phenomenal. I have been wanting to do a canvas lately and this project has totally inspired me. Thanks for sharing!
Love Ronda’s creations. Thank you for this great giveaway
Beautiful. Love the colors and texture!
Fabulous little works of goodness! Thanks Andrea for featuring Ronda and offering her book for a giveaway.
Rhonda is truly inspirational and I love the canvases shared here. I’ve wanted to do things like this for gifts and my own home decor but have hesitated due to lack of confidence and know how. Thanks to Rhonda I can now step out and give it a try. Thanks Andrea for sharing Rhonda with us, I look forward to following her blog now and learning more from her.
Looks like a fun book and would love to make the small canvases.
I love these little canvasses and am so inspired to try my hand at this type of project. I would love to win the book for added inspiration! These are so very creative and would make a wonderful artistic addition to my craft room – and gifts too!!
Holy cow! I love those canvases. I recently started working with canvases myself and trying new techniques is always fun.
Wow! Just love Ronda’s use of texture with those fab stencils, color and design…….guess I just have to do some shopping. Thank you for enabling me to do so!
Love, love, love the art on canvas – you can really see the layers
and the amount of work that went into creating these. Thanks for
sharing your art with the world.
I am just getting into mixed media and your mini canvases are adorable! I am very intrigued by your book and will have to check it out.