Summer Music vol.2 - Adele

Hello, everyone! First of all, we'd like to thank you for your amazing response to our new Summer Music challenge!

We are so happy that you found this ultimate George Michael's classic inspiring and it was a real treat to see all the amazing mixed media art that you sent us - beautiful on so many levels...

Today, we'd like to suggest a very special song that will surely evoke a lot of emotions...

You can create artworks inspired by the music, lyrics or the video - whatever moves you...

So turn the volume up and enjoy the amazing art of our Design Team inspired by Adele's Rolling in The Deep...

I found a lot of different emotions in Adele's song. Rage and regret but also an enormous strength that is born out of this rage. A broken woman finding her strength to be able to rise from the ashes.

This is why I used only two colors in my work: black and red that make me think of these emotions.

I covered my canvas with black gesso and added some texture here and there using stencils.

Then, I added all sorts of elements using gel medium: pieces of cardboard, metal parts, band-aids and a torso made of paper mache.

I painted these elements wit all sorts of red media - Glimmer Mists, Glimmer Glaze and acrylic paints.
When dry, I added some scribblings with a soft pencil and added some red thread here and there.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:

There are many songs of Adele that I like and "Rolling in the deep" is one of them but it's not my favorite one. :)

This time what inspired me the most was the video. It's so beautiful - graphic, strong and esthetic!

I made another page in my art journal made from an old book. I just had this special feeling that it's the best way to show my emotions.

As usual - I was just playing with different kinds of media - gesso, Pan Pastels, stencils, inks and mists. I also used a lot of material sticking plasters - they are great for creating texture and also they suit this song perfectly. :)

The most important word (for me!) in this song is "almost" - it tells so much...

One of my favorite mediums in the last months is a transparent crackle paint. I just had to use it here. I used a stencil with circles, a watercolor pencil and Pan Pastels, and later cover it with crackle paint. I love this effect. So bold and strong - and matching the broken heart.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:

I luuuuuuuurve Adele: her voice, her style, her music... Yep, you can call me a fan! And I've listened to her album 21 until it fell to pieces (it would have if it wasn't on my iPhone...).

"Rolling in the Deep" already inspired me to create an art journaling spread 2 years ago. I think this song has so many great sayings into it that choosing one for today's spread was the hardest thing! Today, I chose "I can't help feeling". Very appropriate at the moment!

After a very thin layer of gesso, I glued strips of paper, canvas resist and added another thicker layer of gesso. Once dried, I sprayed some water, then played around with Ecoline. I cut a piece of home rusted metal in half and glued both halves down.

The text was simply printed with my home printer and colored with the same Ecoline and Distress Inks as I used on the rest of the spread. I added shading here and there with a pencil and blending stump.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:

A relationship that failed, feelings of regret, betrayal and being "played, someone you are deeply about, them knowing how deeply you care but playing with your feelings, just stringing you along.

Tha't how I interpret this song and I took the line "you had my heart inside your hand and you played it to the beat" and I just simply illustrated it.

Each side of the page had strips of paper & washi tape added. Some stamping, some embossed stamping with Finnabair's Sunrise Sunset stamp and then Finnabair's Elementals "Netting" stencil used with gel medium. All the colors come from beautiful Ecoline watercolors.

The center of the page was collaged with tissue and fussy cut flowers.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:

When I read the lyrics while listening to the song, I visualized the color red and people in different kinds of relationships.

I looked through some old National Geographic and found the images of people in different kinds of relationships. I scanned the image, changed it to black/white and printed it out on a vintage tissue sewing pattern paper. This gave an extra dimension to the page I think.

Before adding the image, I wanted to add a heart so I embossed one of Dina Wakley hearts.
After I've glued the vintage tissue paper with the image on the background, I sprayed the page with various red colors. When the page was dry, I used a black pen to add the text, details on the silhouettes and some buildings.
I did some stamping and for the pattern on the edge I used a Prima stencil and a Chalk Edger.

This page was all about getting out the feeling and the image I had in my head when listening to the song.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:

For this month's challenge, I've been completely inspired by the lyrics of  "Rolling in the Deep" as I'm sure you will be. You will find on this little box all the important elements that Adele sings about:  the broken heart, of course, the fire (red), the sorrow (black), and the gold (butterfly).

As I'm a flower person I couldn't help myself by adding some flowers.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:

I adore Adele's music! Her voice is so captivating and unique. For this piece I drew inspiration mostly from the video, though.

What immediately got my imagination spinning was the trashed plates and cups. Very quickly that turned into a mosaic style background for a canvas in my head. So at the flea market I went to hunt for inexpensive, great looking dishes that I could then smash into pieces!

I was also inspired by the burning paper buildings which I interpreted with the burned stack of papers and also the dark, gloomy color scheme.

For the centre of the canvas I used the opening line of the song: "There's a fire starting in my heart". I used some leftover alphas for that, covered the piece first with gesso and then with black acrylic paint, added some black embossing powder and finally touches of Luminarte pigments mixed with clear gesso.

Supplies from Mixed Media Place:


And a very pleasant moment - announcing the winner of our Freedom challenge! :)
Let us say that we were absolutely impressed with all the artworks submitted - in our Design Team vote every single person got some votes from our DT members. :)
And the artist who got the most was...

... Ingrid Kristina V...

with this mixed media beauty:

Congratulations! Please contact us to claim your prize: store(at)mixedmediaplace.com

So, now it's time for you - has our song moved you? :)
Show us your creations! It's just enough to add a link to your work using the inlinkz tool below.
We'll be waiting until September 19th. 

Then, one work chosen by our DT will be awarded a prize (a discount coupon to be used in Mixed Media Place store).