Denise Stephenson

Australia

I work for www.chixstix.com.au and then work for myself under my own name Denise Stephenson, I have a website www.dscustomart.com.au
 
A little bit about me, I picked up an airbrush about 2 years ago, and had no idea how to use it, so did a level 1 beginners course with Advanced Airbrush, (Wayne Harrison), April 2010...and just keep airbrushing as much as I can to get better.

I have a little obsession with tools...trying to outnumber hubby ! and decided to buy myself an angle grinder late last year, I had seen some abstract type grindings on the net, and thought why can't you grind actual pictures with it...so a little trial and error, and talking to my alu supplier I have figured out how to do this.

I chose to use Createx Autoair and Createx Airbrush Colours (classic range), paints as at the moment I do not have a "studio" and do a lot of painting in my dining room (when kids aren't home) and needed to use a paint which wasn’t toxic like solvent basecoats etc, and found the Createx Autoair paints really easy to use once you learn not to flood on colours, and use airbrush to help air dry areas.

Here is my description of how I do my ‘surfing waves’.

I start out with a 3mm gauge Aluminium panel which has been cut down to size for me and the edges have been smoothed down.

I map out the picture with lead pencil, I’m then ready to start the hard part, but first.

…Safety – goggles & gloves & alu is viced down to a solid surface etc.

To finish off, transparent white, barely reduced, to give highlight to wave and whitewash.

A few coats of clear, I have been using ‘White Knight Gloss’ clear enamel ( though my friend who does our surfboards sometimes clears them for me in a satin, wet sands with 2000 then buffs with his polisher / sander using compound and they come up better...so this is probably the best way)
I spray a light misty coat first...then wait about 30 mins then spray a wet coat...wet n dry, then another wet coat...then use hubby’s car polish.

and all done.

(on some of my other pieces, I go back over it with the dremel to give highlights back through to the bare metal, the clear to seal off).