King of Music Digital Art

This week's creative challenge theme at the Three Muses blog is MUSIC. So, of course, my music muse is always Michael Jackson--the King of Pop and the King of Music!

An epic moment from the Black or White short film...with a little digital magic thrown in.

That Simple Dance MJ Bookmark

I was definitely in Michael Jackson mode over the weekend. First I created my King of Pop Canvas, and then I decided to create this altered art style bookmark, which I call That Simple Dance. This was inspired by the 3 Muses Quotation Challenge, in which we were to use a quotation in our art piece. I decided to use a line from one of Michael's songs as my quotation, and it's one of my favorite of his songs, Blood on the Dancefloor.

The base of this bookmark is a textured piece of pink cardstock, and on that I've scalloped the bottom edge. I found a photo of MJ in one of his classic poses, up on his toes, and he's wearing his glittery socks too. One thing's for sure here--Michael knew what he was doing with those socks. One immediately knows whose feet those are when you look at this photo. I cut the photo to size and adhered it to the bookmark, then added a music sticker to the bottom edge of the photo.

Next I took some black scrapbook paper and used that as a base for my quotation, which is printed on white cardstock. "To Escape the World I've Got to Enjoy That Simple Dance," seemed like a very appropriate quote for MJ. I glued those to the bookmark, then I added some silver-looking brads to the top corners of the framed quotation. And I finished off the bookmark with some matching pink and black satin ribbon.

King of Pop Canvas

I love it when I get a chance to bring my art and my favorite musical artist together in an art project. In this case I'm bringing Michael Jackson to an altered art style canvas, inspired by the Gingersnap Creations Kings & Queens Challenge. I've called it simply, King of Pop.

I started with a blank white canvas that is 5x7" in size and created the background by first painting it with black acrylic. Then I took some metallic white fluid acrylic and dry-brushed that over the black to give it some texture.

Next I created the torn paper pieces that I would add to the background. They are made from watercolor paper, which I've stamped with a sheet music design in black ink, and then I distressed the edges with black Distress Ink too. I glued those in place on the canvas.

Then I added the Michael Jackson photo sticker, which shows the King of Pop in one of his classic concert outfits, which he wore while performing Billie Jean.  I also created the glitter glove from cardstock and glitter and added that. And I created Michael's classic black fedora out of black scrapbook paper too, and added that over the stamped paper.

The final embellishments were glittery crown stickers, which I already had on hand, along with rhinestone gems, and sparkly white letters, which spell out King of Pop.

I have a wall dedicated to Michael in my home office (the other wall is dedicated to posters from my favorite movies and TV shows...and I have a little area dedicated to Elvis too). So I will add this piece there. I love how it turned out.

Michael Jackson Moment

As a Michael Jackson fan, and as an artist, I find myself constantly wanting to use MJ as my inspiration for artwork. If he's not filling up ideas in my head for new projects, his music is filling up my studio (and I love that!). I had a  concert photo of Michael in his trademark fedora and sparkly jacket--the outfit he wore all those years ago on the Motown 25th Anniversary special, when he Moonwalked into history. That photo served as the starting point for this mixed media collage. And since I'm using this for a Gingersnaps Creations color challenge, the requirement for that was Shades of Blue.

The canvas is painted with acrylics. I had planned to add some texture with a rubber stamp of sheet music, but forgot. I hate when that happens! But oh well...I added the photo and added some chipboard photo corners, which I embossed with silver to give them some depth. I distressed a hangtag and added a clock stamp to it, and added clock elements elsewhere as well. I added a calendar sticker, with "King of Pop" spelled out on top of it. The "o" in "Pop" is actually a heart sticker, which is difficult to see in this photo; and the point of the heart is actually pointing to MJ's birth date: August 29th. I added some rhinestones here and there for sparkle (MJ would love it, no?), a butterfly sticker (I love butterflies), some music notes, other little touches, and of course, a crown.

I really love how this turned out, but I'm still itching to do another MJ painting...so as soon as I find my inspiration photograph for that, I'll be getting that started.

Since this is an MJ-related art proejct, I think it's worth posting the link to MJ's historical performance at Motown, which inspired my creativity today.  Click the link below to watch a video of the King of Pop with his debut of the Moonwalk!

MJ Moonwalks at the Motown 2th Anniversary