2020 #2 A Hint of Spring: Fresh Art Journal Cover with EEV {by Lotte Kristensen}

2020 Topic 2: A Hint of Spring

Lotte's fab zingy journal is enough to get us all wishing for spring. The book-print background is really effective and the fussy cut leaves give real dynamism to the page. ~Keren

Hey everyone, it's Lotte here again, and I've been playing with some lovely, fresh, spring-like colours for my project - a new art journal, which had a rather boring black cover that was just *demanding* to get colourised!  I had some pages from a recent bout of gelli printing - I know I've said before how great Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics are for mono printing, because they stick much less than other paints, but they really are the best!!  I used Aquamarine, Granny Smith and Limelight mainly, with a few light touches of of Coral for contrast.  Together with the gorgeous Ellen Vargo stamp set, it made a really zingy cover:

So, these are the colours and stamps;

First, I stuck down a variety of old book pages with a glue stick, and then dry brushed all over with a very light coat of Heavy Cream.

Next, I got my gelli pages and Ranger Archival ink pads in Chartreuse, Garden Patina and Paradise Teal,

and then it was on to some stamping: I did all the stamps in all the colours!

Next, I cut out the individual shapes - perfect to do while you binge-watch your favourite show on Netflix :D

So, I played around with the layout a bit, before sticking down with a glue stick.  Let some of the leaves go over the edges, and cut off the excess, for a more natural look.

I filled in some of the gaps with smaller cut out pieces from the stamped images, before adding a bit of doodling with a fine felt tip pen.

And that's it!  I was quite pleased (for once) with the finished result. I love the contrast between the bright colours of the stamped images against the neutral background of the book pages.  I went on to do doodling on almost all of the pieces; it was fun to try and fit in as many different kinds of shapes and patterns as possible LOL!  Plus it feels like I've already overcome the 'blank page syndrome' of a brand new art journal by making this colourful cover, and am looking forward to filling it with lots of new ideas.

Until next time :)

Lotte

Instagram - Alice Overground

2020 #2 A Hint of Spring: Garden Notebook with ESC {by Jennie Atkinson}

2020 Topic 2: A Hint of Spring

Often purples and greens are the first signs of spring bursting through from the cold winter months, but I guess that is totally dependent on where in the world you live and your particular climate. Jennie lives on a far northern UK Island, often cut off in winter from the rest of the world, and hard hit by rugged storms. So her kind of spring is a welcome sight I'm sure! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jennie (Live the Dream) here with you today creating for this wonderful new topic. Hints of Spring puts me in mind of lovely fresh greens and pale coloured flowers. I decided to try and recreate this softness for a small gardening journal where I can keep notes of what was growing in the garden at this time of the year and perhaps do a  little watercolour painting.

Scrapcosy's fabulous flower stamps are always my go to for just about anything and I have used the main flower from ESC18 many times over. So how to do something different and recreate the softness of spring.

ESC18

You will see later in the post how it all came together using tissue paper, however, I had hoped to cover the whole piece with vintage beeswax to soften the colours even further ........ it was a disaster! so I had to start the whole process again and miss out the final step!

Stamping on tissue paper is a good technique to get to grips with and I have painted on the  reverse of the stamped image many times before. But in order to get a more transluscent feel to the painting I mixed my Fresco's with Satin Glaze. Do experiment with how much colour you need as it really doesn't take much to colour the glaze. I have kept my colour palette simple using just three colours of Fresco Finish paints: Magic Moss, Globe Thistle and Haystack

I have used a good quality tissue paper for this process. There are a lot of makes on the market, but I managed to pick this up at a craft fair and was delighted that it didn't have a shiny side and was slightly thicker than packing tissue. So it is worth looking around.

I wanted a base for my tissue so that the text would show through the translucent painting. I experimented with stamped text, but the random torn text paper worked best. I gave it a coat of gesso to tone it down a bit.

When gluing the tissue stamped elements to the background I find it easier to put the mutli-medium on the background first and lay the tissue on top, gently smoothing it out from the centre. If you add multi-medium to the tissue first it all manages to get stuck together and is a real job to get stuck down without too many creases!. You can see I have also stamped on tissue a couple of other elements from the stamp set. The beauty of tissue is that you can layer it over and over.

When fully dry you can see how well the torn tissue paper just dissolves into the background.

I wanted the sentiment (from Alison's wonderful Spring quotes) to stand out so have used some of the text paper for my stamping. Although the text paper was almost white, when stuck down and covered with multi-medium it turned this beautiful vintage colour! Everything got a heavy coat of multi-medium at this stage ready for the beeswax  and it took an age to dry. 

EAB06

I am not sure what went wrong with the adding the beeswax as all the layers started to lift off the background. It could be that I didn't leave it long enough to dry. Anyway not daunted I will continue to experiment, but as I needed to complete this project promptly I went back and recreated everything to this point!

I decided to use some darker green papers to highlight the softness of the images - do you remember the wonderful PaperArtsy printed paper packs. This is my very last piece! 

I like to soften the edges with some muslin and the easiest way of attaching this is to stitch everything together.

I used Eileen Hulls Pocket Notebook die to make the journal covers. Using these dies makes a pretty quick book and this one has a neat closure. I have kept embellishments to a minimum as the journal will be handled and is likely to be with me in the garden. I am so pleased to have found a lovely project to make with my last piece of PA paper!

I am very pleased with the translucent feel to the painting on the tissue. In particular, the  leaves seem to be made up of lots of different hues despite using only one colour. I shall certainly be using the Satin Glaze with my opaque Fresco's in future.

This was a reasonably quick and easy project to pull together although a lot of drying time between the steps was required. It has been good to experiment (even if a disaster!) and I am pleased with the final softness of the colours which give a hint of (hopefully) the Spring to come.

As always thank you for joining me and I hope you are inspired to give these techniques a go.

Jennie x

Blog: Live The Dream

2020 #2 Topic Introduction: A Hint of Spring (Colour Topic)

 2020 Topic 2: A Hint of Spring

Hi everyone, Keren here.

This topic is a chance to explore some of the new PaperArtsy Paint colours recently added to the Fresco Paint collection. Think soft greens, mauves and pinks, or maybe Seth's colours of subtle blue, cream and green which are also reminiscent of Spring, yet still offer that cosy, relaxing vibe of calm.

Jo Firth-Young does pastels so well, and this is a perfect example.

Jo Firth Young

Leandra's tutorial on brayered backgrounds (this is part 2) utilises lots of delicious pastels. Pastels don't have to mean boring nor lack of depth.

PaperArtsy

Lets take a look at some palette options that might steer you in the direction we are heading. First up, some greens with neutrals.

It's tempting to add a pop of colour to bring dynamism into your artistic endeavours, but these next two images show just how restful and beautiful pastels with a good neutral added in, can be.

Ballard Designs

TrendLand

Starting to add in more greys and blue undertones takes the palette in a different direction. If you add in a warm tone of yellow, look where you end up..it brings a vivacity but still rocks the pastel palette.

Dots To Lines

How about greens and pinks?

The peachy tones help the pinks from being too sickly sweet and the almost mossy green helps balance the combination and provide an almost neutral colour.

Sarah K Wisombe

Who doesn't love a mason jar? These beauties are a wonderful receptacle for the very best that springtime affords us!

Home Made Lovely

How about green and mauve?

 

This stunner of a card shows the value of adding in metallics to pastel schemes. It can be pared back and sparingly used to bring warmth and bounce a little light off your art.

Anna Griffin

We all use paper on a regular basis, but this example is a wonderful updated version of quilling and plays around with colour in a clever way.

Yulia Brodskaya

Here's another image with a similar scheme. The shine from the glazed ceramic hearts combined with the raised texture is sublime.

Dottery Pottery

If we add blues into the purple-y combo, we have a gentle, relaxed scheme. You can almost smell the lavender!

Phoebe Dreams

Continuing with the cooler lavenders, we transition into the greyer blue purple tones.

Source

Toleshack

If we really dial up the greys, the colour scheme becomes very subdued, elegant and gentle.

Shari Carroll

You can see all these options so far plus more on Leandra's pinterest page here to get you started in this pastel zone.

You may not be ready, but pastel shade are going to be quite big in 2020. Not so wishy washy, but cleaner, greener, crisp shades of pastel. Before we head into these more summery tones, let's softly warm into it with a softer version of the palette.

Scrap Art By Lady E

Let's look at some images of brighter, slightly bolder pastels.

Source

This lively water-coloured panel uses colour blending to great effect. Pastel perfection!

Source

Hopefully there's one set of pastel colours that has piqued your interest. From the cool and subtle to the brighter summery ones, there's so much to choose from. Do explore the new colours of Fresco Acrylic paints to see the plethora of pastel possibilities.

If you want to create along with us, please share on our social feeds so we can see what you get up to. The best places are Instagram @paperartsy or post in PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!