'Inside' {with Eclectica³ Sara Naumann & Hot Picks Stamps by Stencil Designer Seth Apter}

Hi everyone. Seth here. I am so very excited to share with you my first project as a PaperArtsy Guest Designer. I am a mixed media artist, instructor and author from New York City. My brother lives in London though, so I feel very connected to the UK. I count painting, art journaling, bookbinding and making found object art among my favorite creative activities. If it has layers and texture, I love it!

I call this piece Inside. My favorite element in this project is the Fresco Finish Paint, as I have a surface that is matte in finish but that is still vibrant and strong in color.

I started with a 7 ½ by 11 inch piece of cold press watercolor paper. I prefer cold press as its surface is textured. First step was to cover most of the surface with EggplantFresco Finish Paint. It is semi-opaque and I let some of the white from the watercolor paper show through.

I then brushed white gesso onto several different designs of textured paper, one at a time, and used them as stamps to add design and texture to the sheet of watercolor paper. Because I had first painted the surface with paint, the Eggplant color showed through the marks made with the gesso.

I then painted over the surface using a number of opaque and translucent Fresco Finish Paints including Claret, Antarctic, Inky Pool, Lake Wanaka and Space Cadet. I partially rubbed off many of the opaque paints using a cloth as I went, so as to not completely cover the surface below.

When I was happy with the background, I mixed Antarctic Fresco Finish Paint and water in a mister  bottle and sprayed the surface. This added some sense of movement, randomness, and a bit of lightness to the background.

Next I used a series of rubber stamps to add depth, dimension and interest to the background. My aim is not to create any focal images with the stamps, but to loosely integrate the stamped patterns into the painted background. As such, I randomly pressed portions of each stamp into the surface without mounting them onto an acrylic block. I used different stamps from the PaperArtsy sets Eclectica³ by Sara Naumann ESN02, Hot Picks 1302, and Hot Picks XT01. 

HPXT01

HP1302

ESN02

I also used Minis 57 and Minis 23. I used pigment ink in a palette that blended well with the colors of Fresco Finish Paints I had used.

Mini 57

Mini 23

Once the background was complete, I used my three newly released stencils from StencilGirl Products (Past Present Future, Inside Out and Timeless) to add focal elements. These stencils are 6 x 6 inches and I created them to include many different design elements, words and numbers perfect for mixed media artwork and art journaling. I selected different parts of each of the three stencils for this project and chose to use the stencils in the following three ways.

Seth's stencils are available from Stencil Girl Products and also from Seth's own online shop. 

First I mixed Grunge Paste with Fresco Finish Paint to create tinted Paste. The colors I used included Little Black Dress, Eggplant, Limelight and Antarctic. The grunge paste was then pressed through selected bits and pieces of each stencil using a small palette knife. This created beautiful texture and depth.

Second, I used a sponge to add Fresco Finish Paint directly through the stencil. For this technique the colors I used were Limelight and Eggplant. It is important that the sponge is not too heavily coated with the paint so that it does not bleed around the edges of the stencil design.

Third, I used the stencils as templates and filled them in using several different gel pens and metallic markers. I chose colors that closely matched the colors of the Fresco Finish Paint that I had used with the other stenciling techniques.

Once all the stenciling was complete, I outlined every stenciled design with gel pens so that they would pop off the page and appear more dimensional. I also added a number of hand drawn marks, as I feel that it is important to add a bit of my own personal marks on all the artwork I make.

I absolutely love the fact that just about any marker, pen, or pencil can be used to write directly on the matte finish of the Fresco Finish Paint – something that is not true with more traditional artist grade acrylic paints.

Until next time, have fun creating. Seth. 

A huge thank you to Seth from all at PaperArtsy HQ, it is a pleasure to have you joining us this evening. We love the techniques that you have used, from stamping with textured paper (genius) to using our Frescos to make spray paints. It is great to see stencils used in so many ways on one project creating interest and dimension in simple but very effective ways. Similarly using the humble gel pen, readily available to everyone to highlight your focal points. Finally as Seth quite rightly said the Fresco paints do make for an excellent surface on which to write. 

If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE you will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by17:00 (London time) Sunday 22nd June2014