2015 #8 Eternal Stars {by Julie Anne Lee}

2015 Theme 8: Sprays

Hi everyone, Julie Ann from Magpieheaven, joining you this evening with a post about spray painting a journal page. It's ages since I mixed Frescos with water and whooshed them over a project. I love this technique because sprayed washes of dream-like colours can add magic to a page. Sarah Nauman's sentiments and designs on ESN13 always evoke the starry, moonlight world of Pierrot for me so I decided to combine sprays, my own art-work and Sara's wonderfully adaptable stamps on this page.

Step One: Normally I begin with a spray painted background, but this time I was going to work back-to-front! I sketched my page in the style of the artist Modigliani - I love his long-necked, mysterious figures! I layered opaque Fresco colour in Wisteria, Guacamole, Vanilla, Chalk, Nougat and Lake Wanaka - all well-diluted. As I wanted to begin with a luminous image and then create a film over it, when the Fresco was dry I added white highlights with a Posca pen and some Inktense pencils before applying several coats of Satin Glaze and defining with a fine pen.

Step Two: I coloured some PaperArtsy Grunge Paste with one of my favourite Lin Brown Limited Collection shades, Caribbean Sea. Just a few drops added to the Grunge Paste create a beautiful base colour without making the paste too runny. I used tracing paper to make a mask for my Pierrot and applied this through sequin waste, using a palette knife.

Step Three: Now it was time to mix up some sprays! I chose Blue Glass, Wisteria and Beach Hut, half-filling the sprays with water and then two or three squirts of Fresco and some drops of Pearl Glaze and a good shake. The look I was going for was a film over the page and I didn't mind little droplets adhering to the face - the Satin Glaze would provide slight resist too.

Step 4: Let the spraying begin! The first time I ever sprayed a project I managed to get paint everywhere including on the cat, so this time I placed my journal inside a large box and, as it was a glorious spring day, I took the extra precaution of spraying it in the garden!

Step 5: I also covered a piece of card painted with Banana Fresco with my fine misty, pearl spray. This would be for the sentiment, which I stamped in Wendy Vecchi Forget me not Archival and clear embossed.

Step 6: Stamping with Chalk circles from ESN13 and using South Pacific paint to stamp some text, along with bottle tops dipped into these colours, added depth and I applied another light spray, before highlighting the Grunge Paste texture with Sapphire and Lilac Treasure Gold. I just had to shrink one of Sara's text stars, using translucent Shrink Plastic with a wash of Guacamole as my finishing touch

ESN13

I really liked the subtle effect the spray washes gave to the page. Fresco washes make a great background for canvases too, especially if you stand your canvas up and allow the paints to trickle down after spraying. Thank You so much for looking at my journal page. I do hope you'll  create some spray colours of your own and maybe add that misty film to a  stamped image.

Julie Ann of Magpieheaven wishing you a painty, creative week.

Wow! we love this, The layers achieved here are just fabulous Julie Ann. Such an interesting process, one would think that using opaques would entirely cover up the initial stages; when diluted they make wonderful washes, exactly as you have here. 

We would love you to join in with challenge #8: Sprays If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Sprays link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, May 10th, winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.