2019 #8 Put a Brush on it: Puddles of Paint with JoFY {by Alison Bomber}

2019 Topic 8: Put a Brush On It

Beautiful dripping brushes creating painty puddles is a real delight from Alison as she takes us through the process from concept to reality.

Hi everyone, it's Alison here from Words and Pictures here with you today, and I'd like to share with you some Puddles of Paint.

Who knows where creative ideas spring from?  And sometimes I slightly wish they wouldn't !  When one of those ideas pops into your head that seems really great, but then you realise you're going to have to try to turn it into reality... well, this was one of those.  But I am glad it did pop up, because I enjoyed the challenge and I'm so happy with the end result.

I loved Leandra's "Put a Brush on it" theme, and originally envisaged all sorts of vintage layering and detail.  But then I happened to glance at the new JOFY stamps and a whole other idea popped up - quite a long way from my vintage comfort zone.

I immediately saw those fabulous layered splodges as puddles of paint, spreading out onto a canvas.

And above all, my imagination saw the paint itself dripping from the brush to create the swirling puddles on the canvas...

... as though you'd just laid down the brush for a moment to do something else, and the paint decided to create some art all by itself.  Now all I had to do was make it happen in real life.

I've used not only the large splodges from JOFY 75, but also the flower heads from the stem on the right to create my puddles.

I stamped the puddles onto plain card and had a wonderful time layering up paint colours and white pen doodling.

There are lots of paint colours involved from the Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic range - opaque, semi-opaque and transparent, but all applied in watery washes to get nice layered shades.  Rather than list them all, it's probably simplest if I just show you the photos of the bottles I had lined up on the craft table!

I gesso'd a couple of very cheap paintbrushes and worked out where I wanted to perch them around the rim of the reverse 12x12 canvas (also gesso'd). I cut out my puddles and arranged them so that they could be "dripped into" by the brushes.

All that got glued down and while the glue was drying I started experimenting with various mediums to see how I could create my dripping paint. I'd originally thought of paperclay or Fimo, but in the end I worked with some heavy semi-gloss gel medium.

That meant I could brush it onto the bristles to get some texture like real paint, and then form the columns of paint "pouring" onto the canvas so that it really looked like a continuous stream.

I left my "paint" to dry overnight, so that it would be fully set. The next day, according to where it "landed" in the splodge, I painted my dripping paint the right colour to match the puddle area it was pouring into.

I toyed with the idea of adding a gloss glaze finish to the paint puddles, so that they would look as though they were still slightly wet paint...

... but the semi-gloss of the medium already gives the paint on the brushes a slight shine, so in the end I went with adding some glassy bubbles to catch the light instead. I think it somehow tricks the eye into believing there's a glossy wetness to the whole piece.

I added the words freehand. I should just have gone straight to the Copic marker in bold turquoise, rather than going with a fine pen version first, but I wasn't quite brave enough. Ah well, maybe next time!

And the words themselves formed from that first idea of the paint creating art by itself as it drips from the brushes. Who ever thought that watching paint dry was boring anyway?!

It's a much cleaner, fresher look than is usual for me, but I really like it. There's something so summery and light about the blue, green and white, and I love the light on the glass and the shadows of the brushes creating lots of depth.

I'll admit it was a bit sticky and fiddly moulding the gel medium, but so worth it.  I couldn't be happier with my flowing paint pouring from the paintbrushes to create the puddles of paint. I hope you'll be inspired to play with incorporating your paintbrushes into your projects as well as using them as tools. 

Thanks so much for stopping by to watch the paint dry with me. I hope you had as much fun as I did!
Alison x

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