2020 #3 On This Tag: Pop of Colour Layered Tags with LPC {by Dounia Large}

2020 Topic 3: On This Tag

Dounia has a really unique idea for finding background for her tags. Using a highlighter and torn edge to the images has produced a really striking result.

Hi everyone, it's Dounia with you today, and I'd like to share with you some tags mixing Lynne Perrella's beautiful vintage stamps and a mixed media approach to colour.

I love working on tags as they make for quick projects, allowing you to experiment and have fun. This time, my idea was to mix styles and use colour freely, which can be unexpected with detailed images.

I'm always enchanted by Lynne Perrella's stamps, with their whimsy and details and her last collection is no exception, full of butterflies and glass vessels. I particularly like the LPC045 plate and it's series of little bottled dolls.

Fresco Acrylic paints blend easily and their chalk finish allow for crisp stamping, perfect for this project. For the intricate stamps to be able to show, I used pale opaque colours for the backgrounds, especially the new blues and greens released this January.

For the bottom layer, I chose the lovely ladies of the LPC46 plate. They are both beautiful and strange, which I love. 

To separate the two stamped layers, I dived into my paper stash and selected some that I thought matched the themes of the stamps. They are mainly from wallpaper and fabric catalogues. I like those as they are generally of good quality and full of great patterns.

With detailed images, I always tend to stick to classic colouring, going with the design, but I wanted to experiment with a more spontaneous way to use colour. I went with very bright and translucent Fresco paints to really pop against the backgrounds and stamps.

I had fun with splashes and mark making, also using my fingers to add irregular pops of brightness. I generally kept to colours already present in the patterned paper but also added a contrasting one for dynamism and drama!

I really like the characters peeking from behind the patterned layer. I did not plan for it but I think the texture of the fabric goes well with the dots providing shading in the stamped image.

I tried to not only keep with the plants and butterflies theme but also the glassware one for better coordination with the top layer. I could not resist some colouring to give the bottles dimension!

The patterned layers in these two are brighter and more stylised. I struggled a bit to make the whole tag cohesive and relied mainly on colour-matching.

The line of bright colour over the eyes, like highlighter pen, was my first idea for this project and the driving concept behind it.

Is it only only me or is this bottled doll a little bit unsettling? I don't think my colouring choices help!

I like that each tag has a different atmosphere and tells its own story.

I like how these turned out and I had a lot of fun tearing paper and playing with paint for this project. I hope this give you some ideas to colour your detailed stamps. I think it would work well in an art journal or mixed media project.

Stay creative!
Dounia x