Saturday 27 June 2020

2020 #11 Wisdom Begins in Wonder with HP {by Jennie Atkinson}

2020 Topic 11: Calming Colours


Jennie's gel plate experimenting give rise to a beautifully delicate and subtle tag which appears, at first glance, deceptively simple. Closer inspection will show all the details and layers provided by some calm coloured Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics.
~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Jennie (Live The Dreamwith you today, and I'd like to share with you some of my favourite calming colours! I have a real soft spot for all the lovely light Frescos and some of the new ones have become my instant favourites. They are a perfect dream on the gelli plate and combine so beautifully.

I have used a very large Hot Picks stamp for my tag and utilised some gelli plate prints using just three Fresco Acrylic paints but on different substrates. 



To get a feeling of calm with Frescos I do find the gelli plate is just perfect as sometimes the second print is the one I really want, but the first is always there to add little pieces - and of course vice versa.



These are my favourite combination at the moment ..... Frescos Concrete, Lichen and Marbles (although I was hard pushed not to include Iceberg)! And combined with Scrapcosy's Stencil they gave me some super prints.






I coloured some old book paper in the same way and then took a second print to get the text that was left. At this stage I had no idea what I was going to use but I had plenty of choices.



I wanted to use the large stamp in this set but I was unsure whether it would fit on the tag.



I have some rather thick tissue paper which is no good for adhering to surfaces but makes a great template. I stamped onto the tissue to see how it would fit onto my tag - it just about fits! I then cut this tissue and kept it in the envelope with my stamp set. It gets a bit tattered but I always have it to test for size.



I adhered my gelli plate papers to my tag and rather than stamp straight onto the tag (I am a bit of a wimp!) I stamped it on some fine tissue which gave me the chance to place it where I wanted it. I find giving it a roll with the brayer is better than a paint brush for smoothing out; there are less tears, (as in holes rather than the watery stuff)...



I wasn't too sure how well the stamp would show up on the old book paper but the layer of paint was enough to push the text back. 



The text paper butterflies added another dimension and sat on the tissue nicely. 



I used some of the left over papers to cut a couple of tags which I stamped with parts of the big stamp. The edges of everything got brushed with some brown ink as I felt they needed some definition. It is always surprising that adding one small element suddenly makes the project feel right.



I added the tags on foam pads to give a little depth and to hold them in place. I always like my little embellishments to be stuck in place rather than hanging free. That way they are less likely to get torn off!



I had a small mark under the tissue where I had to join my papers so used this small quote from Alison's Magic and Wonder quotes. By stamping on the edge of the old text paper everything coordinated.




I love how subtle the Fresco colours have become by first using the gelli plate and then covering them with the tissue. You can just see some of the stencil marks under the clock face. 

When I set out to make some papers using the gelli plate I had no idea how I was going to use them or how I would then use the Hot Picks stamp which I have to admit was far larger than I was expecting. Sometimes you just have to let things evolve! I love how the text paper has taken both the paints and the stamp to give quite an ethereal feel to the soft colours underneath.  I didn't get to use all my gelli plate papers, including the lovely shadow text ones ..... but there's always another project!



I have used gorgeously calming colours of Freso paint, but you can achieve similar softness with some of the brighter Fresco's by using the second pull from the gelli plate. So do experiment and don't think bright necessarily means bright!


And it was a lovely calming creative process ..... no stress!

As always thank you for joining me.
Jennie x

5 comments:

Miriam said...

This topic suits your style perfectly Jennie. I love this.

Mac Mable said...

Calming, beautiful and inspirational....Thank you x.

Skylark said...

I knew you would create something wonderful with this topic Jennie! Great inspiration, thanks ~ Stef

PaperArtsy said...

Beautiful Jennie!

Words and Pictures said...

So gentle and beautiful - a lovely combination of words and pictures and softer than soft calming colours - I feel soothed!
Alison x