Transparent Paint Dragging with EPA {by Keren Baker}

Hello everyone

Keren here with you today and I'm using an Eclectica³ PaperArtsy set that you might have missed, along with some experimentation using PaperArtsy Chalk Acrylic paints - typically the translucent ones!

I picked a combination of transluscent paints. For any of you that might be newer to PaperArtsy paints, they come in Opaque, Semi-Opaque and Translucent. I've shied away from using transparent colours but wanted to challenge myself with this project. I wouldn't normally use so many paints, and I didn't actually use them all in the end.

I wanted to layer a combination of the paints over each other. I thought I could drag and layer them, so grabbed some watercolour paper, a scraper and some paints.

I thought that the watercolour paper might give some nice texture, but the results were pretty rubbish...

So I went searching on the internet for tips on layering and came across an artist called Laura Fdez . She creates wonderful abstract pieces using a tool that ended up being the perfect solution: Princeton Catalyst tool no.6.

Using a combination of different colours and shapes, I started to try and move the paint. I learned quite quickly what not to do.

Make sure every layer dries completely. You can see what happens when you don't, in the next photo. I also masked off a shape so that I'd get a white frame.

 Here's a little footage showing the process.

As I practiced, the process became easier. Despite the flaws, the different papers that I used all behaved differently. This one was on Acrylic Paper (WHSmith).

One of the things that's helpful to think about is the lighter colours being on the top layers. I also tried using a semi-opaque paint and that worked really well too.

Each type of paper produces a different result. Here's the different end results. PaperArtsy Smoothy does just that- creating a very smooth painted effect!

Now we had a set of backgrounds, I just needed to use the EPA01 stamps and stencil PS448

Grunge Paste always works so well but you do need to go carefully and hold down the intricate parts of the stencil. I only wanted some partial stencilled areas so that I didn't lose the colour and texture from the backgrounds.

Adding more layers needed a little gentle touch. Just like the transparent paints, I wanted transparent layers so stamped on some acetate. As the main stamp set didn't have an obvious focal point, I used the LPC056 set for interest.

I coloured some of the images to act as partial layers. I wanted to cut up the rainbow-esque shape and weave one of the images through; I'll save that technique for another project as it didn't really fit here.

The multiple coloured layers work so perfectly with stamped acetate.

I love the sentiment- I'm not sure I could claim that every layer was magic, but the technique certainly felt that way at points.

Using one of the stamps, I trimmed it down to just one cross; such a versatile image! I added a little stitching and French knots too.

There's so much more to explore using this technique. I love how the combination of colours layered creates the new colours. Thinking about colour theory technique can really help with choosing which colours to layer on top of each other. It's really worth having a go and it's also very therapeutic!

Thanks for reading, see you again soon!

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Hearts & Flowers with Tracy Scott stamps {by Mags Woodcock}

Hello everyone

Mags  here with you today and I'll be showing you how I created an art journal page using a Tracy Scott Lace Booklet, stamps and a stencil.

For quite a while now I've been intrigued by the Tracy Scott Lace books (TSLB04) and wanted to use one. I also love the floral stamp set (TS009). My idea was to combine the two, along with a stencil (PS386). Choosing a quartet of Tracy's Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics would hopefully also allow for some nice contrasts and combinations of colour.

My idea was to create an art journal page, combining all the supplies. As Tracy has quite a distinct style, clean cut and vibrant, with lots of pattern building and symmetry, I wanted to create something with a different style and feel. Bold but asymmetrical, and with a painterly feel.

So lets take a look at how I started

My initial idea was to use the second layer of the Lace Book as a stencil to lay down colour onto a gel plate, but also to add colour to that second layer. The gel plate was great at grabbing the laser cut card of the book, and I used several sponges to apply the Fresco Finish chalk acrylics, Bermuda (FF224), Butternut (FF02), Deep Sea (FF198) and Lily The Pink (FF218). I allowed the texture of the sponge to show in several areas, but also blending the paint in other places.

When I was happy with the coverage on the lace book page, I removed it from the gel plate and set it aside to dry. To pick up the paint from the gel plate I applied a thin layer of Snowflake (FF15) Fresco finish Chalk Acrylic. Whilst this was still wet I pulled a print using a sheet of Smoothy Card (SCA4).

Here you can see the resulting print from the gel plate.

It was now time to work on the top layer of the Lace Book. I wanted a bold contrast to the colours I was using, so Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic , Little Black dress (FF19) came into play.

I placed the top layer of the Lace book onto a sheet of Smoothy card and completely coated it in the black paint, including the gaps. This gave me another stencilled page to use later.

It was now time to create some lovely focal flowers for my page. As I said previously, I wanted a painterly look so I had an idea on how to create that in a very simple way.

I chose a sheet of Smoothy card to work on and using a large brush, applied small amounts of Frescos in a circular pattern. Combining a couple of colours on each circle gave me lots of variety. I soon discovered that a drier brush, with hardly any paint gave better results.

As with a lot of mixed media techniques, the first layers often look very messy, this was very true here. But as I stamped the flowers onto the the painted circles with Versafine Clair Nocturn ink, and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder, my idea began to take shape.

I wanted to add some more details to the flowers and also more contrast, so my trusty Signo Uniball white pen was ideal. It transformed the look of the flowers. The final stage was to fussy cut the hearts, swirls and flowers, leaving a small border around each image.

If I strayed over the black lines with my white pen, A cotton bud soon removed the excess.

Now it was time to bring everything together, but first I needed to add some details to the Lace book layers. I bit of penwork on the black painted layer.

Now I bet you think I had forgotten about the stencil I chose ? Well it was time for it to add some random details to break up the symmetry a little. Again using my white gel pen.

As you can see, I had previously used the stencil to try out another idea, and there was leftover paint still on it.

The final lot of penwork on the layered up lace pages with a  base layer of black cardstock.

Now to the exciting bit ! Adding the flowers and hearts using 3D foam pads and PVA glue.

At this point I decided the page needed a word or sentiment. Stamping Bloom from one of Tracy's other  stamp sets  (TS029) was exactly what was needed and completed the page perfectly.

So let's have a look at the finished page.

Here you can see the completed page

The grouping of the flowers to the left of the page adds asymmetry, and also notice that the page is in landscape format , not portrait , nice and unusual.

The hearts drift across the page to encourage your eye to follow.

The painted, stamped circular swirls are layered over the centre of each flower, adding dimension and a colour contrast to the surrounding petals.

The distressed, painterly look of the hearts adds visual texture and interest.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and it has given you some ideas to inspire you.

I still have the two bonus pages from the project to play with, the gel print and the black stencilled page. Watch out in the PaperArtsy People Facebook page over the coming weeks, and I'll share what I create using those.

Thank you for popping over to the PaperArtsy blog, if you would like to see more of my work or videos using PaperArtsy products please follow me using the links below

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Happy crafting

Mags x