2023 Topic 8 : Master Colour Wheel - Split Complementary Colours {by Nikki Acton} with France Papillon stamps

Hi everyone

Nikki (@a2a.craft) here with you today.

It's always fun to do one of our colour wheel themes - it often encourages me work in colours or combinations of colours I wouldn't naturally chose . It was a double challenge for me this time, using France Papillon stamps - again not my natural style. As her stamps lend themselves well to collage I decided to create a mini book incorporating a translucent window.

It's not easy to take a photo capturing the whole book - but this gives you an idea. The front cover includes the translucent window - I have stamped on a single layer of kitchen roll and added wax to create this.... more on this later.

I decided to use a combination of 2 stamp sets and one stencil from designer France Papillon - to build my 4 double pages and front and back cover. I wasn't sure at the beginning how this would look - there was no plan - except to build up the colours and elements as I went and see what happened.

All bloggers for the current topic are using the same 3 colours to create the masterwheel shown below: PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics - Aqua Duck Egg (FF199), Butter (FF129) and Candy Floss (FF70). They are all quite subtle with no one colour too vibrant or bold - but the more I worked, the more I enjoyed this combination.

I decided to select one (of the 12 standard Split Complementary colourways. I used Butter contrasted with the tertiary colours created from Candy Floss and Aqua Duck Egg.

The 'blue' colour you can see is two thirds Aqua Duck Egg and one third Candy Floss.

The 'lilac' colour is made with two thirds Candy Floss and one third Aqua Duck Egg.

When you use a viewfinder like this, it is so much easier to see how the colours will look as a combination.

This is such a useful tool ... creating a colour wheel. When you look at those 3 bottles of paint, you may not be able to visualise the colours that will emerge, so to keep a colour wheel handy also means you know how to get back to those colours again in the future. 

Understanding colour mixing really offers the opportunity to get more value out of your paints.

These are all the different Split Complementary colour options possible from the 3 Fresco paints above ... which would you choose?

When I am not sure where to start I do two things - create some backgrounds and stamp the images. Seeing them on paper and maybe a bit of fussy cutting often generates ideas for me. I started with some backgrounds - simple painted layers - with a brush, a sponge and a brayer. I did these on photocopy paper as I wanted the paper to be thin for collage.

As you can see these are very quick and easy but gave me some coloured paper to stamp my images on. I cut some of these out and started layering them - and ideas started flowing.....

With some collage elements created, I then began my book pages. The book is around 10.5cm x 7.4cm so I cut lengths of card 21cm x 7.4cm and scored.

For some contrast I also stamped, using Ranger Archival ink in black, on white copy paper. I used the tiny circle cluster from France Papillon stamp set 31 (FP031) and the long incomplete circle stamp from France Papillon stamp set 36 (FP036).

There are 4 double pages in my mini book, plus the front and back. Each started with a painted background, in 2 or 3 of my colours. I then added some stamping and/or stencilling. Here you can see I used the large stamp from FP036.

In this one I started with some stamping and stencilling with more colour. I used PaperArtsy stencil by France Papillon (PS377).

Then I added more background interest with tissue paper, more stamping, book paper or the black and white stamped copy paper.

Sometimes an area can look wrong - so I add a little white paint with my finger. I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Chalk (FF83). I can then stamp over it.

Finally I added the stamped collage elements I had fussy cut earlier, to add focus and design to each page.

As you can see my front cover has a 'window'. I die cut the rectangular space on both the inside page (above) and also what would become the front cover (below).

I stamped many of the words and phrases from the two stamp sets by France Papillon and also some quotes from Alison Bomber stamp set 13 (EAB13) on a single layer of kitchen roll.

 

I placed this on some baking/parchment paper, added a little wax (I used Beewax but you could use candle wax), another layer of parchment and ironed the surface allowing the wax to melt over the stamped words and the surrounding tissue.

This not only makes the tissue firmer but is also translucent. I was inspired to try this having seen an Instagram reel by @junkjournaljoy that you can hopefully see here.

At this stage I put my book together - simply by adhering the reverse of the pages together.

Before attaching the front cover - I took one of the waxy quotes and cut to slightly larger than the aperture. This allowed me to stick it to the cover before adhering that page to the rest of the book. (So it is sandwiched between the 2 pieces of card).

 

 

I added the waxed quotes and words to other pages too.

I added some extra pen work and dots of paint on some pages....

and of course some paint splatters!

As I mentioned earlier, I used a standard Split Complementary colourway, but did you realise there are also Double Split complementary combinations too. We we want this post to be a comprehensive record of this concept, below you will find all those possible 12 options. Again, a viewfinder is such a helpful tool to identify these different combinations clearly.

I really enjoyed making this mini book for you! The France Papillon stamps are fabulous for collage either as the entire stamp or just using parts of them. 

I shall be using the wax again too - as not only does it have the translucent effect but it also adds wonderful texture. Perhaps that is a new technique you might like to give a try too!

Thanks for reading!

Nikki

Blog: Addicted to Art

Instagram: @a2a.craft

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2022 Topic 16 : Splosh {by Amanda Pink} with Clare Lloyd stencils

Hi everyone, it's Amanda Pink (ink-a-pink) with you today, and I'm here to share with you a few projects I've created using a selection of stencils designed by Clare Lloyd. 

It'll probably be no surprise that as a child I always enjoyed being creative so had all the usual felt tips, crayons, paints etc as well as some of the 'arty/crafty' types of toys like etch-a-sketch, spirograph, plaster of paris modelling sets etc but there was one toy on my Christmas wish list each year that Santa kept forgetting (I must have been a very naughty child ;)) - a Spin Art machine! 

Fast forward many years later when I'd long since given up on Santa leaving me one under the Christmas tree I saw some in the shops and without hesitation a Spin Art machine came home with me!

Having wanted it for so long you would think I would have tore it out of its box eager to use asap but no, it sat on a shelf waiting and wondering when its day would come while life happened. Then this 'Splosh' topic came up that's all about fluid media and fun ways to apply them and I thought some Spin Art would be a great fit!

I wasn't sure what kind of project I would make when I started but ended up creating a trio of Spin Art Circles that would make lovely gifts for family/ friends or they could be given as Art cards (as I call them) - cards that can be kept after the occasion and displayed as a piece of art. 

I also created a second project- an Art Panel that saw me switching out my Spin Art machine for my 'rotating display stand'. 

So, with 2 projects to share it's a long post as I'll take you through my Spin Art Circle creativity first before moving onto my Art Panel creativity. 

    

To begin I gathered together some supplies to create my Spin Art Circles: the spin machine (very pink- like its owner ;) ), some PaperArtsy Smoothy die cut circles, a few paint brushes and a selection of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics -Twilight (FF147), A Bit Fishy (FF208), Cloudy (FF184), Yellow Submarine (FF73), Cheesecake (FF54). It was a bright sunny unusually warm autumnal day when I started making so I think that influenced my blue/ yellow summery colour palette.

I knew there was a chance when I started to splosh/splatter that some paint could go 'astray' so I placed the spin machine inside a pizza box, the lid held open with some cardboard 'walls' to catch any 'rogue' sploshes/splatters.

The machine is super easy to use. The hand gives you a clue as to where you press to make the central 'wheel' spin. The machine only allows for smaller panels of card as they have to fit in the central spinning wheel. It's about 4.3 x 4.3 inches max. I'm ok with that as 4x4 is one of the sizes I like to work with.

 

To splosh/ splatter my chosen PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics they would need to have a little more fluidity than they have straight from the bottle so I assigned each of the colours their own small pot and spritzed them a few times with water. 

Not a lot of water is needed which is why I used a water spritzer. It allowed me to add a light spray at a time and then repeat if needed. If the paint is too runny, the colour too diluted it won't give the best results for this kind of creativity and as we all know the more water the greater the chance of the colours mixing/ bleeding and potentially creating mud!  

I found if the paint sat on my brush but with a nudge or a flick dripped off I'd hit the 'sweet spot'.

My 'cheap as chips' paint brushes worked fine for sploshing so no need to use my 'besties'!

With the card in situ, I sploshed/splattered it with each of my chosen PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics colours. Such fun! I was in my element throwing paint around!!

It's all very random as I'm sure you know only too well if and when you splosh/ splatter paint. The paint will go where it goes - you may get big sploshes or small splatters; they may intermingle but that's ok as they all help create the end result when spun.

Please do not adjust your sets - Spinning in progress! 

For a manually operated kids toy I was super impressed at how fast it spins! Definitely faster than I would be at a spinning class ;) !!

  

 Freshly spun...

 

...once dry!

I loved the results and was more than happy to welcome the addition of some splashes of green that some of the wet sploshes/splatters of blue and yellow PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics had created while spinning.

I also tried sploshing/splattering the paint while the machine was spinning which created a different result as you can see in the photo below. The left circle is the result of splosh/splatter while spinning the circle, on the right is splosh/splatter then spin.

Both have their own unique personality and are effective within their own right but personally I was more drawn (for this project) to the circles I'd created with the splosh/splatter then spin technique. I felt they had more impact, great randomness and dare I say a 'Jackson Pollock' kind of vibe about them. So, these were the ones I moved forward with.

 

Although I loved the Spin Art Circles as they were I wondered if some subtle stamping may add just a touch of detail to some of the white spaces so I picked out a couple of  PaperArtsy Mini stamps (MN72, MN108) and inks that I thought would play nicely with the style and colours of the Spin Art.

PaperArtsy Mini stamp (MN72) is a splatter design so given the Topic it was a bit of a 'no brainer' choice. Stamping it with Tim Holtz Distress Archival ink (Speckled Egg) kept the splatter very light and subtle as I wanted.

PaperArtsy Mini stamp (MN108) is a text stamp and much like PaperArtsy Mini stamp (MN72) I'd say is suitable for almost any project with the text being small and not fancy or stylised at all. 

Stamped in a broken fashion using both first and second generation stamping with Ranger Industries- Archival ink(Cobalt) helped give a varied mix of subtle and more defined stamping.

Now, it was time for me to turn my attention to some of PaperArtsy Stencils by Clare Lloyd  (PS028, PS174, PS175) and how I would use them.

I didn't really favour adding any more detail to the circles as I wanted the effects of the Spin Art to shine so thought more about using the stencils to create a/some focal element/s.  A quick scan of the stencils and I could see there was potential to create flowers; dimensional flowers!

So, I painted a couple of pieces of PaperArtsy Smoothy with the two shades of yellow I'd used for the Spin Art Circles - Yellow Submarine (FF73), Cheesecake (FF54).

Diluting the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic colours with water enabled them to be applied as more of a wash. I like to use a flat paint brush for this kind of painting as I find it makes for quick coverage and is less likely to leave visible brushstrokes.

PaperArtsy Stencil by Clare Lloyd (PS174) holds a collection of various sized questions marks so the dot of the largest question mark became the centre of my flower.

One of the leaves on PaperArtsy Stencil by Clare Lloyd (PS028) repeatedly moved around the question mark dot formed the petals of the flower.

Stencilling the leaf several times also gave me some individual flower petals that would help in making my flower dimensional.

After cutting them out I felt the flowers and leaves needed some detail so reached for PaperArtsy Stencil by Clare Lloyd (PS174) again and added some PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake (FF15) dots.

Catching the edges of the flower and leaves with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake (FF15) helped to give them definition before I brought them all together to form my dimensional flower. Another question mark dot painted with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Twilight (FF147) for the centre.

I find using stencil designs and/or parts of a full stencil design to create something dimensional like this flower really pleasing and rewarding!   Do you ever use your stencils in a similar way?

Time now to think about a few finishing touches. 

I wanted my  Spin Art Circles to have some rigidity for displaying so crackled some chipboard circles with PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (FF22) sandwiched between PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics - Twilight (FF147) and Snowflake (FF15).

A sponge application creates lovely small round cracks. 

PaperArtsy's Crackle Glaze (FF22) can be dried with a heat tool without it having any detriment to the resulting crackle so it's ideal if time's short or patience is lacking!

I shared more about PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (FF22) on my blog post here and a lot of designers have shared about this fabulous product too throughout the blog so if you search PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (in the sidebar) you'll be able to find lots of info, hints and tips etc.

You can also watch Leandra doing a great PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze tutorial here on PaperArtsy You Tube channel.

Given my Spin Art Circles may be offered as gifts I thought a sentiment of some sort would be a welcome addition. I chose one from Emma Godfrey Stamp set 22 (EM22).

Covering the reverse of the circles with card also provided an open space for me to write a few words/ wishes to whoever I may gift them to.

I was now ready to start bringing things together but I couldn't resist one last splattering with some PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake (FF15).

My 'best wishes' found their place atop a die cut ring embellishment...

...tucked under the dimensional flower with its glossy accents centre.

 My trio of Spin Art Flower Circles!  Such fun to create!

  Why stop when you're having fun, right? So I made a second project!

My second project is an Art Panel (another lovely gift idea) created with the same colours, stencils, stamps and crackle I'd used for my Spin Art Circles but I thought this time I'd switch out my spin machine for an alternative way to spin the paint to create the background.  

I know some people make Spin Art using a salad spinner or a lazy susan, some even a drill!! Now I do love a power tool so will be giving that one a go for sure...outdoors...in the summer I think, as knowing me it could/will get messy!! ;) For now, though, I decided to give my 'rotating display stand' a go. So, I guess technically not quite spinning more rotating!

I began by gathering together some supplies I'd need to create my Art Panel background. All the same as I used for my Spin Art Circles apart from my rotating display stand. 

The design of the rotating display stand isn't as size restrictive as the spin machine, so it offered me the opportunity to work with larger size panels of PaperArtsy Heavy Smoothy. To get around the fact that the rotating display stand doesn't have a designated space or anything to hold the card in place like the spin machine does I used some Sizzix - Sticky Grid.

My chosen PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic colours were prepped for sploshing/ splattering in the same way as they had been for the Spin Art Circles but rather than apply them all together, I applied the colours one at a time before rotating. I had no rules about the 'order of play' for the colours. It was all very much a random selection.

The display stand doesn't rotate as fast as the spin machine spins. It's much slower so to assist the movement of the sploshed PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics on the rotating card, I 'kissed' it with another panel of card (held lightly at 2 corners) allowing both to move with the rotation of the display stand. (Excuse the blue hands - not my norm as I'm all about getting as painty as I can!) 

Here's the results of the first rotation...

...and after numerous rotations repeating the process using all my chosen PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic colours!

Applying the colours and rotating them one at a time allowed me to gradually build up layers of colour and interest. Much like when I sploshed and spun my Spin Art Circles wherever the blue and yellow colours hadn't dried between rotations they blended together nicely to create some lovely splashes of green.

I couldn't resist some PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics -Snowflake (FF15) splatters before I selected which of the 2 backgrounds I'd use for my Art Panel.

As I mentioned above the same stamps / inks used on my Spin Art Circles were also used on my Art Panel background: PaperArtsy Mini stamps (MN72) with Tim Holtz- Distress Archival Ink (Speckled Egg),  PaperArtsy Mini stamps (MN108) with Ranger Industries - Archival Ink (Cobalt).

Drawing round some of the question mark dots on PaperArtsy Stencil designed by Clare Lloyd (FF174) with a white pen added a touch more interest.

The finished design I had in mind for my Art Panel included a dimensional flower and a few smaller flowers. I already had a spare dimensional flower waiting in the wings, so I just needed to make the smaller ones.

The spikey shapes on PaperArtsy Stencil designed by Clare Lloyd (PS175) made me think 'of 'flowers' so they were ideal.

Again, much like with my Spin Art Circles the finishing touches for my Art Panel involved some crackling and stamping.

There's a PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (FF22) chipboard base onto which I mounted the background. 

  

A PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (FF22) circle topped with my dimensional flower taking centre stage surrounded by a die cut PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (FF22) ring.

The PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze (FF22) ring was embellished with my spikey flowers...

...and a few of my much-loved hex nuts.

Rather than a sentiment this time I went with a couple of words that came to mind when I looked at the panel. 

Sunshine...

...Happiness.

 

The words were from a couple of the quotes on Alison Bombers stamp sets (EAB13, EAB14). I like to be able to pick out words from longer quote /sentiments stamps to use in my creativity and Alison's quotes are great for this given how many quotes there are on each of her stamp sets and how many words there are in each of those quotes!

 

My 'Sunshine Happiness 'Art Panel is now ready to be displayed or offered as a gift!

 

I was really pleased with the results of both the spin machine and the rotating display stand and will definitely be exploring their creative potential moving forward. 

Would I favour one over the other? I'm not sure to be honest as I found there were positive and negatives for both the spin machine and the rotating display stand. Probably the two that stood out the most from my creative time with them were size and speed. The spin machine spins faster but only allows for small pieces of art and the rotating display stand allows for larger pieces of art but rotates more slowly.

There's a great commonality between the two though and that is that they both make for a creatively fun time and produce some effective results that are all unique to themselves.

If Spin Art isn't something you've tried before I'd definitely say give it a go. If you haven't got a spin machine, it's that time of year when you could always pop one on your Christmas wish list!

Thanks for joining me today/ tonight and for staying with me until now. 

Hope you all have a lovely festive season.

Creative Wishes
Amanda
x

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