2021 Topic 14: Mash Up LPC EGL EEV EAB {by Dounia Large}

 2021 Topic 14: Mash Up LPC EGL EEV EAB

With some fab ideas when using tissue paper and a creative combo of characters, Dounia has a band of 'fierce' on her desk; totally useful and thoroughly striking! If you follow her tips about blending the background with the focal images, you're sure to end up with a wonderfully cohesive mashup - just like her.
~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Dounia with you today, and I'm here to share with you a desk organizer I customized with a whole PaperArtsy Tribe!

I sometimes struggle crafting or making art just for the sake of it so I love making something both useful and beautiful. This project involves fierce warriors, also fierce ladies, a limited colour palette and me getting out of my comfort zone!

 

I have been wanting something to tidy up my work space for sometime now. Not really knowing what it was, I bought a pile of MDF pieces in a thrift store. Once home, I built it and it took me an hilariously long time to realize it was a desk organizer (I was holding it upside down!). I immediately knew I wanted to populate it with some of Lynne Perrella's characters. I particularly fell in love with her 'modern' stamp sets, LPC053 and LPC054.

I then remembered this Mash-Up topic, and I thought the ethnic Warriors from Gwen Lafleur's EGL09 would be a perfect complement to the lovely Lynne Perrella ladies. They are comparative sizes and can totally belong to the same 'Intricately Patterned' tribe!

When crafting, I generally tend to go with the flow and make things up on the spot but considering I was going to work on the disassembled pieces, this time I decided to make a placement plan. 

I love the patterns made by letters and I must admit I often struggle to connect with quotes not in my native language so I had originally planed to use the Alison Bomber's quotes in this Mash Up to build the background. I did not want to crowd the surfaces too much and with people alone, it looked a bit bare. The quotes then got a leading role! I chose EAB14: The Happiness Edition, because who doesn't want to be happy at work?

To help creating a cohesive look among all the collections, I decided on a very limited colour palette of Fresco Finish acrylic paints. I mainly used warm colours, my favorites, with light base of Vanilla to showcase the black stamping. Pumpkin Soup is darker but in the same family, so I was sure they would work well together. I added Cherry Red to pop against the creamy yellows and Caribbean Sea for a strong contrast.

After disassembling the organizer, I coated all the pieces in my chosen colours. I find that two thin coats works better for me than one thick one. As the base is not going to be seen a lot, I painted it blue for maximum contrast. Ellen Vargo's texture stamps are amazing to give interest to a background. One of my favorite is EEV06 with all its bubbles and circles.

I wanted the stamping to be visible but not too loud so I used the coordinating Pumpkin Soup for a tone on tone effect. I had initially planed a much more involved background but I realized I had vastly overestimated the size of the substrates compared to the characters! I ended doing only one round of stamping. 

It was then time to focus on my characters. I was not confident enough to stamp and colour directly on the wood pieces so I stamped everybody on tissue paper. I had to do quite a bit of masking, especially for the family on the back. Thankfully I had already fussy-cut all those pieces to to make my mock-up!

Nothing brings life to a character like colour so I painted on the backside of the tissue paper. I was at times a bit frustrated with my limited choice of colours but I persisted! It was interesting as it forced me to really think about colour placement and I ended leaving a lot more uncoloured spots than I otherwise would have. To be sure that the faces would be differentiated from the background, I decided to cover them with opaque Cloud 9. I was however worried they then would not integrate enough with the rest so I first added a few of the same Ellen Vargo's stamps.

Here are the back of my characters, very blank faced...

 

And here is the front, a lot less creepy but a lot more muted.

I then fussy-cut the images and glued them to the substrates with lots of Satin Glaze. Adding the wet medium on the top of the tissue paper thankfully bought some the colour back. As my tissue paper is on the thicker side, the result is not as bright as the original paint colours but I like the overall effect. I feel the characters melt into the background.

Now a few personal details about my tribe members. I was worried some of my warriors would look like floating heads, so I 'dressed' them with Alison's quotes. I like the concept but feel my execution is not always the best.

While I love the details of the design, I felt the sleigh on the top of the big lady from LPC054 did not really go with the theme. Instead I used the flower in Gwen's set to make her an ethnic crown. They really meld together very well and I really like the resulting composite image.

 

I then steadied my nerves with some chocolate and began rebuilding the organizer. It involved a lot of frustrated huffs, some heart stopping moves and a hammer but I got there... only to realize I had forgotten to deal with the sides of the pieces! That thing was not coming apart again so I painstakingly painted those with a tiny brush. I really really should have done that before but I love how the turquoise contrast with the yellows and brightens the whole project.

 

I slathered the whole thing in gloss varnish to protect and deepen the colours. I was lucky to get some winter sun the next day for pictures in natural light.

I like the placement  and the balance between text and faces on the front. That layer of Cloud 9 really makes all the difference for those face details to be seen!

Those guys have so much personality!

I am very happy with my organizer; it has already found its place on my desk! With a plan in place, things went relatively smoothly. I mainly had to remind myself 'Simple, Dounia, keep things simple!'. Tissue stamping is a oldie but a goodie, especially when you are not good at precision stamping and/or your substrate does not fit in your stamping platform (or both, like me!). I also really recommend the limited colour palette as it pushes you to think differently about your colouring. Of course, it can be on a less involved project, like a card or journal page!

Stay creative!

Dounia x

 

NEW PaperArtsy Products: Lynne Perrella Collection {October 2021}

Lynne Perrella Collection 

October 2021 New Product Announcement

 

A note from Leandra: 

I don't think it is any secret how much I enjoy Lynne Perrella's designs, her  fascinating style, her way of pulling a collection together, it's just a wonderful privilege to be a part of that process. Before we started PaperArtsy in 2003, I was an avid collector of Lynne's Acey Deucy stamps, and it is wonderful that each release she does now resonate beautifully with the stamps she was designing over 20 years ago.

 

We often exchange emails about the upcoming collections and there is always an anticipation and excitement in waiting to see the direction that unfolds as Lynne begins her process of research and study. 

 

This time I asked for a wintery theme, make sure to read her notes below, as your understanding of this series will expand with those insights. I often think it is when you add colour to these stamps they come to life, so look closely to see the details: crystals as jewels, the stars twinkling in a winter sky, the velvety robe of a snowstorm. These elements are repeated across all the set to build a strong connection. I am sure you will get so much enjoyment from these designs.

 

Hi everyone, It's Lynne Perrella here with you today to explain some background to this release and how it came to be.

 

I begin every design assignment with three favorite activities:  list-making, sketching and research.  I also count on serendipity to ignite the best “sparks” during any design process.  

 

Browsing through an old weathered encyclopedia in my studio, I discovered a page dedicated to photographs of snow crystals by W. A. Bentley.  A poor farmer without a formal education, his interests in music, meteorology, and clouds lead him to invent a unique process of photographing snow crystals; and he eventually captured over 5,000 examples for posterity.  I was immediately inspired by the cut-crystal, faceted brilliance of these “gems, wrought by the blizzards”.  Using Bentley’s plates as inspiration, I re-drew a dozen or more of his signature snowflakes, and sprinkled them throughout my new designs.

 

Winter in the Hudson River Valley – the view outside my studio door

Other design influences also swirled around – Arthurian legends, Norse mythology, ethnic design motifs (think:  Latvian mittens and mufflers), tapestries, and the romance of a night sky during a winter snowfall.  Cinematic scenes are never far from my mind, and I recalled a snippet from “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942) complete with sleigh bells and laughter --- and included two patterned horses in this collection.  (and one enigmatic snowy owl)
 

“Winter is not a season, it’s a celebration.” – Anamika Mishra

 

History of costume is a consistent influence for me, and I studied vintage depictions of
King Arthur and Guinevere, rendered by illustration greats such as Howard Pyle and N. C. Wyeth.  That lead to researching medieval hair styles, such as plaited braids interwoven with ribbon, plus coronets/crowns/diadems.  A couple of the frontal-facing characters have a regal “chess piece” vibe.  As you can tell --- Inspiration is everywhere.

Although I greatly admire artists with austere design sensibilities, I enjoy exploring
pattern-on-pattern, and investigating the potential of every visual element.   More is more.

 

“Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood.” – Andy Goldsworthy

 

Inspiration List:
Vintage sample books of lace and stitchery
Snowflake engravings
Old correspondence and inscribed envelopes
Marbled papers
Antique knitting diagrams
Cut-paper silhouettes and old scrapbooks

I enjoyed the challenge of combining and stirring these disparate elements together; problem-solving as I worked to get the right scale, and light-dark balance.   My illustrations are accomplished using some old-school tricks, techniques, and hard-copy art supplies.  No digitalization.

 

“Some people spend their entire lives seeing the snow without ever seeing the magic
 in the existence of one snowflake.” – Emily Littlejohn

 

I love to see what you will create with my stamps.  (I think this collection is especially suited to hand-coloring --- get out your gel pens!)

 

I enjoy designing for Paper Artsy, a company that always gets it right when it comes to the highest-quality production values.  All the intricate details in my artwork are captured with care. Don't forget you will find a list of stockists at the foot of this post where you can purchase my newest stamps.

Thanks so much to Lynne for sharing with us your inspiration for this collection. I love the snowflake crystals as gems, they give a very regal feel to these characters. 

 

Next up for you, Keren is here too, she ended up on a deep dive into these stamps, as you will see! I know  she thoroughly enjoyed the process, it was hard to stop her!! Here is a close up look at each of the sets and Keren's samples. Leandra will be LIVE in the PaperArtsy People group later this evening to share with you Keren's samples, so come on over to check that out if you have some time up your sleeve!  

  New Stamps

Price: RRP €21.92 +VAT
Size:5" x 6" (13 x16.5cm)
All stamps are individually trimmed onto cling foam, presented in a clear hanging bag
with a laminated storage/index sheet.
  

 

Lynne Perrella Collection Set 051 (LPC051)

 

Hi! Keren here and so thrilled to have been given these amazing new sets to play with. There is so much to say about these images and honestly, I couldn't stop creating with them.

The first set drew me instantly with the dreamily wistful women and the majestic steed. I decided to add just one extra stamp set for all the sentiments on the projects -EAB05.

I created a gel plate print using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and then added some Grunge Paste through two stencils ( PS021 and PS127). I've added some Prismacolor pencils over the top of the Grunge Paste. Her hair details reminded me of the medieval crespines that women used to wear so I decided to sew beads over each dot.

If you look at the sets closely, you'll notice snowflakes through every set. The horse gave me reindeer vibes so I made a magical flying Christmas horse adding in sparkles like flying dust.

Lynne Perrella Collection Set 052 (LPC052)

I was really excited to see this set; it's not very often we get male images and this one is spectacular. I love that he goes perfectly with the previous set and I've created something using both of them at the end.

Looking at the man from an angle reminded me of Phantom of the Opera, so I created a little notebook playing with 'opaque and transparent' (a theme I've used through lots of my projects).

 

Opening up the first page, you see the reverse of the phantom's mask so I stamped over the Snowflake Fresco Chalk paint. You can see a long thin stamped image using a previous Lynne Perrella set LPC032.

Adding small circles to the reverse of the Matt Duralar page meant that when you turn the page with 'Christine' on, the circles appear in her cheeks.

My next project is about being 'real' and not choosing a mask. We can sometimes feel that the masked version of ourselves is a better one, but really, the full colour real us is the actual gem.

I've added a brad to the middle and half of the sentiment upside down so when you turn the man, you can see the other character.

I know I've said this before, but the detail in these stamps is extraordinary, even in smaller stamps. Adding some Grunge Paste to the PS108 stencil was the perfect background for Copic coloured markers on this notebook.

Sewing some mini pockets to the bottom of each woman allowed me to slot in miniature tags and some circled wire was nestled behind the middle figure.

Going back to the man- he looks like a Snowflake King, so I added some glitter and eased out the cardstock whilst it was dampened by the glitter glue. Add in some foam pads to the concave areas when dry and you have instant dimension on a watercoloured image.

Hero-ing the little stamps is easy. I stamped the owl twice and borrowed part of one of the LPC053 images to make a tag perfect for a winter Birthday. 

Lynne Perrella Collection Set 053 (LPC053)

 

These next two sets follow a similar pattern to Lynne Perrella's last release. She designed two vintage styled sets and two with a slightly more modern feel. When looking closely at the next image, if you read the capital letter tags in an anticlockwise direction, it spells TORE. So I thought I'd tear some gel printed pages to act as a background. 

I painted her with Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and then slotted her into a sewn matt Duralar pocket. The mini tag with the sentiment on fitted perfectly behind her. Her neck tattoo is just too cool! 

I had the dual sides of Cruella De Vil in mind when creating the project above. Having a dark and light version sewn together with falling snowflakes matching the quote.

Lynne Perrella Collection Set 054 (LPC054)

I wanted to include a sewn brooch, and the cluster of women was the perfect image. I loved sewing on some scarves to keep them warm and then attaching the brooch onto a card so you get a card and gift in one.

The snowflakes aren't just for winter. If you colour them in brightly, they look like flowers. I stamped the woman 3 times onto Smoothy Cardstock and then cut out sections of their body so I could create a shaker element to the card. I masked off part of their face with matt Duralar to add an element of mystery and added beads to the reverse.

The hair detail on the next image is stunning and begging to be coloured. If you look closely at the creature a'top her hat and see the finest line of the whip you'll appreciate how good red rubber (plus a top notch manufacturing process) is at producing detail.

I used the group of women again to create a Christmas ornament. I thought I'd see if I could create a glittered ornament using one of the PaperArtsy glazes. I will dilute it down a little when I try it again, but the end result (whilst not perfect) gives a fabulous effect.

 

I have to admit playing Solitaire sometimes- it drowns out all the other thoughts competing for attention so when I combined these two characters,(from LPC051 and LPC052) they reminded me of playing cards but in an ATC sized way. I could colour these two forever!

Congratulations Lynne Perrella on your outstanding new stamp collection. I'm itching to create more projects with your lovely sets. Leandra will be live in PaperArtsy People to share more with this release too, 7:30 pm UK time, Oct 21 2021.

Socials...

Website: http://www.lkperrella.com/

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