Ooh La La!

I have so much fun playing in my studio with new techniques - and today I have a canvas to share with you as the fruits of my labor.

The Art Anthology paints that I used created the perfect background for this bright and whimsical piece.

 

So let's talk about how my background was created.  The Art Anthology paints are vibrant - so I always start off intense and tone the colors down as I work with gesso.  I worked on a 12 x12 cradled wood board, and primed it first with the Art Anthology gesso. The background was sprayed with Patience and Glorious and after that was dry, Raider was sprayed through a doily stencil.

 

Patterned paper was torn, the edges were dipped in the Waimea Bay Blue and then adhered to the canvas (to start the sky area)

I "white washed" the canvas with gesso to tone it down and blend the colors.

I stamped lace trim images and heat embossed with black powder.

I spritzed more and sprinkled the canvas with sea salt.  The salt sucks up the color - leaving awesome designs and texture.  When it's all dry, sweep off the salt, and you are left with the paint effect.

This next technique was subtle, but oh so cool!  Tape a stencil onto the project, and stamp over it using StazOn Ink in random areas.

Without moving the stencil, use a palette knife to spread AA Velvet paints through the stencil.  Since the paints are semi-transparent,  you will still be able to see parts of the stamped design.

 (I used Aloha, Fiesta and Lagoon)

I used stencils and modeling paste to add more relief to the piece, and used my finger to rub the Velvets around the raised areas.

The final thing I did for the background treatment, was I drew vein lines over some areas using the Dimensional Crystal (ok - this stuff is awesome!)  I used the Peony and Mermaid.

So this canvas was ready to be finished.  I just added the focal elements to the lovely painted background and completed it with a few embellishments.

If you have any questions about these techniques, just let me know! I'd be glad to answer them.