It's 52 degrees here now, but it got down in the 30s here last night. The weather sure is waffling here now as spring tries to push the last dregs of winter away. It got up to 80 degrees about 4 days ago. That was too warm for this time of year, but it was just a hint of what more will come later.
Last night I decide to play with my new stencil that had 3 versions of a dandelion and 3 choices of words. This dandelion with the hearts was shown with the word "Love", but I mixed and matched for "Faith" because I like that word. It was the first time I had any plan on part of what the finished product would have on it. The background and stuff wasn't planned when I started, just that it would have the dandelion and the word.
I had this coloring book page I had stenciled over before and had already used a piece of the top elsewhere. I chose the main colors I wanted to start the project with and painted color over parts of it with each one.
I used the same colors to paint a first layer of background on an 8 X 10 stretched canvas.
THEN... the paper glueing began.
You can see that I cut the above paper in half and put that on first, then I started with some other papers I had made before. It didn't take but just this one test, to find that I will probably not use the tracing paper again for painty papers. I had mentioned before that with it being thin and mostly transparent, I wasn't sure why I hadn't heard the video artists talk about it before, except for one and I am wondering if this is why. Once it got damp with glue, it wanted to curl immediately and it took extra effort to make it lay down. then once it did, there was no amount of manipulating that could make it become smooth. It had tiny wrinkles even though there were no air bubbles.
I'm not opposed to there being some additional texture really, but I just didn't think it should take that much effort to make it cooperate! There could be different kinds of tracing paper, something I didn't think of in advance of buying some. If there is, maybe another kind would work better or if there is no other kind, I don't think it will go forward with me on my learning journey. I'll decide after I study it better.
I continued to add various papers till the whole canvas was covered.
Then I added on a second layer of paints, thinner and randomly applied. I had previously used some papers on the background that had some purple in them, so that color became part of mix.
I chose the location I wanted my featured pieces and glued them on. I had stenciled them on pink rice paper
Before I began, I had gone through my collage papers and picked out some papers that had similar colors that I had intended to go in the upper layers. I expected part of them to show on the surface at the end, but it took a different turn after I added the feature pieces and I couldn't make the originally intended papers fit in. It's ok, they will just show up later in another project.
I kept adding various bits of paper and paints until I thought it looked as finished as I could get it with the direction it had taken.
This is how it ended up. I wasn't positive there should not be something else added, but it did seem mostly balanced and I do like how the blended colors turned out.
A fun photo of my work space once it was done.
Like most Sundays, I will be going for a visit with my Mom today. As soon as I post this I will grab a shower, get dressed and call in an order to a restaurant called Golden China and swing by on the way to get us some lunch. She was hungry for some vegetable fried rice, which by the time we finished talking on the phone, also included a spring roll and some wonton soup. I haven't decided what I want for myself yet, but I have till it is time to call in the order in to change my mind 50 times. 😂
I had posted one of my projects on my facebook and Mom had seen it. I had told her what I was doing last Sunday. On the phone this morning she asked if they were small enough for me to bring one to let her see close up what I was doing, so I will be taking a couple of pieces with me. She threatened to come over to see them if I couldn't ... ha ha ... of course she is welcome here any time and she knows that. It might really be more effective if she came and saw what a big mess is in my living room though.
Ok... time to fly.
Hope you all are having or have had a wonderful day.
