Paper Explorations: Natural Resists on paper.

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Like any art project some things that are 'pro' level are expensive. One of those items is watercolor resists. $15.00+ per small bottle. Since this is OLD NEW GREEN REDO...how about using some household items for resists.

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The Mather handout for this week's Paper Explorations was interesting.

Materials:

• Acrylic paints, (I used craft and tube)
• Thick paper such as mixed media or watercolor paper ( I used rough finish watercolor paper, I used FineArt (Walmart) 140# pad bought on clearnace)
• Paintbrush or sponge
• Pencils

 

All of these are inexpensive resists

For soap resist:

• Liquid dish soap (Dawn)
• I wondered about drawing with bar soap????
• 
  

For glue resists:

• Washable glue stick 
• Washable liquid washable glue (I used Elmer's Clear)

 OTHER OPTIONS for resists.

     Wax crayons, oil crayons/pastels, grease pencil for black lines (These will all repel the acrylic or watercolor on top of them)

Optional materials:

• Stencils or paper cuttings to use with glue
• Hair dryer (to speed up drying)
• Spray bottle (for rinsing)
• Alcohol markers (for background colors accents)
• Paper toweling or soft towel

. 

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First my supplies...trusty alcohol markers, some luminescent acrylic craft paint, my clear washable glue, FineART (Walmart on clearance)140 Water Color paper, (rough side, if I do this again, I'll try the smooth (tight) side.)

PLAN B. I left the bulk of the washable glue partially on the paper as it was let it dry spread out and some spots bare. 

I had a night-time painting idea with Fireflies on Zinnias with a dark background and the highlights of the glue to be the lightning bugs and moonlight on the Zinnias...well.... I scribbled some rough outlines in green Prismacolor pencil (also a bit resistant) for guides and then the glue as lines.

Original Directions:

Apply glue/soap resists and sketches on paper, let dry. Paint Acrylic over, let dry

Then wash by spritzing with water, or wet cloth/paper towel, or under the faucet. 

Wash the acrylic off the top of the glue and then wash or rub the glue off to expose the light areas paper. 

Treat the open areas with more paint, markers or leave exposed. SOUNDS SIMPLE.

After the sketching, glue and drying.  I painted my first washes of Acrylics I left them to dry.

To remove the paint on the glue, I carefully tested my paper first with paper towel and spritzing to lightly rub off most of the paint, then the glue and found very quickly the paper began to peel a bit, while the glue broke down and just thinned out covering larger areas  still on the paper. A mess of sorts and blotchy.

PLAN B. I decided to leave the bulk of the washable glue partially on the paper as it was and let dry spread out and some spots bare. Results Below

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Okay, I used the resist for stems, sticks, bug outlines flower edges(lined), but the glue wouldn't dry so I tried to wipe some off or make petals, to get it to dry within the class time. 

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The rocks on the bottom of the painting were scribbled with White Oil Crayon that melted with the hairdryer, so I scratched on that  surface to remove some for texture. I may try an entire piece with this crayon and see what happens. The brown marker filled in the lines I scratched out. 

I used the acrylics thinned out a bit...letting these dry again and then began working on the background in Dk Green and Dk Brown alcohol pens. It's really not night-time at all by this point.

PLAN B. I left the bulk of the washable glue partially on the paper as it was let it dry spread out and some spots bare. 

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It's hard to see the glue textures, but you can see some of my green sketch lines underneath that I used and then added the glue.

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Quite the mess? Now what?

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I was afraid to try and scrub all the glue further than this. Well, instead of working with more Acrylics, I grabbed my alcohol markers in lighter shades first, then darker colors which worked right on top of the glue residues transparently. HMmmm, VERY interesting.

If you haven't tried inexpensive alcohol markers from 5-Below...do....these types of markers in name brands cost 3-5$ each and a whole set is $5.00. I have had to add alcohol to a few drying ones after having them for 7 months. Easy peasy and cheap. I have papers and papers covered in these markers and the tips have held up well. I seldom make recommendations but this is a must have.

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With light marker colors I went over lots of the whites, then accented with darker pens on top of that...still leaving bits of white here and there. We do have Peppermint Zinnias coming up here.

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Before working over

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These are the same areas, after adding some yellows to brighten it up to match the flowers...now Day light and the bugs will become Bees... I just need to add some black stripes.

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Yikes scribbled ZINNIAS...missed an N.?

Same areas after applying the alcohol markers and details.

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Both photos the same areas. Since this wasn't the plan, I don't consider it a failure, but a learning experiment with unexpected results, lol.

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I will definitely play with these homemade resists and applications. And, I didn't have to go to the store and spend $15.00. Upside of the glue, it could be brushed on with a bit of water easier than actual masking fluids, which are instantly gummy and sometimes difficult.

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My favorite bit from this exercise.  You can see my expensive watercolor tape, actually lifted the paper surface after two hours.???

 I will be using this paper I think for Sketchbook bits or quick watercolors. Or I will try the backsides and see if it holds up better on the smoother side.

Next art post will be all the other resist techniques in a more clinical way with examples. Finding out what a specific product does or doesn't do, 

 is worth the effort!

WHAT NEW IDEA-TECHNIQUE 

HAVE YOU TRIED LATELY?

Thanks to Free Mather Senior Online Classes 

HERE.

Thanks always for visiting, 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

      

Paper Explorations and Paper Cutting, Two summer themed projects!

 Quick post, such a busy week. We have two birthdays here and the 4th festivities...so hope you all are busy and having fun, too.

Paper Art Explorations and Paper Cutting!

My first Paper class was assigned to do postcards of a vacation scene, cutting or tearing your papers. I had been in the garden all morning, so I was madly tearing bits and pieces from magazines and some papers I had in my file as the instructor talked about the concept of postcards.

This  Size of 4" x 6" is really small for me, but I followed the class guides. I worked on some card stock. The first one started with the cool potted plants image and a screen which I used as a back to an imagined deck lounger..the blue torn strips are water and the rest is jus shadows, colors, rocks...and bits of pebbly beach all from various papers and images from magazines.

Again, two little projects in roughtly 40 minutes. I use Elmer's school clear water-based glue and love it. It dries quickly and doesn't disturb the colors of anything, and you can work on top of it. The glue does slightly repel alcohol markers. 

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If I had time I would have searched for an interesting vacation related word...for the center, instead of my lousy lettering.

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Warmed up, the only thing I cut for this postcard was the tree shapes at the top...everything else is torn papers, in fact so much was off the page of 4"x6" that I just trimed all the edges even with my measured card base.

Niagara Falls is gorgeous and on a sunny day the water is every color and glistening. I tried to capture that memory with cool and warm blues and whites.

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Tools and Materials Used for these were 

card stock, scrapbook papers, magazine pages

Elmers Clear school glue, 

magic marker...

oh, and a square/ruler! 

Paper Cutting Class

This Piece was from this week and it was supposed to be distressed by removing colors of the pieces and background by sanding/salt sanding with a texture underneath. 

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I'm learning to work really fast. I have some of those expensive craft magazines, and create magazines besides files and files of articles on antiques, gardening and home decorating---these are from before Pinterest., When I purged my magazine collection I saved so many pages I have file boxes of them sorted according to topic. Now, with pinterest, there is no need to have printed materials...when you can have every image available there.

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This is page is roughly 11" x 14" on some paper from inside a purchased thrift store frame, a little heavier than printer paper, and lighter weight than cardstock. It has a bit of a sheen to it, but accepted all the materials I used.

Gardening has been all I have been doing, and that great beetle image was the start and then the Hands...again, working within the 40 minute time frame...I'm getting really fast at making choices on the spot. Paralyzing indecision is really a stumbling block to making Art. Your brain is your worst enemy sometimes. 

Here,  The sun was a design from an article on stamping? 

I loosely cut out the beetle, the background was white, but alcohol markers were a quick fix of that. The dark background where I had planned to do leafl, twig rubbings/distressing were done in alcohol ink, which ended up entirely saturating the paper---which I didn't realize. I thought that sheen would cause the markers to sit on top. NOPE!

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Heres my tools and scraps...the leaves twigs I wanted to use for rubbing/distressing.

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The images of the hands really add a personal touch to this work...touching Nature...I think you can smell those mini Asters and Sea Holly.  I have two big branches of Sea Holly growing in the garden, can't wait until they turn dusty purple.

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Well the distressing didn't work...because of the heavy saturation of alcohol marker and the images on the heavy magazine papers! These really didn't want to distress either...so I painted my leaves and printed the fresh leaves in several  greens of Gouache. (opague/semi opaque water-based paints from tubes.)

I've had the set for ages and just hadn't used them. 

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I also altered othere areas with more ink...added some extra orange, marked the nails in blue/green, and disquised any white background in some shade of green, blue, or dark purple. Lines and business were added for the texture I was missing from not being able to distress.

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The Moth/Butterfly image is marked up, I added more orange and red. The darks are dark blue and green markers in the background and around the leaves.  Here and there are some colored pencil enhancements, mostly in oranges and green.

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To end on the Upbeat, I will try  another simple image and maybe a painted gouache background and then try some distressing with sand paper and stencils, or branches of heavier cedar or fir pieces.  

Lace, mesh, crushed papers/aluminum foil were suggestions. I think I will try them all and do another post. But, not today!

Anyway, I loved doing this and creating the positive message...which is perfect for this time of year!

Summer solstice and all! I do love the experimental aspect of this paper work, which is really a new lesson  for me. 

Thanks to Free Mather Senior Online Classes 

HERE.

Thanks always for visiting, 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Be Inspired Linky

Talking About it Tuesday

Tuesday Turn About

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 

Mather Classes: Paper Art Explorations and Paper Cutting.

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With the horrible heat this week, I'm adding a couple of new classes to keep me in the house.

Paper Art Explorations was to be a  TORN landscape or a city scape. Very fast class, I ripped a bunch of paper up into strips and pieces, some from old photos I had enlarged on printer paper. I really didn't know what i wanted to do...and it just sort of fell together. 40 minutes isn't a lot of time to think...which I think is an asset...not getting lost in the muddle of my mind.

I confess the only bit I used a scissors on was this blonde head...this piece has been floating around in my scraps.....waiting, and yes, Denmark is a HAPPY place. Certainly happier than here in the USA.

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Everything else was ripped. The church steeple is from Denmark and very old photo, also the shoreline. Bits of houses are from Copenhagen Nyhagen-the historic district.

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The disjointed letters are DAN and an E. I forget what the original word was.

The textures and colors are all reminiscent of my summer in Denmark.

I used a clear washable Elmers glue to set my pieces and then coated the whole thing with my new  Golden Matte Gel medium. I wait for sales when I buy mediums or paints and then take advantage of the savings. Coupons are good too.

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The family home I stayed in was right on the Skattegut, the part of the sea between Denmark and Sweden. I often walked the long harbor pier and beach behind the house. The greens and yellows are the lush vegetation and flowers that every home had.

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The figures are from another old photo blown up ...turn of the century of a park. Denmark is big on walking and parks.

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the reflection on the water, water is everywhere in Denmark which is many islands and a huge fjord slicing through the north part. The sea is life, food, and a source for vacationing.

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Here you can see how it was attached to my sketchbook. After trimming and removing, I did a tint on all my raw white edges...I wanted the feeling of sunlight, then when that was dry I totally gave it a Gel Medium Coat. 

Denmark is often described as the Fairytale Country due to Hans Christian Andersen's Fairytales...so the eyes in the sea at the bottom of the piece of course

are Ariel, the Mermaid of HC's famous tale,

 "The Little Mermaid."

This technique was loads of fun...and I'm looking forward to the next class. 

I also took a Paper Cutting Class during this week of horrible weather. Since this was my first class, I did not know what to expect. 

But the instructor, Flor gave us a quick history lesson on Chinese Paper cutting, a very old art form, some pieces have been actually found from the 6th century.

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 Yes that is old. I wonder what kind of scissors did they use?

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Actually, I think I will bring a cutting tool up from the basement next time, as my scissors strength isn't very good for details or thick folded papers.

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We were taught how to fold a Square into 8 sections and used a template to cut out our first one. The only red paper I had in my room was a red manilla folder, which was very thick to fold and cut.

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The second one I grabbed a sheet of yellow printer paper with a design on the edge...this was the perfect thickness for the project. 

Again, 40 minutes or so flies by, and we just finished and shared and the class was over.

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This was very interesting and worth a look further for some research! 

Jian Zhi with accents above the 'a' and 'i'.  

Pronunced, Jin Shan, like I said very interesting.

Thanks always for visiting, 

I will try and respond to every comment and answer every question. 

Join me at these fine blog parties:

Be Inspired Linky

Talking about it Tuesday

Tuesday Turn About

All the opinions and photographs in this blog are my own unless identified, I have not been paid or reimbursed in anyway for my opinions, posts or any products shown.  

 Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.  

Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi