Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Papers: Part Deux


Let's review where we left off~~all the papers are dry from being stamped with the clear gesso, and if curled, have been ironed from the back. So now we're ready for the FUN PART! (lol!!!~~I've already had one Blogger fit, maybe getting the post up is the fun part~~hahaha!)
I am using Golden Fluid Acrylics because the colors I chose are bright and transparent and there is plenty of pigment. I picked two, put a bit on the palette and then added water for a wash.

 
This is the only part that gets tricky. You want a WASH, but you don't want a really watery wash. Get the paint moving but don't have soup. Trust me, once you do it once, this will make sense, as I found out the hard way......
Start applying quickly and liberally to the paper.


The clear gesso provides a resist to the paint, similar to batik, but to make it better defined, you'll need to remove some paint. (because the gesso is also meant to HOLD paint...)
It should look something like the above photo. Have a soft cloth handy--I use old dust cloths because, well, it's more fun than DUSTING! Because you want to lift the color OFF the gessoed area.

BLOT!!!

LIFT!!!
Blot, lift, repeat. Don't scrub or swipe, blot and lift. You can rub the gesso off and you can also rub the print off, or too much paint. Every paper will react differently, so taking a cautious approach is best, and really, takes no longer.
When I went to do the skulls, I discovered what happens when the wash is a little too generous with water....


First, paint started seeping, and the paper began to buckle. So I had to quickly paint the piece, blot the extra paint and then.....


...Dry the front a bit, but still I was losing the skulls because.......


.....waaaaay too much water in the mix meant the paint had seeped to the back and was spreading on the reverse of the paper. So the handy-dandy high tech drying tool was used at high heat and close, in an attempt to stop the issue at hand. 
This gives a good idea of how much the gesso resists the water, and the mistake gave birth to the idea of how to handle another type of paper....so it's all good. Mistakes, generally, are GOOD. 

The last paper, in the drying process~~a little better defined. By this piece I had a better *feel* for what it needed.
Like I said, every paper will differ. This is not a perfect science; this is a fun experiment in the works! So don't get upset if something is not *perfect*. Perfect isn't what we're aiming for; interesting texture is the goal.


And the finished pieces....sorry about the quality as I was shooting this on the ironing board quickly and the lighting was nominal. (yeah, I'm lazy)
Anyway, back to the blue paper with the skulls.
I wanted to do old book pages but after the seeping skulls, I knew it needed a different approach, soooooo.......


......I got ready for the next adventure.
I've had about as much of Blogger as I can handle today; we'll pick up here in the next installment. I'm hoping I have all the photos I need for this. The last one with the stamping and ink still needs step out photos done....I'll be hopping.
Like a bunny.
With ink.
Hmmmmmm........  ;-)
Have fun! 


Pax.... 

30 comments:

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

JUST FOR THE RECORD-----
Photobucket is now on the same list as Blogger.
Over an hour to get this post UP and then P.B. drops my signature.
I swear, they are all in it to try and get us to have blogs that have NOTHING on them, or not blog at all.
Yep, I feel a RANT coming on! :-D

XXOO~~
The NAmeless Blog-Mistress

yoborobo said...

Rant, baby, rant! LOL! I love seeing how you do all this. I can only imagine the torn paper in my future (not to mention drowned skulls!), but it looks like so much fun. Thank you for sharing this! I will come back later and read it all carefully again. Hopefully it will sink in. :) Xox Pam

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Pam!

Actually, just let it float, not sink in...LOL!
I know you could use this with some of your projects~~just don't drown the skulls!!! ;-D

XXOO~~
Anne

Georgina said...

hahahaha...I saw that little message from PB before going to your comments and I just knew you had blown a gasket!! LOLOLOLOL!!! Just say with me, "Pinchi (pronounced: Peenchee) Blogger and Photo Bucket!!!!!" Sometimes it works for me!!

Oh well, love the tutorial...learning new stuff!! Now just have to go out and get the stuff!! LOL

Loves ya,
G

Mary Helen-Art Saves Lives said...

Oh Anne I do love the effect you have received on those skulls....they are mysterious and offer the mind a magic carpet to ride upon. You need to continue to balance dear sister...to maintain the artist and the healthy spirit we all love so much. Letting things out is totally healthy!!! Peace , Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

...besides we all love to rant!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, for taking the time to post this tutorial and for the time consuming uploading of images. I don't use Gesso much, but now I am inspired to.

Hey! When you gotta rant, you gotta rant! ;)

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Georgina!

Why do I have a feeling I know what that one word means without even asking? ;-D
Oh yeah....it takes so little to send me to Mars...geez....
You know, just ONE DAY I would love to post my blog without some strange-arse thing going on....
Glad you're enjoying the series!

XXOO~~
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Mary Helen,

I did rather like the spooky look of the skull piece, but the paper was to the point I wasn't sure if it would be usable. I probably will try it again with LESS water and maybe a medium to thin the paint....hmmmm.....there's an idea!

XXOO~~
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hi Palma,

I had never tried the clear gesso until recently, when I wanted to coat some of the rusty pieces for my mixed media, and then I thought, okay....it has to have more uses than just traditional basecoat stuff! (I stay in the studio too long...LOL!!!)
Enjoy!

XXOO~~
Anne

studio lolo said...

Clear gesso! A new toy to try :)

How did you superimpose the skulls over the daisies? I'm lost, as usual!

One thing (out of several) that irks me about Blogger is having to sign in right after you've signed in!! What the hell?

I hope your day is going better.

xoxo
Lolo

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Lolo!!!

Go reread the previous post~~and you shall have skulls!!! (or whatever stamp you like)
Because all the info for this is in the first post.

XXOO~~
Anne....trying to comment without a cursor to show where the heck I am! LOL!

martinealison said...

Magnifique rendu...Bisous

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

martinealison,

Merci beaucoup~~espérons que tous profiter!

XXOO~~
Anne

Dolly Smith said...

Inspiré ! J'aime les crânes. Il était peu un difficile de voir ce qui s'est produit sur le papier de marguerite, mais j'essayerai vos techniques la prochaine fois que je sors les papiers.

merci, ma chere Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

It's texture Dolly, texture. You could make it more pronounced if you wanted, but what I'm looking for is like a *layer* over an existing print. And I wanted to do it on something that could go right or wrong easily---thus, the daisy paper. Lots of print, so some things work better than others.....

XXOO~~
Anne

Anonymous said...

These really are cool. Thanks for sharing and keep ranting, give the juice to keep creating. xox Corrine

elle said...

Anne, this is marvelous. I'm going to be looking for the clear gesso. Thanks for all the details and the assurance that mistakes are redeemable!!

Robin said...

This is so cool!! I can't wait to get some stuff and try it out!!

Silke Powers said...

Well, Anne, these are so cool looking! I mean soooo cool! I love the effect you got with the skulls - sometimes mistakes are wonderful, aren't they?! It's been a busy day here - let me just say that Struwwelsilke finally is in the clear! Yeah!! Love, Silke

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Corrine,

The day I stop ranting is the day they'll be shipping me off to an anatomy 101 lab for budding young doctors! LOL!!! ;-D

XXOO~~
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hi Elle,

If you cannot find the Liquitex clear gesso locally, try an online store. I have to order mine rather than drive for an hour or so....and mistakes are very fertile ground for new ideas....it's the *what if* factor! :-)

XXOO~~
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey Robin!

Hope you can get the little items you need and play along with the fun! Nothing better than making a painty-mess!!!

XXOO~~
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Oh Silke!

Thank heavens I don't have to worry about you disappearing in the recycling papers.... ;-D
Tee hee! Very proud of you!
Yes, you know, if you just work with mistakes--consider it all an experiment with variable outcomes, then it is so much more fun!

XXOO~~
Anne

kj said...

WOW

Bella Sinclair said...

Ooooh! These are so COOL! You turned tired ol' paper into something really exciting!

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hey KJ,

Yes, I will resort to anything to stay away from the dreaded house cleaning, even trying to transform ugly paper into something useful...LOL!!!

XXOO~~
Anne

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

Hi Bella,

It goes back to being a tightwad and wanting to use ALL the different papers, even the ones I do not like.
They work well in collage.....although a few of these could have had a bit more bling to them!

XXOO~~
Anne

di from di-did-it said...

brilliant! I will have to try this ~ thanks so much for sharing your discoveries with us! ♥

Shayla said...

Your blog is full of so much pretty things!!! I can't stop looking.

*Ulrike* said...

Yes, blogger does have its moments or should I say hours or how about days?!

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