Friday 21 September 2012

Art Journal Everyday: Watercolor

And I'm back.

Today I'm sharing a few backgrounds I made a little while ago when I was art journaling with friends. I played with my tube watercolors and made a bunch of backgrounds.  I like to do the easy stuff when chatting and laughing with friends. I can concentrate on what I'm going to do with all these backgrounds when inspiration hits. Someday.

I also wanted to experiment with stamping in gesso and molding paste using an embossing folder instead of a stamp.   I saw this somewhere recently and have been dying to try it out. Whenever I'm trying a new technique, I like to play with it and make it my own to suit my style. I simply spread on the gesso/molding paste with a old gift card, stamped with the embossing folder, dried it and then covered the whole page with a wash of watercolor.

So, here are my new backgrounds.

This is what stamping the embossing folder in molding paste looks like.

AJED_Pink Emb

Here's a closeup of the embossed section.  It's a lovely deep impression.

AJED_Pink Emb_Closeup

For this one, I stamped the embossing folder in gesso.

AJED_Blue Emb Wallpaper

Here's a close up of the embossed area.   The impression is just as good as the molding paste but it isn't as deep. I use Golden's gesso and it's much runnier than the molding paste which is like spackle. If I put on too much gesso, it would just smear and ooze everywhere.

AJED_Blue Emb Wallpaper_Closeup

Here's more stamping in gesso...

AJED_Blue Emb Circles

And a close up. You can see that the gesso is thicker on this page and the image smeared in places.

AJED_Blue Emb Circles_Closeups

And more stamping in molding paste.

AJED_Blue Circles&Waves

AJED_Blue Circles&Waves_Closeup

You can't really see the difference between the two but it's very obvious in real life. The gesso suface is smoother and the molding paste is raised - just as you'd expect it to be. I have plans to have plans for these backgrounds soon.  

And in case you're wondering, this kind of stamping is great fun and very addictive. One big thing to remember when stamping in either gesso or molding paste is to clean your stamp (or in this case, embossing folding) right away. I was pretty good about cleaning my folders so I have no idea what actually happens if you let things dry.  But if I did forget, I imagine I'd be in the market for some new embossing folders! And that's not really a bad thing, is it?

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Friday!

Cathie

4 comments:

  1. I like the subtle variations of colour on these pages. Can't wait to see what you do with them next!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Tracy. I'll be sure to post and share whatever I do next with these pages.

      Delete
  2. What lovely pages! I'm inspired (and it's only 7am here!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, thanks! You made my day with your lovely comment. I hope you had a chance to act on your inspiration today!

      Delete