Saturday 23 June 2012

Art Journal Everyday: I only do backgrounds

I'm having a problem with focal images so all I'm making these days is backgrounds. I love them but they need something - the problem is I have no idea what to do next.

Check out this page...

AJED_Background_1

It looks so neat in real life but I'm at the point where I need to know what I'm going to do next so I can do it and so I don't ruin a page I'm really loving. It's a problem.

I used 3 shades of Faber Castell Gelatos for the blue.  Gelatos are new-ish to me so I'm trying to see what they can do. The stencil is Chequered Dots from Dyan Reaveley's Dylusion line. I used them with Claudine Hellmuth Studio paints in Altered Orange and Blank Canvas.

And while I'm at it, I want to share my favorite way to prime a page. I have been embedding book pages in the gesso before it dries. It's extra texture and visual interest with very little work. I like to tear up the book page and randomly smoosh it into the wet gesso. Then I cover the book paper in a thin coat of gesso.

AJED_Background2

Here's a look at an index card I made as part of Daisy Yellow's Index Card a Day2 challenge. If you look closely you can see the book pages in there.

ICAD2_Day 18

And that's another week in my art journal.

Thanks for stopping by!

zove

Cathie

4 comments:

  1. Omg...glad I found this post cuz I was just saying the same thing!lolol Thanks for sharing these gorgeous back grounds :)

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    1. ha ha! thanks, Jane. it's good to know I'm not the only one that gets stuck sometimes.

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  2. I so know what you mean about not knowing where to go after you finish the background! I don't know how many times I have ruined a perfectly good background after trying to add a focal point that I end up hating! LOL I am working on a canvas for my wall right now and I don't know how long I stared at the thing after I finished the background until I decided what to do with it next.

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    1. I know what you mean about "ruining" things. did that just recently. I think making mistakes & figuring things out is all part of my learning process. at least I know I can make a decent background. ha!

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