Saturday, October 31, 2009

GPP Crusade No. 34

Collage of elements from my experiments on black paper.
When this Green Pepper Press challenge was announced, I was excited about the possibilities and wanted to explore ideas I have for working on black backgrounds. Earlier this summer I painted a design on black for my husband and have wanted to do more. But it's been a busy month with other priorities. I didn't know if I would get to follow through.
I decided to tear 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of black cardstock in half. Late in the evening I would spend a few minutes trying different media on the paper. It's the end of the month and I have a collection of papers to show for it. I plan to bind them into a journal.

I monoprinted and stamped white gesso on some pages. When dry, I experimented with adding color using opaque watercolor, water soluble oil pastel, and stamping. The gesso was very porous and the colors were very muted on it.

Opaque watercolor and soft pastels were worked directly on black paper with more dramatic results.

Metallic pigment markers were used on glossy black cardstock. I also used them to ink a rubber stamp which is the butterfly in the collage above. The shimmery quality of these images doesn't show up well in the photos.

I used masks and applied soft pastel to a page for dragonflies. I stamped with white chalk ink over hand-shaped masks. I scumbled white gesso around the hands to make them stand out against the page better.

These are among my favorites. I used heavy body acrylic paint - regular and metallic. Paint was applied with a brayer. The papers on the right and the left have been stamped as well. I used acrylic paint on the stamps.
I made notes with more ideas on another black page using a metallic gel pen. I bought black illustration board with the intention of cutting it into covers for the journal, but I cut pieces for new artworks instead. I have already started a new work on one of the pieces.
[I will NOT be pursuing art pieces on this black illo board because the top layer of paper began to delaminate when I put juicy washes of color on the gesso base coat.]
This was a great idea for a challenge. I learned a lot and now have a new set of inspirations to work from. I found that a few minutes spent on a consistent basis will turn into more than I could have imagined. Thanks Michelle!

9 comments:

Leah said...

how gorgeous! and yes, i've found that short bits of time can really add up. very cool.

michelle ward said...

Regina - love seeing your fanned out pages of play on black. Thanks for sharing all this terrific work and spelling out all the processes you tried. I love that you kept at it, taking little bits of time to investigate what can be done when you Come Over to the Dark Side *wink*

Kelly Warren said...

these are all beautiful, regina! what a great way to play around and try new things.

Anonymous said...

What a neat idea to do so many cool pages and them bind them together. I think you have done some awesome work. For someone who's been busy, you sure got busy!

Susan Sager Brown said...

What luscious papers! Love how it all came together. xoSusan

Aimee said...

I left you a little something on my blog! Hope you can take a look.

jgr said...

Hi Regina,
WOW! Your 'Dark side' work is awesome. I love the idea of binding them into a journal, too. Also I love that you worked on them little by little. You have inspired me again:

Anonymous said...

Love the textures and layering, and the colours. Great piece.

iHanna said...

Your pages are super fab, I love the squares and the dragonfly paper a lot, I think I need to make a black page that I then cover with more paint in other colors, just to let the black peek through... mmmm! Thanks.