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| Cover art on Strathmore Visual Journal |
How does the changing of the seasons affect my art?
I tend to work with a limited color palette and usually prefer saturated colors. But looking back at the past winter months I see that I played a lot with softer colors, especially aqua. Maybe a desire to be at a warm beach during the long cold winter was influencing me.
Lately, I've been experimenting with bright green. Today's project was to embellish the covers of a Strathmore Visual Journal. They have a tough, shiny cover that I sanded to give more tooth for the paint. Then I applied gesso that I distressed with waxed paper. While the gesso was wet, I lay a piece of waxed paper on the surface and lifted it off. The gesso dried with an irregular texture.
Next, I painted a thin layer of lime green paint on the surface and dabbed some off with damp cheese cloth.
The special seasonal touch to this cover came from the leaf masks. A short storm left bunches of leaves and twigs on the ground yesterday. I picked up a few and pressed them over night.
I laid the leaves on the covers and sprayed a couple colors of diluted Liquitex Acrylic Ink.
I really like the results of this project so far and have started a similar project on canvas.
This crusade has me thinking about the influence the seasons have on my work and I can use that awareness.
When I get stuck for inspiration, I can let the unique qualities of the season spark ideas. The bright green that I'm working in seemed too intense when the ground was covered with snow. But now the outdoors is bursting with green and it just seems natural to be working with it.
13 comments:
This is a beautiful cover. I love it that you shared your process here. The gesso and wax paper technique were completely new for me - a new idea to try out.
The green cover seems to be indeed a very spring/summer influence. This challenge make me so much aware of what I am doing right now compared to what I did 4 months ago. It is fun to discover the rhythm of one's art making!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
This is lovely. I love that you used the leaves from outside!
I believe colors are very therapeutic and I wouldn't doubt that we change our color choices with the seasons, that makes total sense.
Hugs and blessings
Regina - love the cover! The colors are a wink to summer...cool to learn you used real leafs...not obtainable in the colder months. Thanks for sharing your work with the team, and your observations of seasonal wardrobes, and how we can gain inspiration from our environment.
I love that juicy green! I'm glad to hear you can paint on these Strathmore journals with some sanding and gesso. I've got a few of them going but haven't touched the covers because I wasn't sure what to do with them since they are so slick.
This is very pretty - love the soft color and the leaf prints.
Regina, this cover is awesome! Thank you for describing your technique, too. I love to make my own journal covers, maybe I'll try it. Of course I love your color scheme and the texture: yummy!
gorgeous! I love the waxed paper on gesso trick. I'm going to have to try that!
That green is fabulous - I use a lot of bright greens at the moment so this really resonates with me. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Great colours; very similar to my favourite summer colourings! Thanks for sharing your technique too.
I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's reaction to this challenge and I like that you use colours that remind you of summer during the winter. I really love how you have done these covers. The leaf stencil is fantastic.
Beautiful cover! I love the green; I'm drawn to green in the spring and summer, too. It just feels right. I love the textures you ended up with. Thanks for sharing how you accomplished it!
You can never go wrong with green, love it. Love your ferns, so summery!
These are really beautiful pages. I just love the way the texture has come out and the fact that used leaves as a mask. Thanks so much for sharing.
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