Playing with layers.

I'm back to playing in my art journal today and I thought I'd experiment a bit with layers.

I've been a fan of the work of artist Michelle Caplan who produces the most amazing canvases by layering photo's and ephemera together in translucent layers. Here I've tried to put my own interpretation on it and I'll show you how I did it.

You have to excuse the photo below for being out of focus but once done I couldn't go back to take another picture. 

My base layer is a few off cuts of Glitz papers along with a sheet of Glitz paper layers which I've been hanging onto for a special occasion, all glued down with some gel medium.

To make my transparent photo layer I went for an easy and less messy option of printing my photo onto a clear, sticky backed label sheet. It would be best to convert the photo to black and white which you can do easily using web sites such as picmonkey.com

I actually printed my photo out two more times - what a ham!

After sticking them down onto the background I gave it all a quick spray with a fixative because my printer is an inkjet and I didn't want the colour to run out if I used any gel medium on further layers.

For another layer I cut myself some squares of Tim Holtz tissue paper. 

I glued these down to the page and as I had some off cuts of the sticky label sheet, I took advantage of them and used my Glitz roller doodle to stamp the chevron,

and the word 'look' using an alpha stamp.

Lastly I painted blocks of colour with some Bombay ink. I love how the colour changed its intensity on the different surfaces.

Experimenting with layers and transparency is fun and I think I'm well and truly hooked. Try it for yourself.

See you next week

Jaine x

Gesso play time.

 I get through buckets of gesso and really can't get enough of the stuff but black is one which I have been keen to experiment with for ages and I think I've found a new love.

Layering white gesso on top of black produces a stunning and dramatic background and here I've added just a hint of colour to lift the page.

I used Claudine Hellmuth black gesso to paint the entire page, then using a foam stamp, plastic lid, bubble wrap and store card, I added the white gesso marks.

I also used a Glitz roller doodle stamp with the gesso and the result was perfect. NOTE: clean stamps thoroughly after using gesso as it'll dry on and be impossible to clean off afterwards. 

I also stamped in black ink for a subtle background image. Next time I might try stamping with more black gesso for a more dramatic effect but I doubt I could do it with a detailed stamp. Here I've used a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Artful flight stamp set. 

Claudine Hellmuth mediums come in handy small sets to try out and big bottles if you really want to go mad. Try it for yourself and you'll be pleased with the results.


Jaine x