Never Stop Exploring
For my first project of 2022, I decided to use the January Mixed Media Kit from Tres Jolie, featuring a set of Gouache paints from Prima and a bunch of go-with goodies. To save my life, I cannot draw, so I thought I would experiment with the paints and see what I could come up with. I added a few items from past kits and a couple of things from my stash and came up with this:
I began by using the stencil that came with the kit and the crackle paste from September to create texture on the surface of the watercolor panel.
While that was setting, I created a few resin frames with the Stamperia mold that came in the July Mixed Media Kit and put them aside.
Now for the experimenting…. Gouache is much thicker than watercolor paint and the colors are very intense. I ended up blending a few colors here and there to come up with a blue that wasn’t too dark. I watered this down a bit before applying it to the top of the board. I used my mister to further water it down and used my heat tool to direct the colors toward the bottom. I repeated this step several times until I was satisfied with the results, then I coated the sides and let them dry.
I put this aside for a bit while I did a bit more blending and colored the resin frames. Once the paint was set, I used a stipple brush to burnish them with Metallique Wax.
I altered the canvas flowers with the same blends that I used for the canvas and frames and gave them a few swipes of the wax.
Now for the assembly…. First, I applied Metallique wax around the edges with my finger to create some definition. Then, I adhered the frames and flowers to the board. Next, I mixed some Art Stones with gel medium and spread them inside the frames and here and there around the edges of the flowers and allowed this to set firmly before coating them with more of that wax. I covered a few Art Pebbles with gesso and then wax and glued them along with a few pearls here and there.
I added a butterfly and a Quote Chip and called it “done”.
***************************************************
Don’t forget that Tres Jolie can be found in the following places: