Monday 11 September 2017

Warm-neutrals random numbers background for art journal page - Dina Wakley Media Journal

Dina Wakley released a wonderful Media Journal earlier this year, which contains 4 types of surface - burlap, canvas, kraft and "watercolour paper" - I'm not convinced the latter IS watercolour paper but it's useful for mixed-media - I personally would have called it "mixed media paper" as it is very misleading - results with watercolour paint aren't great as it absorbs water like a sponge and not like watercolour paper...! That said, I ADORE the other 3 surfaces and the kraft in particular.



So anyway, I've been using one of the four signatures of the Journal to experiment and play so that I can make a fair review video of it for you. Last night I set to work on the kraft pages and I thought I'd share this beautiful, chocolate-y neutral background with you - I'll be adding the plaster-effect tag I made today to this page when it's finished. Why have I obliterated the beautiful kraft colour on this page? Well, the opposite page that can be seen in the above image is still kraft coloured and I intend to use that so that both the pages have that warm brown colour in them - I may even cut the opposite page down and make a kraft layer over this background - who knows?!



What I used:
Dina Wakley Media Journal - I specifically used one of the kraft pages and I only worked on the right-hand side of the spread - I could have done it over 2 pages really easily. [BUY NOW]

DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylic Paints:
   Titan Buff [BUY NOW]
   Burnt Umber [BUY NOW]
   Raw Umber [BUY NOW]
(you could take heavy body or tube acrylics and thin with a suitable medium if you don't have these fluid paints)

Daler and Rowney Simply Acrylic Gesso - this stuff is CHEAP and you need a few coats! [BUY NOW]

Gold Taklon 3/4" brush - these are cheap and you can buy them in any art or craft store, usually in packs with other brushes. If you want a better quality set of brushes for mixed-media work, try the Dina Wakley Media Brushes Short Handled set.

Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous "Perspectives" stamp set - but any numbers or text stamp will do. [BUY NOW]

Ranger Archival Inks:
   Coffee [BUY NOW]
   Sepia [BUY NOW]
   Potting Soil (Wendy Vecchi range) [BUY NOW]
(you can also buy these inks in economical mini-ink-pads which are what I used to do this layout - you will need Ranger Archival Mini Ink Pads Set 2 (Sepia, Coffee, Plum and Jet Black) [BUY NOW] and Wendy Vecchi Archival Mini Ink Pads Set 1 (Carnation Red, Sunflower, Garden Patina and Potting Soil) [BUY NOW]. These are a fantastic and economical way to build your stash!

Kitchen towel or a tissue

What I did:
STEP 1. I first coated the page with 2 coats of gesso to give me a really nice surface for blending acrylic paint on. I painted the first coat with a dry brush and left it to dry for 30 minutes then painted the second coat wetting my brush so that it was a thinner layer - I usually call this technique "1.5 coats of gesso"!

STEP 2. I shook the acrylic paints really well and then squirted the Titan Buff in a line across the middle and, using a damp brush, worked really fast to cover the whole page in a rough, imperfect coat. I then went around the edges to make sure they were not left with gesso showing through.

STEP 3. Whilst the paint was still wet - albeit starting to stiffen - I applied drops of Burnt Umber and Raw Umber in random spots and then used vertical-only brushing to blend them - the result resembled melted chocolate-vanilla ice-cream I guess! I added some Burnt Umber around the edges and then applied Titan Buff direct to my brush and used it to blend the Burnt Umber into the page. I then left it to dry for 1h.



STEP 4. I took the square numbers stamp from the "Perspectives" stamp set and covered it with Coffee Archival Ink. By folding it and applying it at random, I covered about 1/3rd of the background in random, imperfect numbers. I did not re-ink it, I just let it run out. I then inked it again (without cleaning it) using Potting Soil and covered another 1/3rd roughly, before re-inking with Sepia and filling in all of the gaps to give me a beautiful warm-neutral background for my journaling! I usually leave Archival Inks about 1h before I work on top of them - I know they don't need anywhere near that long but it gives me peace of mind that I won't ruin my background if I just leave them a little longer than necessary.

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