Tuesday 26 February 2013

The Beauty of a Garden

Tonight, my paint took to a piece of grey chipboard (like Leandra was using on Sunday) and the Lin Brown stamps again.

 it started like this - all very green! - when I brushed on the excess green paint from yesterday's journal page

Too dark. Needed more colours.... but first to knock back all the green. Don't ask me which greens - most of the ones I have!!

I was intending to make this multi coloured.... or at least not all green.... but...

 applied a wash with watered down Honey Dew over a dampened surface...
Added more greens - limelight, hey pesto. more knocking back with a baby wipe, sprayed water and dabbed it off...
Added stamps from the ELB02 set, in paint,  (clean your stamps straight away!) and punchinella from Sara Naumann's set ESN08 in coffee archival randomly, rolling the stamp to get partial images.

Knocked it all back again as before (scary, covering up all that colour but Leandra's right, it works.....)
Top layers! (finally you say!) Stamped the tulip straight onto the background, with Pansy and Eggplant for the head, Honeydew, Tinned Peas and Hyde Park for the leaves.

The leaf stem from Lin's set, stamped in Cobalt archival round the edges, then I 3d foam mounted the spare leaf and tulip from Sunday, stamped on black card. Offset the tulip over the direct image.

Added the flora and fauna words in leftover paint, and the solid small flower from ELB02 in Pansy.

Took all the pictures... thought there was something missing...
so inked up "the beauty of a garden" from Lin's stamps, half at a time, in black archival..

not sure. Have I ruined it? don't know...but it's done now!!
Perhaps I should have stamped these words on white card and fixed them.... or perhaps they're too solid a font.
(edit - I think white card would have been too stark a contrast, but I think I should have found a text stamp with a more curvy font for contrast).



11 comments:

Angie said...

WOW ...love the end result ...and following the steps was so interesting. At the final 'knocking back' I was sorry the wonderful greens had gone but then I saw what you did next and it was so right ....how I wish I had your insight ...and freedom of expression. Tganks for sharing.

Darcy Marshall said...

I like the bold text it works. i would rub a little contrast colour around the edges of the board, just to frame it.

PaperArtsy said...

I love the stamping in black at the end, I think you are right, the white would possibly look too stark. I love it. Those images stamped onto black card look really good!

Lin said...

love all the layers helen you've done a really good job...great colours and no you haven't ruined it!!

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

At nearly every step along the way, I kept thinking it was time to stop, but you kept going and I kept reading. It just goes to show I stop too soon, because this is stunning. Looks like you have been on a flower kick lately, too. This one and the previous post, with flowers (and designs) so different, are both stunning.

sam21ski said...

Wow I did get slightly worried when you painted it over for the second time, but it came out great, love the double image over the flower.

Sam xxx

Anonymous said...

I have to admit; when I saw the first pic, I wondered where on earth it was going to end up. ;) But the end result is gorgeous & I love how you gave the tulip a shadow.

Alison Scott said...

Lovely page. I love the step by step guide. Thanks for sharing.

yoursartfully said...

Your finished project looks fabulous Helen. I know it's scary when that whitewash goes on but it works every time, you just have to go with and let it work it's magic. I too think the dark text was the right choice, otherwise it would have become part of the background..... You must be thrilled with it.

Lin

Virginia said...

Loving the layers of how the finished item came to be!

Words and Pictures said...

I think the strong font of the words really complements the bold graphics of the tulip - it really works! Great to watch those layers build up - thanks so much for sharing all the details.
Alison x