From Unboxing To Swatching with Selena Stevens

Welcome to my first post as part of the Design Team for Colour Blast.  My name is Selena Stevens.  My artwork involves mixed media art journaling, usually of whimsical creatures such as fairies and wood nymphs, unicorns and mermaids, the occasional flower and mushroom even turns up. 

I have been creating mixed media paintings since 2013.  Prior to this I did do scrapbooking for several years but felt that it wasn’t quite me.  So here I am. 

I live in rural South East Queensland with my husband, 2 small children, dog, 3 cats, horses, cows, chickens and the numerous wildlife animals that regularly visit our property.

You can follow me at:

Facebook:  Selena Stevens Art

Instagram:  selenajstevens

Youtube:  Selena Stevens Art 

Blog:  https://selenastevensart.wordpress.com/

I am looking forward to being apart of the Colour Blast Design Team and seeing what we can create for you all to enjoy.

Today, my Colour Blast art supplies arrived in the mail and I am so excited to begin.  I want to show you the process I use when I receive a new art supply and I begin with swatching.  I am not overly familiar with these products so it is a quick way to experiment with the product see the colour and see how it reacts to water and some other mediums.

A timelapse video of my process is available here.

So, lets begin….       

 

I started by carving out my own stamp to use with the swatching.  Using rubber block I can carve out any design that I want.  Just remembering that whatever is the highest point is what will be stamped as the design.

I smeared Black Heavy Gesso onto the raised edges of my new stamp using my finger and stamped it onto my art journal page.  It’s probably a good idea to have a practice stamp on to a scrap piece of paper first.  I love how matte the Black Heavy Gesso is once it is dry.

The Colour Shimmer Cube's are in the cutest little pots but they work best with the lids off so they dry out.  Using a wet paintbrush the colour (LovelyLilac, Blush, Rose Petal, Sunshine, Apple of My Eye, Dusty Charcoal and Sienna) was painted onto the swatches.  They are shimmery watercolours that are water-soluble.

Using a paintbrush the Colour Shimmer Spray (Royalty, Punch, Envy, Fire Engine, Stormy Weather and Leather) was removed from the bottle and painted onto the swatch area.  The Colour Shimmer Spray showed up on the Heavy Black Gesso really well show casing its shimmer effect.  Colour Shimmer Spray is also water soluble. 

  

Once my stamps were dry I then applied Colour Paste (Bling, Singin' The Blues and Tangareen Dream) to their respective swatches and left it to dry.  Once the Colour Paste dries it is permanent and water proof but wow how the colour changes and the shimmer that comes out is awesome.

Colour Mica Powder (Cool Mint, Wisteria, Watermelon, Peach Nectar and Olive Grove) was applied to a palette and then mixed with water to dissolve.  This was then painted on with a paintbrush. Mica Powder is not permanent when dry so if water is re added to the Mica Powder then it can be moved around the page a bit more.

The Colour Shimmer Dust (Lollipop, Velvet, Navy, Cobalt, Midnight, Lush, Peacock and Sunflower) swatch was done in much the same way as the Mica Powder.  The dry powder was mixed with water on a palette and then painted on with a paintbrush.  Once the water was added I was pleasantly surprised to see the colour change of the Colour Shimmer Dust.  They became more vibrant and intense, with flecks of colours seen through the main colour as well.  The Colour Shimmer dust is also water reactive.

Once the embossing ink was on the paper I sprinkled the  Colour Embossing Powder (Steel, Snow White, Lipstick and Deep Water) on.  Then I used the heat gun to activate the Colour Embossing Powder to bring out all of its metallic colour goodness.



There are also Colour Charts available from the Colour Blast website for you to download and keep a record of the products that you have.  the Colour Charts have a section for each colour showing how they appear on white and black paper as well as the transparency of the product (the section with the writing).

I hope you have enjoyed this quick way to get familiar with new art supplies and to find out how to use them.

Happy creating until next time.

Selena