Art Journal - Shadow Lady by Tracey Campbell

Hello, I am excited to be here today, sharing my first Art journal page. I have been part of the Bee Arty with Colour Blast Kit Creative Team for some time and am now happy to be sharing my inspiration here on the blog.

Today I have created Shadow Lady using a few different products which I will outline as I give you step by steps on how she took shape.

In my art journal I lightly traced the Face Side Profile 1 Stencil with a lead pencil.

Next I lightly filled in an outline for some flowing hair and a flower in the hair.

 Using the Fuchsia Inspired Collection Pan Watercolour Set  or some watered down Slipper Colour Artist Ink  paint in the hair, with varying degrees of hues. This is done by adding more water to the paint or ink to dilute the colour down.

Repeat the process with the Sea Foam Watercolour Pan Set or Mermaid Colour Artist Ink adding highlights to the hair.

Fill in the back ground, the feather and the flower with the Watercolour Pants or diluted Colour Artist Ink. Once dry lightly sprinkle Midnight Colour Shimmer Dust around the background of the Shadow Lady.

Using a spray bottle of water activate the Colour Shimmer Spray and let dry.

Place the Face Side Profile 1 Stencil over the traced profile and apply a layer of Dusty Charcoal

Colour Blast Colour Paste.

Let dry.

 

Using a waterproof ink and the Meridian and Live Your Art Stamp Sets ink the circle images around the profile. Let the ink dry.

 Using a pallet knife spread some Bling Colour Paste through the Dusk Stencil over the inked back ground.

Speed up the drying paste by using a heat gun, this will also make the Colour Paste bubble, which adds texture to the page.

For the finishing touches use a black marker to outline the Shadow Lady image, the feather, the flower and add waves of hair.

To add interest fill in some thicker lines of the hair and then use a white paint pen to add details of dots and lines.

Here is the final image, I hope I have inspired you to pull out your mixed media and get messy.

Thanks for you time.

 Hugs

Tracey

Abstract Floral painting by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

It's Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I have something a bit different - an abstract painting I created using Colour Artist Inks. 

This painting came about one day when I was having a bad day. I felt like losing myself in something creative, but just wasn't sure what I wanted to do. As I was sitting and looking out the window, I was staring at some flowering bushes over the fence in my neighbours yard. That was enough inspiration to get me started, so I pulled out a sheet of watercolour paper to see what would come out.

The result was an abstract floral painting, inspired by the colours and shapes of my neighbours plants...

I took photos along the way to document my process so I could share it. These are the supplies I started with - a sheet of watercolour paper and a range of Colour Artist Inks in warm tones (Slipper, Cranberry, Sunburnt, Citrus, Cider, Barley, and Spice.)

I started by misting my paper lightly with a water spray bottle to make it a little wet, to help the inks to wick out as they hit the paper. 

I began with the lightest tone - Citrus as my base, and then built on it from there; adding some smaller areas of Cider over the top; then smaller again with Cranberry. I used a small round brush and a gentle dabbing motion to apply the ink to the page, allowing the paper to naturally draw the colour from the brush.

You can see in the close up below how the inks wick out with the use of the water (bleed / spread across the page) and then in the second shot below how they look once they had dried.

Once the base colours had dried, I again used my small round brush, but this time used a sweeping stroke to apply some of the pink Slipper ink to the page. As these are dye based inks, they will reactivate and blend when wet, so I added the strokes into the spaces around and between the other colours.

I then allowed the Slipper ink to dry completely before adding more detail. The next colour I used was Sunburnt - used to apply the narrower sweeping strokes over the Slipper ink and the clusters of small dots. I used Spice to apply the small, short strokes. 

Now it was time to add my "fence" to the bottom section of the page. I used Slipper for the base colour, then Sunburnt and Cider for the detail and highlights over the top.

With all the inks in place, I left the page to completely dry before colouring in the background. I wanted a soft tone so as not to draw away from the focus of the picture, so I used Stormy Weather Colour Shimmer Spray (a nice soft, shimmery grey) and simply dipped my small brush into the bottle and painted in the remaining blank area of the page. I took care not to overlap any of the inked areas so as not to muddy the colours.

Once the background was dry, it was time to add the final details. I used my Stabilo All pencils (black and white) to draw in the detail over the top.

I started with the black pencil, using it to trace the lines around and between the colours; following the naturally occurring lines formed by the inks. I also used the black pencil to colour in any remaining spots of white around the edges, between the flowers and also on the background.

To finish off, I added a few highlights with the white pencil.

(I was so happy with the result of this painting that I even framed it!)

And there you have it - a fun, simple project that you can try yourself with very few supplies. You don't need any particular artistic talent to be able to create a project like this, just play with your supplies and see what comes out.
Until next time, happy creating!  

"Unique" by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here with my latest design team project for you. Today I have a 12x12" mixed media scrapbook layout to share using very simple techniques that combine for a great result. The products I used on this page include Colour Shimmer Dusts; Colour Paste; Colour Spray and a Colour Shimmer Brush Marker.

I created this page after seeing this photo of my daughter and her friend pop up in my Facebook memories and realised that I hadn't scrapped it yet. The photo of them was really vibrant and featured quite strong colours, so I wanted to create a colourful and fun page to go with it.

This photo actually presented an interesting visual trick. The striped shirt my daughter's friend was wearing was actually blue and red stripes, but when you view the combination of the two colours so close together it actually gives the impression of purple, so I decided to use purple as a feature on the page.

I began with some white cardstock, a small floral stencil and 'Royalty' Colour Paste. I applied the paste through the stencil with a palette knife, repeating the image 3 times in the central area of my page (I usually use the visual rule of threes when I create a page). Once the paste was down, I dried it off with a heat tool and moved onto the next step.

I chose three shades of Colour Shimmer Dust - Lush; Cobalt; and Lollipop and mixed a small amount of each with water. I then used a wide brush to apply a vertical strip of each colour to the page over the top of the dry paste. 

I started with Lush, drying it off before moving onto Cobalt; then repeating the process to finish with Lollipop.

As these are watercolours that reactivate when wet, I knew the colours would blend when I overlapped them so I deliberately chose colours that would blend together. You can see I chose green-blue together; then blue-pink together; knowing that they would blend well and avoiding making "mud" (brown). 

If you are unsure about colour theory when it comes to mixing colours, I would suggest a test run on some scrap paper first. If you would prefer to have something to refer to regularly, you might like to swatch out your colours and make yourself a colour mixing chart. (You can see an example of a chart Selena Stevens created with Colour Artist Inks here)

But what about actually choosing colours that work well together on a page? The three colours I chose to use are called a triadic colour scheme. In a nutshell, it means using three colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel. The results of this type of colour scheme are usually vibrant, no matter what colours you select.

Here you can see how the colours I used fit onto a colour wheel...

Once my paint was dry it was time to add some extra layers. A recent dig through my stash had unearthed some VERY old rub-ons. I was curious to see how these would stand up after so many years, so I tested one on some paper and was shocked to find that it transferred pretty well so I added some to my background.

I then cut down my cardstock to measure 11x11" and added sheet of Cocoa Vanilla Studio patterned paper to the back to provide a border for my page.

With the background under control, it was time to add my photo and some embellishments. Another dig through my stash revealed yet another long forgotten item - a sheet of Sassafras Lass (remember them?) foldies. These flowers were designed to be punched out and folded for dimension, but I simply cut out some of the pieces and adhered them onto my page using foam tape. 

I twisted and bent the edges of the flowers up for a little extra dimension, and also added some messy cotton thread among them for texture.

For my page title I used a Cocoa Vanilla Studio chipboard title sticker, and then added my handwritten journalling using a felt pen.

Once my title and embellishments were all in place, I took my Colour Shimmer Brush Marker (I used the Clear one) to add some subtle shimmery detail to both my title and my flowers.

I love how adding the shimmer instantly gave the flowers extra depth!

To finish off my layout, I took my 'Violet' Colour Spray and dipped a small brush into the bottle to add some little splatters around the page.

That's all from me today. I hope I have inspired you to experiment with a little colour theory, or even dust off some long forgotten supplies and see if you can breathe new life into them by mixing them with your Colour Blast products.
Until next time, happy scrapping! 

"Galaxy" - Watercolour Painting using Colour Shimmer Dusts by Sue Plumb

Hi everyone!

Sue Plumb here to share my latest design team project with you. Today I am sharing a galaxy themed painting I created using Colour Shimmer Dusts and black and white heavy gesso. I cannot claim that this piece was my own idea, as I was inspired by several videos I saw on YouTube (search galaxy painting tutorials if you want to see some yourself).

To prepare for this project, begin with a sheet of watercolour paper. It is important to use watercolour paper, as you need a surface that will allow the paint to move and blend freely. To keep the paper flat, I used washi tape to secure it to my craft mat. I then mixed up the Colour Shimmer Dusts I was going to use with a little water in my paint palette, and set them aside.

(Also ensure you have on hand - a cup with clean water and paper towel.)

To begin, I brushed the surface of the paper all over with water (not too much), as this piece uses the "wet on wet" watercolour technique.

I started by applying the lightest blue colour I had chosen, which was Duke, using a wavy motion with my brush. You will see the colour start to wick out onto the wet paper. The colour will pool more heavily in some areas than others - this is completely fine. (There are lots more layers to go yet!) Be sure to leave a little spot or two of white space in the centre area of the page.

Once the first colour is in place, you can repeat the process with the next colour (working from lightest to darkest). I actually opted to leave out the 'Cobalt' Colour Shimmer Dust at this point and moved straight to 'Navy' instead.

I followed some of the natural lines already formed by the previous colour and used more of a dabbing motion to apply the colour this time. 

Here's a quick look at what I mean...

As you work, if you find an area is getting too wet or the colour runs where you don't want it, simply blot away with paper towel. Remember that you want the piece to be darker the closer you get to the edges.

Once you are happy with the 'Navy', repeat the process with the 'Midnight' Colour Shimmer Dust, keeping this darkest tone more concentrated to the edges of the piece

Once you have all these colours in place, allow the piece to dry a bit so you can assess it (you can use a heat gun to speed it up a bit if you wish). If you find some areas are a little dark, go back in with a brush loaded with clean water and reactivate the paint where you want to strip the colour away and simply blot some off with paper towel.

You can then go ahead and add some purple into your piece in these using either 'Passion' or 'Velvet' Colour Shimmer Dust. (Just remember not too much, and keep to the lighter areas in the centre of the page intact.) You can go back as many times as you want to with any of the colours until you get the desired effect. Once you are happy, allow it to dry completely until moving onto the next step. 

Using the white Heavy Gesso and a wooden skewer (you could also use the flat end of a small paintbrush or pencil), add some dots to represent stars around the page. Then, using the pointed end, drag the tip outwards from the centre of a couple of them to imitate the light shining from them.

For the remaining stars in the galaxy, mix a small amount of gesso and a few drops of water to make a thinner consistency. Take a small, stiff brush and use a tapping motion to add small splatters randomly all over the page and allow to dry.

To finish off, take some black Heavy Gesso and paint some tree silhouettes along the bottom edge of the page. (Don't try to be precise with these, you are not looking for perfection!)

And there you have it - painting complete! Here's a little video of the finished project close up so you can check out the details and shimmer...

Thanks for stopping by so I could share this with you. I hope I have inspired you to try one of these yourself. If you do, please share it in the Colour Blast Creative Corner so I can see it!

Until next time, happy creating!