Good friend and fellow artist Laura Leeder stopped by this past week for some playtime in the studio. We'd been wanting to experiment with different uses for gesso, and we tore right into it.
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| Laura washing over a stenciled gesso floral...look at those wonderful colours! |
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| The top leaves on the journal spread have been pounced through a stencil with gesso, and then washed over with a pale acrylic. |
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| This sienna-toned magazine page was stenciled with gesso, and then washed over with quinacridone orange acrylic. |
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| These images were stamped on to watercolour paper with gesso, dried and then washed over with acrylics. |
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| A credit card was used to push gesso through the stencil before applying a wash or two. |
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| Gesso was thickly applied and then distressed with a heat gun. Washes of alcohol ink and ultramarine acrylic inks were applied. White gesso was patted on with a paper towel over the black gesso...nice pattern, right? |
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| A house wrap stencil was used to apply the design, and then it was spritzed with Dylusions spray. |
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| Laura's piece at the end of the session...I suspect there will be more layers! |
Wow! I can tell by your photos that you had fun playing with the gesso, and you created such awesome backgrounds too. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteIt was great fun, Arnoldo, and we learned a lot with our play, which always seems to be the case, right?!
DeleteThat was absolute fun Win and as usual I always get some great tips from you! Only now I have gesso starts scattered around my studio and I'm still working out how to finish them. So different from the way I'm used to working! Thanks again and yes, we will have to plan more play dates.
ReplyDeleteOh that makes me laugh, Laura - I am the QUEEN of starts and the Joker of finishes, with stacks of papers and canvasses everywhere. What could be more fun?
DeleteYou got some lovely backgrounds in your playing Win - looks like fun!
ReplyDeleteIt was, Val...nothing better than following the 'what if's '!
DeleteYou created fantastic backgrounds! Gesso is a wonderful thing indeed! Happy weekend WIn Dinn. I can see you both had much fun - that is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWe had a blast, Susi - a perfect play date!
DeleteEach one of these is soooo pretty. I love the green leaves in the journal. In fact, ALL the gesso pages are just so unique and lovely. The crazy ink/acrylic is a great abstract look. And Laura's floral is quite stunning just as it is. How I would have loved to be watching the two of you create such wonders! Xj.
ReplyDeleteIt would be delightful to have you come and play sometime, Joi - do put it on your bucket list, won't you? xo
DeleteLove the outcome of your playtime Win
ReplyDeleteThanks, Roz - it was great fun!
DeleteWow you could write a book "One hundred and one things to do with Gesso"
ReplyDeleteeach one different and lovely.
Funny you should say that, Deann...it keeps niggling at me to write a book about mixed media techniques. It would only take about 237 years! :D
DeleteOooooh! playtime, love it. Gorgeous results. Happy crafting, Angela xxx
ReplyDeleteIsn't it just the best, Angela? Who has more fun than artists!
DeleteWonderful! It looks like you both had a great time. What a coincidence, I had a playtime with my gesso yesterday. I will have to give my alcohol inks a try with it. I am curious, how did you find the sprays were on the gesso? I have tried using them before on a canvas and found that they didn't really dry properly and were reactive with anything I tried to do next (although they looked very nice!) I created some of my own sprays using air brush medium, paint and water so I could have a permanent spray. I have several Dylusions sprays and love the colours, but have been afraid to try them again as part of a mixed media canvas. If you had better luck, maybe I'll give it another shot.
ReplyDeleteWe did have a great time, Kimberley, as I'm sure you did!
DeleteAs always with the Dylusions sprays, I am challenged with their fugitive non-permanent qualities. If I try to work over top of them, they invariably smear and bleed, so I only use them when I'm putting nothing over top. Even several layers of workable fixative will not 'fix' them. The only thing that can help somewhat is Gelli-printing over top of them with a healthy layer of medium, and that sometimes can backfire too!
Good luck with your experimentation - do let me know your results!
Thanks, Win! I did have some luck with my sprays I created and a lot of fun. I did use them on canvas and they worked great. I will post some of the results
DeleteI'll look forward to that, Kimberley!
DeleteI really like the layered look. The black gesso could be interesting to work with.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Eileen, on both counts. I do like black gesso and would like to repeat all these exercises (and will likely do so) with interference/pearlized/iridescent/duochrome paints on the black. I'm sure one would get some fabulous results.
DeleteI've just got to try stencilling and stamping with gesso. I love the results you two achieved here!
ReplyDeleteYup, you're going to be hooked/entranced/addicted, especially with your fabulous stash of stamps!!! xo
DeleteThe opportunity to play in one's studio with a friend is just about the best thing, I think! I love using gesso to add texture to backgrounds but you have gone beyond that here and used it in some pretty novel ways! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to experiment, but doing so with a friend certainly allows for some interesting results - it was great fun Kay!
DeleteBeautiful backgrounds using Gesso. I love to use Gesso with stencils as well. "Gesso is our friend" :) Have a great day, Shirleyxx ps.. sorry that you lost a sister, that would be very difficult. Take care xx
ReplyDeleteI'm gesso mad now...it's likely going to take me down another addiction road! :D xo
DeleteBeautiful gesso fun!
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to see you two got to spend time playing art with one another! Nothing like sharing that time with an art sister/soul!
Thanks so much for always sharing your playtime Win!
huge hugs,Jackie
We had a blast, and as always, learned from each other's experimentation...truly great fun!
DeleteThere are some yummy things going on there, Win. What a great playtime you both had.
ReplyDeleteWe did indeed, Tracy, and look forward to doing it again soon!
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