Experiments....

starts, finishes and bloopers are a regular part of my studio life.

This past week I've been playing with the videos from Creative Jumpstart 2015, and having a ton of fun.

I've tested the background technique inspired by the Nathalie Kalback video on journalling on this piece of matboard.  You can see the technique I used in this video - it is similar in many ways to Nathalie's method.

Background using paper towel lift

I've covered it with a wash of quinacridone sienna, and sprinkled drops of water onto it.

Pressing a cloth on to the background lifts the splashes of water and some of the paint as well for another great effect.

Last post I showed you this collage inspired by Jimmy Leslie's video,

and I did my first ever face plant - sorry, make that face stencil, by following Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's fabulous video instructions.  For someone who is spatially challenged, this was a great success.  I used a portion of it in this journal spread.

And for some reason, this tiny painting had been sitting in the studio for weeks (read months), unfinished, and it's now a done deed and sitting in our living room where it was intended to live.

'In Bloom' 4" x 3" mixed media
on cradled wood panel ©Win Dinn

I hope you're having as much fun with your creative life.

And if you're in Creston, why not stop into the Chamber and check out the show there?  It's a great way to heat up your creativity!

Oh, you want to know about the bloopers?  Not gonna happen in this post, but watch for a good one in an upcoming video!

Some heavy lifting...

might be required in your next studio time.

With some slightly thinned heavy-body paint, a spritz of water, paintbrush, a support and some paper towel, you can create a really interesting background.

Here, I started with a mat board support that's coloured with some violent orange left-over paint.

Over this I painted a wild cobalt teal, spritzed it with a fine spray of water,

  

and covered it quickly with a paper towel.  A quick press with my hands, and a paper towel lift,

revealed a prettily patterned paper towel - you can use this in another project!

The pattern that is left on the support has toned down the orange and creates a vibrant background for the next piece of art off the easel.

You can, of course, repeat this process many times - I'm thinking a lavender over top of this one might be fun!