Hello! Welcome to my new blog, Studio Red Art! I had a blog many years ago and it laid fallow for a couple of years due to life and lack of inspiration, so long that almost all of the pictures had been lost on the hosting service and I replaced my computer during that time. So, it was time for a new blog with a new title. Here I am!
For my first offering, I tried something very new to me. Digital images! I've always been old school and stubbornly clung to my stamps and scrapbook albums. Well, no longer!
The Mushroom Lane collection at
Cornish Heritage Farms is so stinkin' cute that I couldn't resist. After much thinking, researching and trial and error, I figured out the best way to use digital images on a mixed media layout.
The good, bad and the ugly:
The Good-print out the image on mixed media cardstock on a
laser printer. I used a page from my Dylusions journal that I cut down to 8 x 11. After some playing, re-sizing and adjusting the placement of the original image on the scanner bed, I finally had an image that was ready for use.
TIP-make sure that the feeder edge of the cardstock has straight corners, not rounded. It won't feed properly otherwise. AMHIK! (Ask me how I know)
The Bad-image transfer via gel medium on laser printed copy paper. This worked but was a long process that was way too fiddly to get right. I didn't like having to go over the image several times with water or other things to get the paper to come off. Also, I don't have a mirror function on my copier so the image was reversed. Not the end of the world, but annoying.
The Ugly-image transfer via gel medium on inkjet printed copy paper. I knew inkjet was not the way to go but I had a couple of test images printed and wanted to see what would happen. The inkjet bled because of the gel medium, I knew it would but tried it anyway. Then when I tried to remove the paper, the image bled even more. So, now I know that there is no way I can use image transfer via gel medium and inkjet images.
(Ignore the cat. She jumped in my lap a split second before I took this photo)
I had an image printed and ready to go. How do I make an art journal page with it? Art journaling is messy. Ok, ok I'm messy! The question remained: How do I work with this image and not ruin it while making the background?
First, I fussy cut a mask. I know, I'm crazy. Just as I finished cutting the mask, it hit me. Masking fluid!!!
Masking fluid! Simple and effective. Once I had my image covered in masking fluid and dried thoroughly, I was ready to go.
TIP-use a crummy paint brush to apply the masking fluid or you will spend a ridiculous amount of time picking blobs of masking fluid out of your paintbrush. AMHIK! Or, you can buy one of those fancy masking fluid pens with small tips. If you want to do things the easy way. Whatever.
Once my image was protected I was free to go to town on the background. Gesso and acrylic paint were flying everywhere! I even got crazy and splattered rubbing alcohol on the background to make my sky more interesting. Just be sure that the paint is still nice and wet for the magic to happen.
Finally I was ready to tackle that super cute mushroom. I knew I wanted bright and happy colors. I also knew that I didn't want to lose any of the lines on the image. There was only one medium I reached for, Inktense Blocks. If you haven't tried Inktense, you seriously haven't lived. They are a dry ink medium that is activated with water and is permanent when dry. The colors are bright and mostly transparent. Also, a little goes a long, long, long way. I used a wet brush to pick up color and paint my image. Once the first layers were dry, I was free to add more colors as needed. I also used scraps of the same mixed media cardstock to cut out the grass and then use the same Inktense color I had used on the grass in the image to color the cardstock.
A quote, some butterflies, my date stamp, a layer of glaze over the whole page to deepen the colors and this page was ready to be glued to my journal. I trimmed down the page just a bit more to make a nice layering piece and adhered it to a page in my journal that I had painted with black chalkboard paint. Done!
Lookie!
(Click image to embiggen)
(A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.)
I'm tickled pink at the page and can't wait to print out more of those
mushrooms! I'm no longer scared of digital images. See you next time! Thanks for stopping by!
Angji
Studio Red Art
