Art Recipe Wednesday: New Beginning

Hi there folks! Is it Winter yet?
Well, not here - we mostly suffer from constant rain and dark gloomy weather, but looking at my latest project you may think I'm in the middle of the white, frosty season!

The truth is - I got inspired by "Creative Gym" - great post on Mixed Media Place Blog. The challenge to use just 4 colors: white, black, gray and... one more of your choice!
MMP Team created a selection of wonderful projects (you can check it all here) and there were so many beautiful artworks submitted that we are surely going to have a serious problem to choose the winner!
The challenge is closed now but there is new "Exercise" coming soon - be sure to check it out!

As you can see my chosen color was blue - a bunch of different shades  which in my opinion look just great on the delicate gray background. I decided to blend the composition as much as I could with the pattern and color of the  7DS paper from my latest "Cold Country" collection, so I used both Art Basics Modeling Paste and Heavy White Gesso.

I guess I'm a great fan of cold colour palettes - If I could I would probably do most of my projects in blues, greens, purples with black and gray, well, maybe with a hint of tea stain in them! Does it mean I'm naturally cold and pessimistic person? Well, I don't think so... I'd like to believe it is just my natural way of expressing my a bit "melancholic" personality ;)

Multi-layered, complicated compositions like the one above are great way of cleaning my mind and keeping my hands busy. They naturally just happen when I let my instinct guide my fingers to pick the textures and elements to put on the page - this way the final result is often a surprise!
You can think about my scrapbook pages more as "visual journaling" on 12x12'' paper than real, "proper" scrapbooking. I've always been more focused on emotions and storytelling than saving memories anyway. Creativity has no rules, right?

I've made a new Art Recipe for you to go with this page - I hope you will enjoy!

Step-by-step instruction and product list is below, for your convenience!

1. My composition started with creating interesting texture in the middle of the page. I used a stencil with pretty damask pattern and my Art Basics Modeling Paste, which I applied with a palette knife. After a moment of drying I started adding layers of fabric and lace, torn into pieces and strips. I used Art Basics Soft Matte Gel which I put into fine tip bottle to glue all the elements down.

2. I continued building the composition adding more and more layers and elements: paper leaves, pieces of chipboard, ripped Prima Resist Canvas pieces, acrylic drops and a bunch of interesting electronic findings. My top layer was photo with a couple of paper scraps under it. In the same time I put a coat of Soft Matte Gel on a single white paper rose and sprinkled White Art Sugar (Prima Art Ingredients) on it to create pretty, frosty, shining effect.

3. When all the elements except the rose were in their places I dry brushed a bit of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso both on my fabric and paper layers and on the background around them to create delicate, whitewashed look. I I dried gesso for a moment with heating tool and started spraying with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays ( Azure Sea Asters, Whale Watch Blue, Gag Me with a Spoon Gray). Gesso resisted a bit to the water-based sprays so effect was really intriguing!

4. When I was happy with the effect of spraying I dried the project and brushed a bit more of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso to soften the effect even more. I added my last embellishments and I started adding final touches to the color with my Watercolour Pencils with a bit of water.  I finished with a bit of journaling made with a very soft pencil.

5. Finally I splashed a bit of Black Indian Ink and Lindy's Spray on the background - to create more balance and contrast, added stickers with text and coated them with Ranger Glossy Accents. I wanted them to shine as much as the rest of the page!

Here is the list of the supplies I used:

Thank you so much for visiting the blog and leaving so many lovely comments.
I really appreciate all of them! I hope to see you back soon - of course this Friday there will be a new tutorial from my CT waiting for you here!

Have a great creative week!