Art Recipe Wednesday: The Season of the Fall

Hi again my dear friends!
I'm wondering - how many times you experience the "happy accidents" in your creative process? I mean  this kind of unexpected problem or situation that would take you into new, surprising direction which may be a beginning of something new and exciting?
It happens to me from time to time - and when it happens I'm amazed and absorbed so much with the process: I get out of my comfort zone, think in a creative way, experiment... and the final effect is a great mystery! There is so much truth in the saying "we learn the most from our mistakes"... yes - and artistic accidents too!

My story of a "happy accident" is short: I was planning to create a journal page focusing on Autumn and transferring techniques... then I  had this "brilliant" idea of using real leaves from my yard...
Yes, they smelled beautifully in the November sun... but were far too wet and slippery for my plan!
After a moment of thinking and having a cup of tea the new idea came to my head: collage!
And this is what I finished with...

Ehhhmmm... I guess there is a special connection between me and watercolor crayons. Whenever I decide to use them something unexpected and surprisingly colorful happens! I have to admit - this project was such a great exercise for me: using color, bold, careless lines- almost doodling in fact and on the top of that - free hand writing which I hated so much only year or two ago.

There are no textures - just a couple of layers including washi tape, vintage paper and a leaf from my yard. I have to admit Art Basics Soft Gel did great job putting it all together!

White and Clear Gesso made it all easy to colour - I just loved this matte, clear surface it created on the top of my layers!  I used litteraly no other paint but a selection of Watercolour Pencils (Faber-Castell) and my old, faithful soft pencil for extra touches and adding the text.

The final look is far from the collage projects I was usually doing - but honestly saying: it was great experiment, fun exercise and I love this look! I'm so happy I tried and I already have plenty of new ideas - what else do I need?

This time the Art Recipe is really simple and easy 

- all you need is Gesso, Pencils and bit of courage:)

1. I started my project covering the stretched canvas (20x20 cm - 8x8'') with 2 coats of Art Basics Heavy White Gesso - to get extra smooth surface to work on.

2. When the Gesso was dry I started adding first layers: 2-3 strips of wash tape in neutral colors, 1 or 2 pieces of the paper from the old book. I used Art Basics Soft Matte Gel as a glue: I applied it with a brush and after gluing elements I secured them with  a coat of Soft Gel from the top.  I dried the canvas and brushed a bit of Heavy White Gesso mixed with water on the top of my papers and washi to create more interesting, deeper effect.

3. When the Gesso was dry I added one more layer of vintage paper, the leaf and a face of  one of my aunts printed with laser printer on regular paper. Again - I used Art Basics Soft Matte Gel to glue and varnish all the elements. I dried the project again.

4. Soft Gels are resistant to water based inks and sprays after drying and are too slippery to work on them with pencils, crayons and similar colored mediums. The solution to make the surface matte and easy to work on is applying a coat of Art Basics Clear Gesso: it is transparent, with lovely finish after drying. I applied it with a soft, flat brush on the whole surface and dried the collage.

5. Now it was time to add the colours! I decided to use shades of yellow, red, purple and contrast it with cold blue and mint green. I used my pencils on all of the surfaces: canvas, paper, print - even on the leaf! Clear Gesso did it's job perfectly!

6. I blended the colors a bit with water brush and when the project was dry I took my soft pencil and added the text. I stamped the project with black permanent ink  (Archival- Jet Black) and finally I sprayed my collage with matte varnish.

Here is a list of the products I used - all listed from Mixed Media Place Shop:

I guess you may have some questions about different kinds of Gesso now. Maybe you'd like to see what is the difference between Soft Gels and Clear Gesso? I've made this video for you to help you a bit and explain our Art Basics Gessos: White, Black and Clear. I hope it will be helpful!

Thank you so much for dropping in - I hope you liked my Art Recipe for today and you'd experiment a bit with layers of gesso and gels! The possibilities are really endless!

I'm just reminding we still have our Warm and Cosy Challenge open for submissions - you can check it and join the fun here!

Sending hugs to you all! See you on Friday - my wonderful CT will have a new inspiring project and tutorial for you!