Blending Textured Paper With the Real Thing

Hi there!
Are you having a creative Monday?
We're starting the new week with Gayle's breathtaking new artwork and an interesting mixed media challenge she set herself.
And as always with Gayle's creations - it's not just about fancy techniques and tricks. I love the thought behind this piece and the soul of it - you will too!

*   *   *   *

Hello lovely Finnabair friends.

This month I’m sharing a little challenge with you that I set myself.

There are some truly amazing and beautifully textured ART PAPERS available to us and they are a quick, clean and simple way of adding a textured look to mixed media projects.

I was particularly attracted to a 7 Dots Studio piece from the Hazy Days collection called “Gelly” and I wanted to recreate it, to make the textures for real, using Finnabair’s amazing Rust and Patina Pastes, White Crackle Texture Paste and Impasto Paint and Art Stones. I was not 100% successful but I think I came pretty close, and it was a lot of fun.

While I was working on this project, yet more horror and immense sadness was unfolding in Manchester and in London and as much as I love to try and create uplifting and positive pieces, the absolute futility and loss of innocent lives, particularly children, sadly became the underlying theme... ”when will we see the light”.

This is an assemblage piece created on a thick wooden block. The faces have been left white to suggest purity and innocence. All other elements have been rusted with Finnabair Rust and Patina Effect Pastes, including the beautiful Finnabair Lotus Flowers, sacred to many cultures around the world symbolising enlightenment and rebirth and the Hamsa Hand a protective symbol in all religions.

This is what I did:

No.1 This is the piece of the textured look paper that started it all. I wanted to create that same texture.

No.2 The wooden block that I worked on.

No.3 The piece of wood given a coat of Art Basics Heavy Black Gesso.

No.4 To create a fine gritty texture I mixed Art Stones into Finnabair’s new Art Alchemy Impasto Paint in Lemon Peel.

No.5 I applied the mix of paint and Art Stones with a Double Sided Texture Brush.

No.6 Next, I applied the red Rust Effect Paste over the top.

No.7 Apply Blue Patina Effect Paste.

No.8 Art Stones, acrylic paint, Rust and Patina Effect Pastes. This layer creates the underling colour and texture.

No.9 To create the cracked and flaking surface over the base colours and textures, I added a thick coat of White Crackle Texture Paste.

No.10 It dried beautifully, giving this amazing textured surface.

No.11 This is the point where I hit a problem. I wanted to flick off some (and assumed I would be able to) of the cracked Texture Paste to reveal the rust and patina colours underneath.

However, Finnabair’s Texture Paste is so good at adhering to any surface without flaking off (and that’s as it should be :) ) that when I tried to lift some off, the rust and patina surface underneath came off as well and I was left with the base piece of timber.

No.12 So the flaking and peeling didn’t happen and I had lost all my beautiful underlying colours. So I sanded back some of the surface, added some more Art Stones and yellow acrylic paint and some more Rust and Patina Effect Paste and ended up with a surface that sort of resembled the piece of textured paper.

No.13 My assemblage pieces, before being rusted. No need to gesso first, just dab the Rust Pastes on with a stiff brush.

The beautiful Mechanicals Pocket Watch already comes in a rust finish and blends in perfectly with other elements that have been rusted using Rust Effect Paste.

No.14 Rust and Patina Effect pastes work perfectly on chipboard.

No.15 Metal and chipboard pieces with Rust and a little Patina Paste.

No.16 I used some tea dye and thick acrylic paint and water to add some “staining” to the surface.

No.17 All the embellishments were adhered with Heavy Body Gel. A piece of red velvet was woven around the rusted pieces and adhered with Soft Matte Gel.

Some watered down, crimson acrylic paint added around the velvet.

No.18 Using the original piece of textured paper that was the inspiration for this piece, I used it to cover all sides of my wooden block; the idea being that it would blend perfectly with the front.

I added a little “real” texture to the paper in some places, to help with the illusion. Here I have added some crimson acrylic paint into the texture paste to make it more the colour of the paper, and then dabbed it on.

Blending real texture with paper texture.

Create contrast and interest by using opposite elements - hard and soft, rough and smooth, bold colour and no colour.

Take the challenge... find a piece of paper that you love and try to recreate it.

It doesn’t have to be with textures, it can be with inks, stamps, stencils all kinds of mediums.

It will push you to explore what these mediums can and can’t do.

Whether you succeed or not in replicating that piece of paper is not important.

Whatever you end up with will be a fabulous background, ready to create on, made completely by you.

Have fun.

Love, Gayle xx

Products used: