Galaxy Effect Notebook - some tips!

Hi my Artistic Souls!
How was your week? I hope you've found some time for creative pleasures? I have to admit - I wasn't the best example, but I'm not getting discouraged... my goal is to make the time and finally put my fingers on some paint and paper in the next days!

When I was getting ready for today's post I came back to the observation from my classroom - some of you struggle with splattering and spilling the paint - which, in my opinion, is one of the most fun and liberating things you may do in your journal or on your canvas!
Well yes, I get it - these "splatters" may be really scary - they seem to be hard to control, unpredictable, random... but is it really true? And if they really are, is it a difficulty - or a blessing?

First of all - let's look at the project which is covered in over 80% in those "dreadful little dots" - one of the altered covers I've made during the "Haze and Shine" class.

This time I went really dark with colours in the first stages of the work, focusing mostly on black and shades of dark blue and purple. Later I started adding lighter tones - white and some light blue spray to finally go to almost white and white coloured splatters!

I love how adding these "splattered details" is turning the project into the stunning, dynamic and finished piece! The best part is - this is really doable, all you need is some courage, paint, water and a paintbrush! And you know what - it works with all colours as long as they match your main colour combination - this is that simple! Here you can see another sample from the same class - again, I've used light colours to finish.

So, some tips on splattering, maybe? Here we go!

- The size of the brush matters. the bigger the brush the more "little dots" you will create at one time and with smaller projects it is much easier to control the amount and direction when using a small brush instead of the big one!
- The consistency of the paint or ink matters as well! If it is too thick, too sticky it will stay on your brush and wait until last moment to make a huge, thick puddle on your project. Make sure you are adding water to your acrylic paints (a bit to Metallique, Sparks and Opal Magic range - and a lot, really a lot to Impasto!) and check the mix first on the neutral background. I you can't get nice, small splatters, the most probably the reason is the thick paint or ink!
- Remember to dry your splatters in 1 colour before adding the second layer in other colour. If you will skip this step, they will simply start mixing with each other and you may not like the result! most of the paints and inks are permanent after drying so it will be 100% safe to add more wet paint on the top!

Splatters of spray mist + splatters od white matte paint or gesso

- It is much easier to get pretty little dots when you are hitting the handle of your splattering brush with something hard - for example - other brush, pen os scissors! Try it - it may be a huge difference for you!
- Remember to cover parts of the project you'd like to keep splatter-free. The more you practise, the easier it is to be more selective in this technique - but it's always better to be safe, right?

I hope it was helpful - but I'd you are really inspired with the "galaxy" look, you may want to come back to one of my older tutorials "Galaxy Box" FB Live Show which you can see on my You Tube channel here!

Here are the colours I've used on my notebook in the class - I hope it will help! 

All linked to Mixed Media Place Store

Sending you all best wishes and hoping to see a lot of beautiful projects in social media soon - don't forget to tag me #finnabair_studio and #finnabair when posting on Instagram so I can find you easier! Thanks!