Communion Dress

I found a blog called "Try it Tuesdays" that has techniques for painting interesting backgrounds. This one I tried is in acrylics. You paint a layer and you let it dry, then you add subsequent layers in a different colour, and you spray the page with water before the acrylic paint has time to dry (it dries very quickly) and you wipe out some of the new paint with a tissue. It reveals the first layer nicely. You can then add stamped elements (dip the stamp in white gesso, and paint over this when the gesso is dry)

So, I've started experimenting with this. It wasn't entirely successful. I used an acrylic canvas textured paper, which was very good. It holds the colour nicely and doesn't buckle. But my colours were quite muddy, so I'm going to have to try again.

But, rather than throw it out, I decided to experiment further with what I had. Here is what I did:

• I scanned a picture in black and white and glued it to the painted page.
• When the glue was dry, I added transparent layers of colours to blend the picture in with the background.
• I used an old stamp I had. It was originally a Bourgeois tattoo stamp (which I had never used, needless to say), representing 3 little stars. I dipped the stamp in white gesso, and applied it over the painting. I added more layers of colour to blend the whole thing in.
• Then I used a gold paint marker to add a few accents around the photograph.
• And, finally, I added some text with a stamp set I got recently (I need to practise more with these - the result is quite blotchy)
  

All these techniques were inspired by a book I got a year or so ago, called "Artists' Journals and Sketchbooks, Exploring and Creating Personal Pages" by Lynne Perrella. This book has wonderful ideas and techniques to explore your creativity through the medium of a journal. It's a great tool to use when you're stuck for ideas or if you want to experiment with different techniques

And here is the result (special prize goes to the first person who can guess whose picture this is):