Artistic Mother's Art Group - Week #1 Background Papers

Believe it or not, I *DID* do my background papers, over a week ago.  I was blessed to get a Friday night with all the kiddos (and hubby) out and worked on them for a couple of hours.  I continued that next day, and then during the week, I began to to stamp, stencil and spray them.

But first, I hit my favorite book store...half price books!

I checked out some poetry books.  Now, I had some on hand already, being a homeschooler (and 11 year user of Sonlight Curriculum!) but wanted to look for some more, one's that I could call MINE, and feel free to write in, copy, etc.  The "I Saw Esau" book was illustrated by Maurice Sendak, who I love.  I have been reading new poems, as well as re-reading some that are old favorites.  Shona's advice to do this is so wonderful, as it really inspires and opens doors to ideas you might not have conceived before.

So, on to my background papers.

I used some colored cardstock, some regular typing paper, and some pages from an old Macy's ad (I don't usually have much junk mail since it all gets dumped in the bin before it hits the house).

I painted each page with gesso.  I found that they all were rather transparent, and did not cover the pages completely (opaquely).

The finished products... all gessoed up.

I used this as an opportunity to use some of the paints, glazes and other coloring items that I have never used before.  Here you can see some of them... the one on the bottom is a glaze over the gesso. I have never used a glaze before (although I have several of them!) and was amazed at their transparency.

A close up of the glazed page.

This one gives a new name to "purple glaze".  hahaha.

Some of the finished papers.

After I finished painting, spraying and glazing, I worked on adding various patterns and images to the papers.

Here are a few of the finished products.

This one used a Tim Holtz image.

I like the way it looks against the colors, almost like a desert scene.

I used some glimmer mist on this one.  

While this picture may not show it clearly, this is one of my favorites.  I used a stencil I have (actually, multiple stencils) of birds on a wire.  I think the way the colors came out, it has a very urban look to it.

I used several Hero Arts floral stamps on this...

I used two different harlequin stamps I have...one single, and one background one.  I used a brown memento in, which turned a rather taupe-y kind of color when stamped over the aqua glaze.  

These were a challenge to get done, even though I had spring break... so you would think I should have had MORE time, but I really didn't.  Getting sick didn't help (my whole family, except my oldest son, has been coughing like crazy for two weeks).  I am looking forward to tackling the "week #2" projects this week!