Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Disappearing Acts

For the GPP Street Team Crusade No. 55, it is about blending two colors in a background and then stamping a large image with those two blended colors.  The interesting part is that this is supposed to make the images drop-out of certain places.


I don't have a lot of stamps.  As a matter of fact, I don't have any large stamps.  So I decided to work with the closest thing I had - stencils.  Already excited about fall colors, I went with a wet-on-wet watercolor background of purple and orange.  While it was still wet, I placed a stencil over it and sponged on more purple and orange watercolor.  It blended really well and because it was still wet, the stencil actually pulled some of the watercolor away, leaving light outlines around the stenciled parts.  I like how subtle the images were, but I wasn't sure that I was going in the right direction.


I started to pull out what stamps I did have and found a stamp that looked like it was sort of big enough to work.  Again I worked wet-on-wet painting in a big rose-colored heart and random shapes, then pushing in some purple around those shapes.  While the background was still wet, I stamped "all my love" with some rose and purple watercolor.  The words are still visible but slightly blended in with the background.


Although I liked how the stamp blended with the background, I thought I would try painting in the background wet-on-dry and then waiting until the background was dry before I stamped over it with more watercolor.  I think it would have looked better if I had done a wet-on-wet background, letting it dry and then stamped - something to try later!


One last try for now - I decided to try this process out with ink.  I mixed a 50-50 mix of water and ink of yellow and blue, then quickly brushed on some yellow ink.  While the yellow ink was still wet, I quickly brushed on some blue ink.  The ink seemed to dry pretty fast, so by the time I placed ink on the stamp the background was dry.  I noticed that the yellow didn't seem to show up on the stamped image.  Either I didn't put enough yellow or it mostly merged with the blue.  Either way, it made the stamped image stand out more than I thought it would.

Now I'm off to figure out what I want to do with these backgrounds!

13 comments:

michelle ward said...

Verna, thanks for coming back to play with us! Love these experiments - and that you explained your process of working wet. Interesting effects! I like that you tried it several ways. That first one is dynamite - cool that you had 'lift-off' occur for a really mysterious look. Cool!

jgr said...

Hi Verna,
Wow! These turned out beautifully. My fave is the first one with the fall colors, I just love that subtle 'edge' on your stenciled shape. The ink piece is very intriguing too and of course I love the hearts.

Vee said...

Thank you so much, Michelle & jgr! I had a great time working on these and sharing the process!

betsy said...

Beautiful! I love how the orange and purple blended together with the stencil. I "love" hearts, too, so enjoyed those as well. Thanks for sharing.

Vee said...

Thank you, Betsy! Thanks for stopping by!

goudenregen said...

I like the first one the best. Thanks for showing all the experiments.

Michelle said...

Ooooh! Lovely pages!

Barbara Marie said...

What fun pages! The first one is a lovely piece of art. Thanks for sharing your processes.

Karen Isaacson said...

wow - never occurred to me to try this with watercolor - that's why I love seeing what everyone else did. going home to try this again with your wet-on-wet approach. thanks for sharing!

Vee said...

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and for stopping by!

iamrushmore, isn't it great seeing so many different versions? I would love to see your take of wet-on-wet!

Anonymous said...

These are all interesting but for the me the first image is a total stand-out. LOVE the colour combination and the image just blends in so well. Awesome!

Vee said...

Thank you, Cath!

Vee said...

It's amazing how many people liked the first one the most. That was the one that I initially disliked, though after giving it time it has grown on me.