Encore It takes two... for PaperArtsy

Hi!  I've got an Encore post for you again today - still gathering in the projects which have only had a sneak peek here at Words and Pictures.  This one is from July 2014, and it's nice and summery, so I thought July would be a good time to share it again.  It was created for one of my regular (irregular these days!) guest appearances at PaperArtsy, and here's what I wrote back then...

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Hello everyone, Alison here from Words and Pictures, and I'm delighted to be back at PaperArtsy to share a little something with you that didn't really go as expected!

I set myself the challenge of using only two Fresco paints to create my little reversed canvas, and had a wonderful time playing with one of the Hot Pick Plates, number 1301.

I turned the canvas round to use the recessed space as a shadow box, and started by layering my two paints onto it.  I used Pea Coat (but mine is still the old translucent version) and Limelight - also a translucent - double the challenge!












I stamped the gorgeous butterfly and text from HP1301 onto some tissue paper.  I'm lucky enough (or hoarder enough) to still have a few sheets of the original Crackly stock.  I stamped in a combination of Potting Soil and Coffee Archival inks for a dark but not too dark look. I then used the same paints to layer washes of colour over my butterfly and the little flowers in the corner.








Once that was done, I glued the tissue paper into the canvas using lots of Satin Glaze under and over it, as well as all over the edges of the canvas for a nice sheen.  Rather than spend time tinting Grunge Paste, I decided to use up some leftover Ferro paste that I had to add stencilled vines and butterflies around the edges of the canvas.

At this point I was planning to leave the metallic look to go with the brown stamping and my metallic embellishments.  It was going to be all nice and golden brown in look, with just some blue and greens in the background... that was the early thinking as you can see below, but that all changed in the end!










The reason it changed is that I decided to alter all the metal using my two paint colours.  I allowed myself some Gesso in the mix so that I could pre-coat the metal before adding colour.  I did lots of layers and washes and dry-brushings of my two paint colours over the various Finnabair Mechanicals Flowers and Numerals.











Once the embellishments were all painty, the textured leaves looked wrong in gold, so I started to build up layers of washes and dry-brushing over those too - still only using the same two colours, mixed in various proportions for different colour shades and finishing with some pure Limelight dry-brushing, and Treasure Gold in the end too.










I sanded back the flowers with one of the fabulous PaperArtsy sanding blocks to create some metallic accents.  I liked the look so much that I decided to accentuate it with some Treasure Gold.  I used both White Fire and Florentine to gild the metal and the vines...













... even adding some shimmer to the main butterfly with a brush...








...as well as the little textured ones on the frame, which I also decorated and outlined with a PITT pen to add definition.

So, there you go... just two paint colours (plus some Gesso for the occasional touch of opacity), lots of altered metal, and some tissue paper stamping in my reverse canvas.  I hope there's something in all that to get your creative juices flowing!

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Thanks so much for stopping by.  There's a new creation on the way next (in fact, two in a row), so I'll hope to see you again soon.  In the meantime, happy crafting all!

And finally, another twosome from Albert Einstein (almost certainly my most quoted individual):

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein

Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein