I've been playing around with images of my art again. I like to print out an 8 x 10 image and then mount it onto an 8 x 10 gallery wrapped canvas. But I always change it a bit so each piece (no matter how many I do) will be different. And I did something a little different this time. I took this art image of mine--
This came from a piece of furniture that I painted last year that you can see
HERE. And then I printed it out on 110lb cardstock that I get at Staples (office supply store). This time before I adhered it to the canvas, I decided to add to if beforehand. That way if I didn't like what I did, I could just reprint another one and try something different.
I added some stamping, and re-colored the faces with my pitt pens (what did I ever do without these!). This paper is very durable. This is what I use when I make my own painted papers--you can paint and even add water to it. It buckles, but when you use it for collage, it doesn't matter--it smooths out wonderfully onto your surface. So I knew that I was going to like this, and that's when I mounted it on with regular gel medium and added some more finishing touches--
.....more stamping and a little more doodling and embellishments. I like it better than the original....plus I already sold it at my show last weekend!
I also printed out my Hippie girl from last year, but I knew that I wasn't going to be adding much more to her, but I did want to repaint the face and hair. I just went ahead and adhered the print onto the canvas--
I just added a little more stamping and brightened up the flowers with my pitt pens again.
And then I used my Caran d'Ache Neocolors II crayons for her face. These are one of my favorite mediums to use for faces. I love the way they blend, and if you don't like it you can take it away since they're water soluble. You just have to make sure that after you adhere your print to your surface with the gel medium, to also cover the image with it too (and let it dry). That way when you paint or whatever, the medium won't soak in to the image, because the gel medium leaves a protective coat, and you can take away your mistakes easier. With these crayons, I spray a workable fixative on them. I'm not sure if they're permanent when dry or will re-activate when you put a sealer on it. I tried to link these up, but the blick site is down right now. But you can get all of these items (at the best prices that I've found) at
http://www.dickblick.com/
It's so fun to re-invent your artwork--even if you're just playing around. It's not so scary, especially when it's just on a piece of paper. It's a great way to experiment!
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