Paper, paper, paper! Oh my!

Thursday, I made a whorl wind trip to Redlands to see Sex in the City 2. While I was in town, I stopped by Redlands Blueprint and bought some scrumptious handmade papers -- 14 pieces! I was a bit disappointed not to find any patterns (I was especially wanting some polka dots.), but I found plenty to buy as it is. I'm hoping to use them in collages that I am making for an art festival this fall. Most of these are mulberry type papers. The light blue and pink sheets in the second photo are so sheer and soft; they are almost like interfacing. I can't wait to see how these enhance my collages! I've got them all cut up into large pieces and in a 2-gallon storage bag, because I don't have any place to store flat sheets.

Because I couldn't find any patterned papers, I decided to make my own. So, I stopped at Smart and Final today and bought a package of deli wrap. I'm going to paint it and stamp on the background to create my own custom papers. I learned this technique in a class that I took from Kristy Christopherson at the Redlands Art Association. Because deli wrap is so thin and translucent, I'm expecting my final papers to melt into my work.

These are pieces of deli wrap with the first coat of paint. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics, Stewart Gill paints, and some paint leftover from the days when I demo'd for the now defunct Home Studio International (some products are still available from their parent company, US ART Quest.). As much as I generally love my Golden's, I have to say that the Stewart Gill paints performed the best on the deli wrap. It seemed to have a longer open time than the other two, and it went on more smoothly. With the Golden's and the HSI paint, I had to use copious amounts of Acrylic Glazing Liquid, but with the Stewart Gill, I didn't have to use ANY! I was amazed. I live in the Mojave Desert and as you might expect, the humidity is very low here, meaning that paint dries very quickly. Even without air conditioning or ceiling fans, straight paint often dries as soon as it hits the paper; blending is very difficult without the use of AGL.

Here's a little something I whipped up a few days ago. I love the concept -- and the background! If I were doing it over, I'd move the "reate" a little closer to the "C" and maybe glaze the "C" with the same Burnt Sienna that I used in the lower right hand corner. Whatever -- I had fun making it and I learned a couple of things to boot! All is well ...