H ello there! This week's lesson is all about looking at & celebrating our own bravery and courage. I'd like you to have a think back on the year (or even previous years) and consider a time that was challenging for you. Look back on that event and consider how you worked through it, how you were brave, how you were courageous and what qualities/ values in you made it possible to work through that event. Write down a list of your qualities/ values and finally choose 3 that -perhaps- resonate the most. It's those 3 that will get a special mention on your page today. :) The 3 I chose were: Persistence (Self) Love Hope Technique wise we are going to do a 'paint over acrylic's transfer' which is similar to 'paint over collage'. Acrylics Transfer (on its own) has a really beautiful distressed/ vintage effect, which you lose a bit when you paint over, but you can use the acrylic's transfer without paint over for your other projects too. :)
Supplies Used Today 1.5 sheets of 9 x 12 Watercolour Paper Hot Pressed 140lbs (I use Daler Rowney The Langton) (or equivalent paper, a minimum of 140lbs) An image of your face printed onto standard copier paper (or an image of someone else's face who will represent you, but it's important it's printed onto normal copier paper). Collage Papers Heavy Gel (Matte) Golden (works best for transfers) Acrylics paints (my colours were: azure blue/ neon pink/ black/ white/ skin tone you can choose your own colours) Black gesso Paint markers (posca pens) white/ black Graphite pencil Some watercolour crayons (skin tone/ pinkish) Some water based markers like aquamarkers & tombows Acrylic's Transfers One of the first things you need to remember about acrylic's transfers is: DON'T DESPAIR. It's a very hit and miss process and you will find your own way that works best for you over time. Whenever I've covered this technique in the past people get frustrated as it requires a couple of tries to make it work. Here is what influences a successful transfer: Type of gel medium: go for heavy bodied gel by golden preferably (you can also try: soft gel and other gels by liquitex or other brands but the results may vary) Our own Steven Speight even knows a way to transfer with hand gel, watch his tutorial here for that. The type of paper you are trying to transfer from. Effectively: the gel pulls the ink out of the paper, some paper will let go off the ink more easily than others: for instance: magazine papers don't let go easily, while newspapers (porous papers) do. Best effect comes from a copier/ printer paper print out. Drying time can also influence the success of the transfer. It's best to run a few trials because drying time also relates to how thick the layer of medium is. So when experimenting allow yourself to mess up! If you are getting too frustrated, simply do a paint over collage!! :D
Acrylic's Transfer How To 1. Print out your image onto printer paper (remember that your acrylic's transfer comes out as a mirror image, so if you don't want that, before you print your image, mirror it in Photoshop and then print it out). 2. Lay down a medium thick layer of heavy gell (matte) medium (by Golden) or experiment with other gels) 3. Lay your image face down onto the gel medium layer 4. Leave for some time (approx 3-8 mins depending on how thick your layer was) 5. Wet the back of the image with some water, either with brush or spray bottle 6. Gently pull off or roll off the paper. Check that an image is left behind, if it's still white, you need to wait a little longer.
Continuing with the page 1. Once you have finished your transfer, start adding some colour to the background. I chose to add black gesso to the top and bottom to symbolise 'the darker periods' you can use black acrylics or a different colour instead, doesn't need to be black. 2. I then chose 2 lighter colours that I like to fill in the gaps in between. I am currently IN LOVE with the colour combo: black/ neon pink/ deep azure blue but you may want to choose different colours, of course!
3. Start drawing & painting over your collage. Remember what we did in the 'paint over collage' class and use similar approaches. The difference, for me, this time, was that I tried to stay as true to my own likeness as possible, but you don't have to do that. It's an optional choice. 4. I'm using a portrait pink and white acrylics to start a base of skin layer. 5.
5. Using water based markers like aquamarkers and tombows I start adding details and shading.
6. Use white acrylics and white paint markers for highlights. TIP: If you can't see or can't remember where all the highlights and shadings are, make sure to refer back to your original photo. I printed out a couple so that I had them as a reference.
7. I added hair with white acrylics. White was just a colour choice I enjoyed, you can use any colour. 8. I thought the hair was slightly too eighties (ha ha) so I toned back the bee-hive with some black gesso. Haha. I think I'm getting my year references mixed up but never mind! ;)
9. In the dark sky I started adding white doodles. They represent the gifts in the darkness. The learnings, the growth, the positive within the negative. 10. Now cut out 3 stars out of music score paper or other paper you like. Glue them onto thicker watercolour paper and cut out.
11. I printed out my 3 key words (I realised the typo in 'persistence' later on, apologies!) and glued each word to the stars. 12. I then placed my three stars in the bottom black part of the page. 13. With a white posca pen I added scribbly outlines around the stars.
Resulting in this final page, woohoo: I had not intended, initially, for it to look as if this 'angelical' being was breaking through the galactic dark (lol), but as I was making the page that's how it started to feel, like an emerging of sorts. So the whole page was really symbolic and relevant for me. :) I can't wait to see what you do with this lesson! :) Lots of love Tam xox Willowing Arts Ltd 2014 www.willowing.org