A neutral sort of day

I have always admired those who can create beautifully neutral pieces which are alive with depth and texture but have never really tried to work with them myself. So, at yesterday's AJ Sunday session, instead of my planned May calendar pages I found myself attempting a page with neutrals!

I used an old plastic key card to scape two layers of gesso onto my page, the first really thin, and when that was dry a thicker layer, leaving some texture. Using the same technique I added thin layers of Distress Paints in Picket Fence, Weathered Wood and a smidge here and there of Frayed Burlap. I had no idea what I was aiming for but just kept adding thin layers of colour until I had a base I liked, sometimes drying the layers in between but mostly not!

I added some stamping with my favourite Kaisercraft texture stamps with Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Frayed Burlap. Then, having tried to add a pop of white with some splatters of Dylusions White Linen which just didn't pop enough, I used Tim Holtz Speckles Layering stencil with some homemade white texture paste at the top and bottom of the page for a bit more dimension which popped really well but didn't take over the page.

Now I had a background I liked I stamped a couple of Chocolate Baroque butterflies from The Tangled Garden set onto a couple of book pages but, because I wanted them to have a faded look I scraped a couple of thin coats of gesso over them before adding some colour with the same Distress Inks as before. I cut them out and added some Walnut Stain Distress Ink to the edges to make them stand out once I added them to my page.

I stamped the butterflies again directly on to the page and glued my coloured versions over the top. To finish I added some Distress Crackle Paint in Rock Candy to highlight the bodied of the butterflies, and some white pen outline on their wings. Not sure about that, and not absolutely sure the page is finished, but I am sure I have finally had a go at a piece with neutrals and Whilst I think I may need to have a few more attempts with different colour mixes before I feel confident with neutrals, I did enjoy myself.....

....and I am pretty pleased with the 'finished' page, but I'd love to know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by x

 

 

Posted with Blogsy