Mixed Media Watercolor Techniques

Hey guys and welcome to the first page from my new junk journal.  A girl I work with was saving these thick pieces of cardboard and I asked her for them.  I cut them in half and bound them with jute.  I am LOVING working on cardboard as a substrate for mixed media.  I first gesso the page and then go to town wetting and painting.  The pages do not curl and the book lays perfectly flat when open.  WIN WIN!  I can't wait to share my experiments with you.  <3

After my Grandfather passed away, my Aunt gave me all of his old keys that she couldn't find locks to fit.  He was the town lawn mower repairman and Mr. Fix-It.  I have kept all of the keys on the ring until now, when I finally found a home for this one.  He would know exactly what it was for, he was so smart.  I love the sense of wonder that I feel when I look at it.  Whatever it locked, I will never know...

These photos really don't show the texture and dimension on the pages well.  The triangles are a huge part of the design IRL and really pop off the pages.

I did manage to take one quick before photo so you could understand my process a bit better.  You see the layers of torn papers and stamping over the gessoed background.  A special shout out to my homey Mimi for sending me the sweetest package this week.  She lovingly filled it with great bits of ephemera, even some of her coveted library cards.  She included a sweet note in the package explaining all of the bits and bobs and I just had to use it in my layering!  Mimi and I share a love for triangles!  ;0

I chose this mysterious girl from Tim's photo booth collection as my focal point.  She is surrounded with a Prima triangle stamp, embossed in gold.

You can see a little more detail of the watercolor puddles and splatters here.  Spritzes of Glimmer Mist balance the very matte Loew Cornell watercolor.  I have been testing out some of the other brands I have recently.  I used an old Prang set leftover from art school and they work beautifully, but ALWAYS react to water, even after dried.  The Loew Cornell dry almost permanent, which is my preference for this type of mixed media.  The only down side is the pigments will separate if you add too much water and the result is a sort of powdery, cracked finish.  I have learned to watch out for this and correct as I go.  When using Glimmer Mists I find it better to use on top of these watercolors.  For my brighter cards last week, I used Dr. PH Martin's inks.  They are permanent and can easily be made into sprays, which won't bleed.  They are fantastic for spraying through stencils!  I just need to get a couple of palettes so I can better mix my own colors.

Back to my pages!  I decided to use more handwriting in my journal.  The 2nd Class stamp is sort of a pun about how frugal Mimi and I are.  I just had to incorporate it.

I'm sharing with:

Scrapki-Wyzwaniowo: Keys

Mixed Media Warriors: Moodboard

Berry71bleu: The Best Things Happen Unexpectedly