Tag: layers

St David’s Day 1st March Card Design

St David, of course, is the patron St of Wales and there are, in our culture, several interesting tales about him. I spent my young years in Bronant in mid Wales going to a County Primary school and learning to speak Welsh. St David’s day was a special day for us when we got to dress in traditional Welsh costume and do creative activities like singing and painting and reciting. Of course, a lot of those paintings were of daffodils which I still love to paint.

Creativity Requires Courage

This journal page was inspired by the quote
Creativity requires the Courage to let go of Certainty
I think this is never more evident than in the layering process in art so I made this page with layers, letting go of each by adding the next. It’s so easy to get attached to a layer that’s been added, especially when it’s full of colour and serendipitous texture.

Adding Layers in 5 Fun Ways in an Art Journal

Adding layers is a great way to build up depth and interest on a page in your art journal. Last week I created 5 backgrounds in my art journal which I will add a layer each to this week. Of course you can just create backgrounds and go back to them when you have an […]

5 Background Techniques to Play with

Background techniques are a great way to start an art journal page. On my art journaling courses people often tell me that they don’t know where to start. The blank page can be intimidating … there is all this expectation that it heaps on you to create something worthy. Having great expectations for the outcome […]

Happy Process – What is Layering in Art?

In art layering means letting one application of paint dry before adding another. In some painting the layers are translucent, typically with watercolours but oils and acrylics can both be translucent, and so the layers beneath affect the colour of the outcome. In other painting opaque layers are used to obscure parts of the previous layers, for example when painting animal fur a dark layer may go down first followed by gradually lighter areas. In my painting I use translucent and opaque paints in my layering. In contrast some art is created in a single layer such as when working graphically. Think of colouring pages where areas of the painting are filled in, in one go.

Last Leaf Falls

Last time I was making leaf prints with a monoprinting technique. So this time I am using those prints in my Art Journal to make an Autumn themed spread. I like to work in layers in my art journal so I started off with a layer of Gelatos. Choosing the 3 Autumnal colours of gold, […]