22 July 2016

Pixels and Paper ~ Team Training in July!

Team Training in July - Colorburst!

Whilst still searching desperately for my mojo, I have managed to put together my very first tutorial for Team Training on the wonderful Pixels and Paper Challenge Blog.  I thought I'd share with you one of my favourite ways to create interesting backgrounds using Ken Oliver's Colorburst. [Apologies in advance for the poor quality of the photos - the batteries were dead in my DSLR, and so I was using a phone camera.]

I'll start with creating a watercolour background on watercolour paper.  I give the watercolour paper a spritz with water on the front (and here's a little tip for you - if you give it a quick spritz on the back as well, it will help to keep it flat while you work, instead of bowing up). 

I then sprinkle the Colorburst powder on the paper and watch the first lot of magic as it reacts with the water and spreads.  (I've chosen Pthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson for this demonstration).



I then add some of the Alizarin Crimson to the white areas on the paper.  As I spray more water to activate the Crimson powder, you can see that it also reactivates the Green powder, leading to a few muddy areas where they mix.



After drying it off, you can see that the overall effect is a very soft watercolour effect, with very vibrant colours. 

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Now for the fun part - here's something I discovered whilst playing around with my Colorburst and different surfaces.  I thought to myself, is there a way to dry off the surface after one colour has been applied, and hopefully stop the 'muddying' effect when more water is added - I didn't realise it until I tried it, that photo paper is the answer!
After spraying the surface, sprinkling the Colorburst powder and spraying again with water to activate the powder, I can then 'blot' the moisture away from the surface with paper towel - when I spray the surface again, the Green stays where it is - it doesn't get 're-activated'.  This means that I can add the Crimson over the top and not have it 'move' the Green at the same time. 


As you can see from the side-by-side comparisons of the two backgrounds I've created, there is less blending with the one on the photo paper (and no 'mud' when mixing a primary and a secondary), which means you can create beautiful backgrounds that take advantage of the 'spread' of the powder with the Colorburst.  I've included some other samples of backgrounds I've created on photo paper below.
This is the technique I used to make my flowers on my May art journal page with Pixels and Paper, criteria to use flowers.  I didn't end up blogging that creation personally (there was a bit going on at the time), but if you didn't see it over at Pixels and Paper, I thought you might like to see it here.
I hope you enjoyed my very first tutorial - I had heaps of fun making it!
Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to enter this month's wintry challenge at Pixels and Paper!

Cheers!
Deb.xx

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