Painted doily Background

Last week I shared a layout I made for a Scrapbook Creations colour team assignment. Often I use the colour challenges to create my own backgrounds, usually by customising and layering over patterned paper. I use this same technique when creating canvas backgrounds, sometimes.

For this page, I began with a teal patterned paper, some gesso, some teal acrylic paint and some small white paper doilies. I also had a bit of tissue / dress pattern to add. I used the gesso as an adhesive as well as to add the white coverage, and simply splodged it onto the paper. Pressing the doilies firmly into the gesso, I then firmly wiped it around the page. I sometimes use a piece of muslin for this, or an old credit / store card to get a firmer 'swipe'.

While the gesso is wet I add the colour and mix that in as well. It's a pretty organic, messy process really! When the page is dry, I often need to let it sit under a heavy book or two to flatten out, and then use it as a background for a mixed media piece or a scrapbooking project.