"Tree of Love" - An Artist Tribe Journal Page Beginning With Lightweight Lutradur

Hi everyone,

Welcome to another Gwen Lafleur Studios Artist Tribe post inspired by the August StencilGirl Club prompt, "New Beginnings".   Today I'm going to share how to use Gwen's stencils with lightweight Lutradur to create an interesting and textured background for your art journal pages and mixed media projects. 

I recently ordered a yard of 25 gram, Lutradur from Aristic Artifacts that I was itching to experiment with. So for the New Beginnings prompt I knew that I wanted to include the Lutradur in my page's composition.  But after days of mulling over the rest of the composition, I hadn't come up with one single idea.  With the end of August right around the corner, I was running out of time.

Finally, an Infinite Possibilities A-Ha moment whacked me over the head making me realize that I'd known the answer from the start.  Within me was the power to change my interpretation of the prompt to a more literal definition.  Light weight Lutradur was my "New Beginning".  It would be the first time that I would ever use it and it had the potential to become an awesome component in my background.   Once the stars around my head settled, I was sure that the rest of my page would flow naturally.  

So without further adieu, let me show you what I did so that you too can easily incorporate light weight Lutradur into your art journal and mixed media backgrounds.

• I started by cutting a piece of Lutradur to about the same size as my journal page. I was amazed at just how transparent and strong this stuff is.  I usually like to tear my collage elements, but I could tell that there would be no torn Lutradur in this journal page.

• I thought that the Lutradur would make an interesting collage element with Gwens's Ornamental Petals Screen stenciled on it.  Since this stencil has a great repeating pattern and a lot of open space to apply paint, it's a great choice for a background.  

I used a makeup sponge to apply some slightly watered down Golden Fluid Acrylic Quinacridone/Nickle Azo Gold through the stencil over the whole piece of Lutradur.  But you can use any acrylic paint that you have.  The paint shouldn't be too watery though,  just a spritz or two of water to help you move the paint around the page.

• I put a piece of mop up paper underneath the Lutradur before stenciling.  While the Lutradur takes paint beautifully, the paint has a tendency to run right through it.  I'd hate to waste any of that beautiful color.  Surely this mop up paper will soon find its way into another project.

Mop up page that was underneath the Lutradur

• I let the Lutradur dry naturally, it didn't take very long, and then I cut up my stenciled sheet into squares and rectangles of various sizes to use as what I fondly call "Collage Fodder".

• I pulled out some other collage fodder that I'd made earlier in the evening; old book pages and mop up deli papers that I added color and pattern to using the same stencil and others similar in theme.  Since repetition makes for great art, these papers were the perfect addition to my background.

• I collaged bits and pieces of the book pages and deli papers onto a gessoed page in my art journal and layered in just a little more interest with a script handwriting stamp. Once those layers were dry, I adhered my Lutradur pieces on top with Matte Gel Medium.  

I was pleasantly surprised with the results!  The Lutradur retained its transparency allowing me to see through to the layers below, including the details in the script stamp beneath it.  And as an added bonus, the Lutradur gave my page marvelous texture to build my page on.

I'm really happy about finding  a new beginning for my art journal and mixed media backgrounds.  I hope I've inspired you to give it a try and then finish your page in your own style. 

Here's a brief description of how I finished my journal page.  I collaged a Plum Tree from a piece of Chinese Paper that I found in the Exotic Orient Mixed Media Happy Pack in Gwen's online shop.  (Later I used my Pitt Big Brush markers to make this tree my own Tree of Love.)

 

Once it was dry, I finger painted the background to unify it with more Golden fluid acrylic paints, (primarily Alizarin Crimson Hue, Teal, Titan Buff, and some more Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold) and used Gwen's Art Deco Border Stencil with Golden Fluid Acrylic Micaceous Iron Oxide paint and my Pitt Big Brush pens to create the forest of trees in the foreground.

Here's a list of the StencilGirl stencils I used to create my Tree of Love art journal page:

• Art Deco Borders by Gwen Lafleur
• Ornamental Petals Screen by Gwen Lafleur
• Ornamental Petals Mask by GwenLafleur (Collage papers)
• Dec 2016 Club - Heraldry by Gwen Lafleur (Collage papers)
• Ornamental Circle Cluster Screen by Gwen Lafleur (Collage papers)

And here are a few more pics of my finished Tree of Love:

 

 Thanks so much for stopping by.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  I love hearing your comments.  Until next time....   Hugs, Jill