A Venetian Return

I found this blog post by Jenny Marples on the Paper Artsy blog.   It spoke to me.  I loved it and had to have one of my own.

But as I followed along I realised that actually I don't like things to look like something.  I don't 'do' realism.  But I started off the way Jenny suggested.  I put gesso on A4 watercolour  paper.

I used my gel plate to print on deli paper

printer paper

wet strength tissue paper

I glued whole pieces of the painted papers onto the watercolour paper that will be the covers of my book

I tore up bits of the painted papers and glued them on.

However everything looks a bit too green. And there's possibly too much gesso!

I moved on to using stencils and rubber stamps.

I used an Inktense Charcoal Grey water soluble pencil to suggest stonework and added water.

I added a piece of something I found in my stash - I'm not sure what to call it but it's sort of string!

When I'm working on something like this, I tend to do little bits to each page rather than work only on one page until it's finished.  In addition, I will stamp or stencil or whatever I'm doing on each page and then go away and do something else.  Usually Facebook or read a book.

It maybe several hours or even the next day before I come back to it.  And frequently the pages go through an ugly stage when I don't like them at all.   However I know I can always gesso or collage over a bit I don't like.

At the time of writing this blog the pages look like this:

In an attempt to stop everything looking green, I used some blue paint.  Which is too blue!

The next two photos show the inside of the covers.  I used a heavier weight watercolour paper for the covers.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice