JO FY/PaperArtsy Sample One.. Emily.

So here are the step out photos of the first of my samples from last week. If you remember this was done with  the brand new stamps from Jo Firth Young and they are being distributed by PaperArtsy..watch for them coming to a craft store near you soon.

This sample was done with JO FY 9

First I took a piece of A4 card, smooth white 160gsm. I lightly sketched out my design, not in any detail, this step is just for placement. I painted clear gesso over the sketch.

Second step is to block in some colour. I used craft paints as they give a nice matte finish which is great for adding further layers. I brushed on some pastel colours around the outside. 

I then took a piece of old floor mat, and used it as a stencil. 

Next I inked up only the head of one of the flowers, I chose the large one that has text inside it. I used this around the edge. ( using black Archival ink) I also used one of the leaf stamps in several places using Desert Sand Memento ink. These are barely visible later, but they do add a subtle layer.

Next I blocked in the hair area, again not being too careful, this is just underpainting.

For the face I used Caran d'Ache neocolor water soluble crayons to block in the face and to start the shading. I didn't want to do anymore to the face at this point. I knew that I would be using a lot of ink, and doing some fiddly stamping in the hair and there was a chance of ink getting onto the face by mistake, so I decided to leave the face till last, that way I could cover any ink that strayed onto the face.

Next stage is to knock back the background colours, just using some white acrylic on a brayer..

Then I began to add the flower heads and leaves to the hair. Looks complicated, but really it isn't, however it is a little time consuming. I masked off the flower stems on the stamps using clear tape. Then I stamped each of the flowers and leaves onto scrap paper and cut them out. I used these spares as masks,laying them over the stamped images as I went around the hair. 

Here are my 'masks' that I used over and over all the way around the hair

Next I began the really fun job of colouring in the flowers. I decided to use Letraset aquamarkers, as they are lovely and bright and blend easily over the top of the matte painted background. For these leaves I went around the edge with a dark green, added a medium green on one side and filled in and blended with a light green. 

The colouring was so much fun I forgot to take photos.

Finally I could fill in the face and bring her to life. I continued to use neocolors for the shading, but I did use Aquamarkers for the eyes. 

I chose another of the smaller stamps and added this bubble effect as a border around the page. 

I coloured the bubbly border with Aquamarkers, and stamped the text using black Archival ink onto smooth white printer paper. 

I used Aquamarkers around the edges of the text pieces before gluing them to the page and adding a shadow under them. I also added a little of the neocolours to the very edge of the page, blending it inwards just over some of the bubbles. 

I added a little graphite shading between the flowers and a thin outline with a grey aquamarker around the whole image, just to make it lift from the background. 

The final shading on the face was done with a regular old graphite pencil, lightly scribbling and blending with my finger.  Because I had used water soluble mediums I sprayed the whole thing with a very light coat of satin varnish. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the process, come by tomorrow to see the extra photos of sample number two, the vases of flowers.