Winter Story

I am feeling cold with all the news stories about the upcoming winter so I took out on old canvas to put down a story of how I feel about winter. Brrr. I am such a summer girl that I cringe just thinking about cold weather.

SUPPLIES

Creative Paperclay® slurry
Waxpaper
Soft gel matte
Wax paper
Toner image
Colored pastel pencils
Gold rub

I start with pouring a paper clay slurry on my canvas then brayering it flat. I put a sheet of wax paper before brayering and leave it on until the slurry is totally dry.

I apply a layer of gel over the dry slurry and let it dry. Because I plan to do a dry gel transfer and will use moisture to remove the paper, it is important that I seal the surface. Next I apply gel to both the face of the image and the surface, lay the image face down and brayer flat. I let this dry overnight. I usually do this at night so I have something fun to do while the coffee is percolating.

I slightly sand the paper, then spritz with water and rub the paper off. The ink will stick to the dry slurry.
After it has dried, you may see some paper ghosting just spritz again and rub it off.

I then add paint, gold rub and some pastel and more soft gel matte to ghost the image more. I wanted that cold, ghosty of feel of a show storm. I finished by patching up a few areas of where the slurry got rubbed off with my enthusiasm.

Tell your story with imagery and paper clay.

Dream in Color and Play Hard.


—Darlene Olivia McElroy