Seriously, Today I’ve Been Properly Creative

After the silliness of my last post today I have done some proper, hands-on, getting messy, trying different ways, good and less good results type of creative arty stuff.

As I mentioned last time, the Summer Journal project which Myfanwy is organising begins soon. In fact, the first day is tomorrow. Myfanwy suggested that we might like to colourwash some pages in our journal beforehand. The idea is that rather than being confronted by a blank white page, which can be rather intimidating, a colourwashed page is easier to start working on.

I began by using cold tea as a wash. The results were disappointing, as you can see:

Paper with a tea colourwash

My second colourwash was commercially produced beetroot juice:

Beetroot juice applied with bubble wrap – still wet

The beetroot juice was interesting to use. I used three different textures for applying it: a kitchen scourer, a pastry brush and bubble wrap.

Applied using a pan scourer

The pan scourer produced a mottled effect (which does not show up well in this picture – sorry, I only have the camera on my iPad with me). When it was dry the colour was much paler than when wet, which was to be expected. What I didn’t expect, though, was that it would be opaque. I thought it would remain translucent but, in fact, all three methods produced opaque colour.

Beetroot juice painted on with a pastry brush

Using a pastry brush achieved fairly even coverage, although I must mention that I think my last use of a brush on paper was probably at school, aged about 14. On the left hand page I swirled the brush around and across the sheet, whereas I used smooth, even strokes on the right hand sheet.

Bubble wrap stippled beetroot juice – still wet

The beetroot juice after it had dried, having been applied by stippling with bubble wrap

Above you can see the bubble wrap stippled effect when wet and once it had dried. The colours in the photos are misleading. I think this may be due, in part, to the photo of it ‘wet’ having been taken in strong sunlight. However, I think the opacity is easy to see, once it had dried.

I am pleased with results of my colourwashing today, especially as it was done amid the chaos that reigns in this particular neck of the woods!