One background for many projects


Hello dear friend of Rubber Dance Art Stamps! My name is Gabriele, I am a mixed media artist from Germany and a proud member of the Rubber Dance Design Team. Nice to see you here.

Did it ever happen to you, that your muse left you, when you need her badly? Hm, happens to me every other day. But what to do?? Usually it helps when I stop pondering about what I want to do, get a nice cuppa, get a comfortable seat and browse through some magazines, books, Pinterest - whatever, to get some new ideas. I highly recommend a new book curated by Dawn DeVries Sokol - "A World of Artist Journal Pages: 1000+ Artworks - 230 Artists - 30 Countries"
book cover
This book gives you a great lot of fodder to bring back your muse and if not, you spent a great time with a really big, fat book full of wonderful art journal pages of any style you can think of. I love it! And I am super proud to be part of this fabulous publication! You find me on pages 90 and 91.
buch

Also a clip from page 90 on the content page. Happy dance!!
contentpage

When this doesn´t work, I take a big piece (approx. 35 x 50 cm) of thick watercolour paper and spread paint randomly. No planning, no thinking. Now I take my stamps and ink pads in various colours and stamp, stamp, stamp. No planning, no thinking. Then the paper may end up looking like this:
hintergrund

Here I used the Rubber Dance stamp sheets called Round in Circles and Stitch and Frames.
ausschnitt3

I dabbed some more paint with a sponge or my fingers just how I feel. Most of my backgrounds start like that. There is a variation in combination of colours and stamps and stencils, but mostly it is the same. I hope next month I can show you this work around in a video, as building up layers is still a mystery for many people. Layering gives a lot of depth to a painting, but in the beginning it is hard to give up some painted areas you consider as beautiful.

There is a lot you can do with these background sheets, in the next example I cut a sheet into 17,5 x 12,5 cm pieces that can be used for cards. Here I used some stencils for the black accents and more text stamps like Herbal TextVintage Script, Chinese and Old Book Page from Rubber Dance:
puzzle
This way you get unique cards for all kinds of purposes. I choose 3 cards to work on and you can see you really don´t have to invest a lot of effort in finishing touches.
Card #1
detail1
Card #2
detail2
Card #3
detail3

Now here is what happened to them:

Card #1 got some more stamping with stamps from New Retro Beach. I added some accents in blue tones with the cheesecloth like background stamp. The text "Memoirs" was stamped on tissue paper and the beach picture was stamped on watercolour paper. Some doodling with black and white pen completes it:
Bild1

On Card #2 I embossed a heart from I Heart Art in a creamy rose with glitter tone. You can hardly see the glitter, but it sure is shiny! The sentiment from the stamp set Think Again is stamped on watercolour paper, background acrylic paint. Some doodling with yellow Posca pen and pencil:
Bild2

Card #3 is stamped with a beautiful figure from the stamp set called Aztec Art Dolls, the sun you can find on Celestial Images, the birdie creature on Rock Carvings and the sentiment is from Think Again. These unique stamps can be combined so well, it is amazing. Some doodling with pencil, Posca pen in yellow and white:
Bild3


Supply list:
The following Rubber Dance stamp sheetsAztec Art Dolls, Celestial ImagesRock Carvings, Think Again, I Heart Art, New Retro Beach, Round in Circles, Stitch and Frames, single stamps: Herbal TextVintage Script, Chinese and Old Book Page
StazOn and Archival ink pads many colours
Pencil, Gel Pen white, Posca pen yellow and white, Pit pens
And various brands of acrylic paint

Thanks a lot for spending some of your time with me today. I hope you had some fun and it would be lovely to see you next month. You are also very welcome to visit me on my blog artatag.wordpress.com.

I wish you a very happy and creative time!

Gabriele from Art-a-tag

Rubber Dance webshop: www.rubberdance.com
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Comments

Craftyfield said…
Great ideas to find your mojo again... I might try this as I am in the middle of a project but have run out of inspiration!
Bibi Lindahl said…
Thank you so much, Gabriele! I really like what you've showed us here and I think this is a very good idea!
Congratulations on being published in that awesome book!!
alice k. said…
The finished cards are so rich in color, shape and texture - it was great inspiration to see how they came about. You really need to lose the fear of "giving up" beautiful areas in the beginning to gain something even more beautiful. That was a revelation for me. Thanks!
Susanne Rose said…
Liebe Gabriele! Ich bin tooootal begeistert und bin durch Deinen tollen Post SUPER inspiriert! Da weiß ich schon woran ich heute Abend noch arbeiten werde! Wirklich absolut klasse!!! Liebe Grüße, Susanne.
Fablehafte Karten sind das und nochmals herzlichen Glückwunsch zur Veröffentlichung in dem tollen Buch liebe Gabriele!
oxo
Susi
Julie S said…
Excellent advice! My must is quite naughty and takes off without permission on a regular basis. This will keep her in line. ;)
Suman Pandit said…
Thank you Gabriele, enjoyed this post. I create a lot of backgrounds but at times get stuck and don't know how to finish, love your suggestions about cutting them and trying out with various stamps, pens and doodling !!
Unknown said…
Am going to be brave and try this - not thinking is something of a challenge for me! Gorgeous as per usual!
Majo said…
Wunderschöne Kreationen, liebe Gabriele!

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