April 13, 2022 Janine O'Rourke

Our Happy Place by LOUISE CROSBIE

My final project using the April Scrapaholix kit.

I’ve torn and layered papers with rough edges onto one of the sheets of green Bazzill .

I added texture through a stencil then gave the whole page a wash of white gesso.

As the gesso dries in quite transparent, the colours and patterns still show through but they are softened and become a bit more chalky and muted. This is useful as I’m aiming for a very romantic feminine look.

I also used some watered down green impasto paint in a few random places before giving it another coat of watered down gesso.

Once the gesso was dry, I tucked in little strands of cheesecloth between some of the layers. This softens the look even more.

I only had to build up the composition at this point. I’ve used a lot of 49 and Market flowers.

My photo is of my lovely Great Aunt Mima. I used an app to colorise it before getting it printed off. It was just luck that the app made her top pink. It made it blend in beautifully with the paper colours.

When everything was glued down, I painted gently over my flowers with more white gesso.

For finishing touches I’ve added some little pearl beads in green and white and some fine green glitter. And I’ve added splatters of white all over (keeping her face and the wording in the bottom corner, protected with scraps of paper).

That’s the last of my April projects. I’ll be back in May with some more ideas.

Supply list.

White gesso (larger and smaller sizes available)
Impasto paint - Victorian green
49 and Market flowers: Royal Spray - Bashful. Royal Posies - Bashful. Royal posies - Olive. Royal Spray - Ivory

Cheese cloth

3D foam tape

Stencil: FInnabair - Dandelions

modeling paste

Green glitter from the Finnabair Mardi Gras set

From personal stash

Small pearls taken from a broken necklace (bought at a car boot sale)

Number token

VIntage family photo