How I do what I do #2...

So here is the second part of my how I do what I do tutorial...  the background.

For this background I am going to use my favourite background ('full moon' from the Vintage moon collection by Pink Paislee) I rip the edges rather than cutting them so they have a nice deckled look.

I then start painting over it deciding what to keep and what to white out with pebeo super covering white as I go.  About now you are probably thinking why on earth does she even bother to have a background paper at all, she has covered it in paint!  Your not the only one thinking this the owner of the shop where I buy my paper from wonders the exact same thing.  But you can see subtle little bits showing through, which I like.

Once I have the right look I am wanting for the background I then add a little detail in coloured pencil around the edges (this is a slightly closer up view of the top section of the background).

The next step is to put in a horizon line, I often make the sky part of the painting a third of the whole piece... it feel good to my eyes.  I use the Pebbles Inc chalk pastels to colour the bottom part of the painting and then once it is covered I dampen a rag and rub the chalk pastel in and some of it off (sometimes I also rub a little of the paint off as well so you can see a bit more of the background paper showing through, but you have to be careful not to use too much water and not to rub too hard as you can wreck the paper underneath).  This technique picks up a lot of the texture that you don't see before adding the chalk pastel.  I discovered this by accident one day when I spilt some water over the chalk pastel and tried to wipe it off.  It turned out to be one of those happy accidents that life throws at you now and again.

Then I blue tack the girl in place so I can work behind her if I need to...  penciling in her wings and adding a few other little details with pencil and white pen.  I find with this process that having the girl separate from the background is a good thing, if she doesn't suit her background I can do another one for her or vise versa... and also if I make a mistake with either one the other is still okay. I have tried painting the face right onto the background but it just wasn't successful for me.

(without your wings I'd be gone)

Once all the detail are done I glue her in place with a Pritt glue stick and add any finishing touches, like the little bit on top of her hat...and that is pretty much how I do it.

Note for Kelly... I have added a little about her dress paper in the previous post, sorry but there wasn't that much information about the name of the paper only that it was produced by K&Company in a pack with others.


As a special thank you to all my blog readers for your kind words and support, I am going to give one of these prints away for free if you order another print in my shop over the next week... if you type "your wings" in the comments to seller box, I will send this print free along with your order.  After next week I will add it to my Etsy shop http://www.sleepandhersisters.etsy.com, so keep an eye out for it.

Thanks again and I really hope this tutorial was helpful in some way.

Although sleep leaves me behind

Every now and again I find sleep forgets to visit me some nights and I am left waiting and thinking, way too much thinking. I guess it is a busy job putting the world to sleep, as the world turns it would be an endless job in fact. Thank goodness for sleeps sisters! Where would we be without our sisters?

I don't actually have any sisters of my own to rely on just a brother... not long after he was born (he is two years younger then me) I 'got' an imaginary friend... his name was January. He was tall, much taller then me and old, way older then me, he traveled a lot and wore black.

My mother thought January came along to keep me company until my brother got 'interesting'. I am sure I must still see January now and again as I am still waiting for my brother to get interesting. Why couldn't I have had a helpful interesting sister like one of sleep's...?

I have just listed this on etsy... let me know what you think?