Here trying to catch up. I stayed behind a bit again, because the grounds I am trying out needed 24 hours to dry before using them.
Face #10
This cute "Fae Princess" is a mixed media piece. I used Caran D'Ache gouache studio set, colored pencils, Sharpie paint marker and a bit of acrylic over a paper treated with Daniel Smith transparent watercolor ground. Here I used the gouache very diluted, making it transparent like watercolors.
I still don't know how I feel about this ground. I didn't find it to be too absorbent, although I did not use a very thick layer on the paper. I put two coats of this ground on the papers. It is indeed better than untreated paper; maybe some more experimentation, on other surfaces, is in order to give a final verdict about this. It does dry clear, which give you the advantage of using the substrate color to your advantage. It does comes with a white finish though.
Face #11, "Forest Fae" was also created on paper treated with Daniel Smith transparent watercolor ground but with this one I only used gouache. I really like her too, she looks innocent and sweet to me; maybe is that huge bright eye.
Here I took advantage of the green of the paper, as it also inspired the color scheme. So the fact that the watercolor ground was transparent helped me here.
For face #12
The surface Martha Stewart stucco ground was used. I really enjoy working on textured surface. I feel it give a certain character and interest to the pieces. This ground too need 24 hrs to dry before using it.
I wish I would have applied it more uneven, an also used less concentrated acrylic so it has more dimension. Even though, I like the old weathered look it has. I will continue exploring this idea in other pieces.
