Something New

I love trying out new things...in my art that is. Art is such a much safer place to try out new things than life. Those of you who know me well know that while I do like adventure, I don't always handle surprise changes in plans with a whole lot of grace... (my husband is laughing inside right now - in fact, maybe not just inside!)

I felt inspired to try something new tonight:

Using paint directly on my layout papers.

It's a technique I've heard of, just never tried before. I've also only seen pictures or finished product - never actually seen someone do it or been given instructions. So, it involved a bit of experimenting. I pulled out all my brushes since I wasn't sure if I wanted foam or bristle. Then, I just dove in, trying different things on various pieces of paper. I'm quite comfortable distressing with ink, but paint is a completely different animal!

Here's what I ended up with:

I used Close To My Heart's newly released 'You Rock' paper packet. There's paint on everything but I really went to town on the blue cardstock.

Here's a close-up:

It took me awhile to decide which brush I liked best for this and to figure out how much (or, really, in this case, how little) paint to use. There's a fine balance between having enough paint on the brush that it's not dry brushing and having too much on so it comes out goopy or overpowering.

Here I am trying to talk about painting and I am NOT a paint artist... All you painters out there, please forgive me!

I had fun doing this tonight and I came up with a result that I like. I will definitely try this again! I encourage you to try something new in your scrapbooking too...