Hello lovely, crafty people!
Painted papers or collage papers, as they are commonly known, are an integral part of mixed media art. When I first started out on my art journey I did buy a commercially printed collage pack and quickly found out what a mistake that was. Not only were the designs printed on cheap paper, on closer look the motifs seemed generic and uninspired. Worse still, on even closer inspection some of the printed text didn't make any sense at all and was simply horrible. I quickly discovered that I could actually make my own collage. Not only that, but I already had perfect papers at home - old book pages and sheet music - ready to be transformed. Once I got going I never looked back!
You, too, can make your own stack of painted papers and you don't require a lot of paints or tools. A block of regular white paper, a couple of your favorite acrylic paints, a few paint pens, maybe a stamp or two and if you are feeling very adventures you might try stencilling. An old wine cork dipped in paint is great for making big dots. The eraser on the end of a pencil makes small ones. While these dots aren't perfectly round or a line drawn without a ruler might turn out wonky, I find this adds a certain handmade charm and more importantly makes these papers uniquely your own.
For variation I paint or print on tissue paper, brown paper bags, that I have cut open, sketching sheets and old book pages that make interesting background effects. As shown above, I made a set of neutrals that are a good starting point in mixed media artwork.
A black stamp pad, paint pens in black in various sizes, text stamps all look good on a neutral background, while white or cream looks good on brown paper. I find simple motifs work best.
I later invested in a gel plate since I was planning to make a whole lot of painted papers! Although it looks easy, working with a gel plate takes a bit of experimentation and you will eventually get nice prints through trial and error. In the above picture I used just a handful of colors and a couple of stamps. Mine seem to turn out best when I use less paint and choose simple stamping motifs. I'd like to point out that it is absolutely not necessary to own a gel plate to be able to create beautiful papers. In the below video I demonstrate just how easy it is to make a set of papers without one.
And did you know that my underpapers, e.g. usually printer paper, that I use to roll off the excess paint from my brayer or wipe off the ink from my stamps never get thrown away? I simply make more marks on them with paint pens! I think these look pretty amazing too.
Thank you for stopping by today and I hope you enjoyed reading my post. Have you ever made your own collage papers with or without a gel plate? What's your take on gel printing. I'd love to hear. Let me know in the comments! Have a beautiful day.
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