The Exciting Array of Paper, Tablets, and New Grounds

Over lunch, a friend was telling me about her son-in-law “who never worked.” She said this tongue-in-cheek, followed by “he’s an entrepreneur – an inventor; he created transfer paper for T-shirts and such.”

That got me thinking about all the innovative art papers, tablets and grounds available to artists today. I’m currently doing my own exploration and enjoying the possibilities. Recently, I tried some “waterslide decal paper for inkjet printers.” The decals can be applied to glass, china, pottery and wood.

I repainted an old candle base to match the color of a bathroom mirror. After sizing and printing out an original drawing on the decal paper, I allowed the inkjet image to dry overnight. I then soaked the decal paper in water to loosen the decal and placed it on the tray.

Over the next few hours, I continued to use my fingers and a brayer to push the bubbles out. When the image was dry, I used an acrylic medium gel to provide adhesion and a protective cover. I did this three times, allowing the medium to dry between applications. What a fun way to display art in a variety of ways.

Today my works-in-progress include the first under painting of my owl in acrylic. I’m also working on a flyer for a church organization for Christmas. The words will be overlaid digitally in the negative spaces.

Featured Artist:
Stan Prokopenko who has some amazing tutorials on YouTube. If you think you can’t do portraits; think again. Stan makes it look easy! You’ll be amazed with the results of your own first attempts. His simple, direct and graphic teaching video “How to draw the Head from any angle” will make drawing and painting portraits a snap! Stan has additional follow-up videos worthy of any formal class instruction.

http://youtu.be/1EPNYWeEf1U