Playing with Papers: A Mixed Media Painting

"You Are The Star In My Sky..."

8x10

Last Friday, I shared "Stars and Stripes" collage papers for CareFREE Fridays!  (If you haven't already downloaded them, you can get them here.)  For this week's Playing with Papers! I created a mixed media painting...  This is how I did it:

I started by printing the blue star paper in an 8x10 format on cardstock.  (I also printed a sheet of the green stars and a sheet of the purple writing to use later on.)

Then I cut the green star paper to create the ground and glued it down using mod podge (you can also use matte medium).  I also started working on the sky -  I used a combination of watered down acrylic craft paints and prismacolor pencils to start giving the sky more depth...blues and purples for the sky, white for the stars and moon.  (I used bubble wrap to paint the moon's texture.)

Next, I cut a simple tree shape out of the purple writing paper and glued it down.  I used watered down green and white craft paint to start giving the ground some dimension.  (I also added a hint of the blue around the edges of the ground to start tying the two sections together.)  The last thing I did at this stage was to add some white gel pen detailing to the sky.

At this point it was looking very flat so I deepened the edges of the painting and around the tree - first with watered down dark blue, then with deep blue and deep purple prismacolor pencils.  To make the tree stand out, I used prismacolor pencils: deep purples in the center (light pressure), then heavier pressure with lighter purple over the whole tree for blending, and white along the edges.

After I was satisfied with the background, the tree trunk and branches, it was time to add some leaves.  I used an itty-bitty leaf stencil to create a uniform shape (you could also use a leaf stamp or hand paint each one).  I painted the leaves in all of the colors from the painting (purple, blue and green), starting with the darkest first (this ties everything together).

The final step was to add the details.  I created a heart in the center of the tree using light purple and white prismacolor pencils (I used my darkest purple for the writing).  Then I used a white gel pen to add outlines to the leaves, white dots in the sky, and and outline around the heart.  I was disappointed that I had lost the writing on the tree when I shaded it, so I brought it back by writing the words on the ground: "you are the star in my sky... my world is brighter with you in it."

*This step-by-step process is intended for personal use only.*

Please do not sell this image or teach/post this tutorial as your own. 

It is totally okay to use the FREE collage papers to make your own unique images to sell. (I actually think that's pretty cool, and I'd love to see them!)

But, please do not sell re-creations of the image I've made.  (That's not cool.)

Please be sure to check back for more FREE collage papers (and ideas to go with them)!

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