The Golden Lady by Jennie

Thank you for joining me today for another napkin art experiment!

I say experiment as you will see later that I discovered that Calico Craft Parts Greyboard is immensely strong and can take all manners of products without buckling under the strain!

I have had this rather nice Klimt napkin featuring his  "Lady in Gold" painting for quite some time but wasn't quite sure what to do with it as it is so detailed.  On looking at the CCP greyboard I realised I could create two layers for a panel which would allow me to showcase the beautiful napkin.

I started by tearing some large pieces from the patterned parts of the napkin and adhering them to the smaller greyboard panel. I had painted this with gesso first so that the multi medium didn't get absorbed into the board.

Not a good photograph, but hopefully you can see that I used DecoArt Crackle Glaze on top of the panel and then rubbed in DecoArt Antiqueing Cream in White.  Unfortunately the phone rang and I got totally distracted so everything dried a little bit more than I wanted so it is quite white in places.

I then went back to the napkin for another square to "isolate" the lovely lady. I find the easiest way of doing this is to use a fine paintbrush and water. Draw as close as possible around the item (but leaving a little edge to blend into the background) and then carefully tear it while it is still wet.

When you gently ease the top layer from the bottom ones you get quite a fine edge which will blend well into the background.

I then adhered her over the crackled panel. It looks a bit wrinkly here but after everything had dried I applied two coats of DecoArt Gloss Varnish.

The varnish has smoothed everything out well.

And so to the background panel - and this is where I discovered that these boards are in fact AMAZING in terms of what you can actually put on them without them buckling.

I painted the board first with gesso and then added some texture through a stencil.  I won't bore you with photographs but this is how many "lives" it had.

- painted with cream chalk paint (too light)
- painted with yellow chalk paint (wrong contrast)
- painted with gold chalk paint (again wrong contrast)
- painted with cream chalk paint (two coats to bring it back again ..... !)
- painted with water soluble pigment particles (too dark)
- blasted with water .............

- finally painted again with water soluble pigment particles with a light touch - GOT IT !!!  And the board is still as straight as it was when I started - absolutely no buckling (mind you it is nearly twice as thick ........ !)

My final touch was to paint these gorgeous DecoArt flourishes with a light gold chalk paint which I also added around the edges of the ceramic flower.

Quite a long creative process for such a simple little panel !!!

As always thank you so much for joining me today and I hope you manage to find some crafting time in your busy day.

Jennie x

Live the Dream

Calico Craft Parts used today:

Rounded Rectangle Greyboard Mixed Media Board Style 18

 200mm x 100mm and 150mm x 75mm

Art Deco Ornament Wood Shape - Style 1 (Small)