Easter Week #ledartsupply #zebrapenus #schmincke

Easter week.

The week leading up to the remembrance

that is the most special one for every Christian.

Easter Sunday - the day we remember

not the death, but the

resurrection of a living Christ.

 Since I started making art a few years ago,

each Easter I make a special piece to celebrate.

While I am here, I'd like to walk you through

the making of this page.

This is my medium size Leda Sketchbook.

I love the book - it works so well with 

everything I throw at it!

(By the time my page was complete,

some areas had as much as 10+ layers

of wet media. The page held up great.

No buckling or dimpling, I did hold it in place

with a couple small clips till it was dry.)

I started with a base layer of Golden Fluid Acrylics.

 My hope was to create a page showing that the

tomb of Jesus Christ is empty.

Where better to start than in the scripture that

tells us about that time.

Luke 24:1-12, describes the women taking spices

to prepare the body of Jesus for His eternal resting place.

When they arrived, 

the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty.

I printed the New International Version of that

scripture, hand tore the edges and attached

it to my page with Dina Wakley's clear gesso.

A layer underneath and a layer across the top

both adhered the piece and sealed the edges.

I used standard (cheap) computer paper which is

why it looks translucent. I knew when I painted

over it that would all be covered up

and the words of the Bible would remain.

No problemo.

 I lightly sketched the main elements in pencil, 

then used my Schmincke Watercolors

to start placing the color blocks.

My thought was to make it look like as if

you are peering through the empty tomb

to the crosses beyond where the 

crucifixion happened.

When the page was completely dry, I used a 

paper towel to lightly buff the entire page.

This is important to remove any dust or

loose color particles so they won't clog up

your pens.

 My technical drawing pens from Zebra Pen

worked perfectly over these colors. 

I outlined the various areas, and started

tangling that tree.

If you are a tangle artist, you will recognize 

that tree to be the tangle pattern Finery.

 I continued with those same technical pens

and a white UniBall Signo Gel Pen and did the

remainder of the pen work. 

I darkened the edges to the tomb opening

to make it stand out a bit more.

I felt like the rocks were too dark so . . . 

 . . . I used an opaque white watercolor and

brushed some over the top of the rocks to

lighten them a bit.

A pencil and a tortillon brought a little shade

to the words in the scripture I wanted to

emphasize. 

And a parting thought to . . .

Rejoice in His mercy.

Were it not for that mercy we would not

have a hope for tomorrow. 

I hope you are encouraged as we go

into Easter Week, to remember the real reason 

for Easter is not the bunny and the candy -

although those things are fun and tasty -

but to remember the risen Savior! 

Have a great week!

Supplies used: Leda Medium Sketchbook, Schmincke Watercolor Pans,
Dina Wakley Clear Gesso, Zebra Zensations Technical Drawing Pens,
UniBall Signo Gel Pen. 

A Mother Leda Mixed Media Run Through #leda #ledaofkirkland #zebrapen #joggles

I love mixed media and all the awesome things

one can do with the process!

Recently I have become an Artist Ambassador

for Leda Art Supply!

Part of what I will be doing is reviewing and using

their product. 

Pushing it to the limits and seeing

just what it can take.

Above, you see one of the awesome sketchbooks

Leda carries. 

They call this one Mother Leda. 

The size is 8.25" x 5.5" - their most popular size.

This book has a flexible soft cover with 81 pound acid-free pages.

Eighty sheets with a total of one hundred sixty work surfaces of smooth high quality paper inside. 

This solid thread bound book is a travel worthy friend.

 For my first project right out of the gates,

I decided to go mixed media. 

The Mother Leda is described to 

"take applications of pencil, ink, pen, pastel, 

charcoal and light water-color wash."

Hahaha! 

I have never been one to live by limitations.

So. 

Let's hop on this mixed media thing and 

see what happens.

Above you will see I started with a brayer

and three tubes of Pebeo High Viscosity 

Studio Acrylics. 

These particular ones came from DaySpring. 

 If you haven't rolled color before -

it is super simple to do.

Just a dab of color 

(that's highly technical talk for 'not much') 

squirted onto the paper . . .

 . . . then take a brayer and roll back and forth

and up and down.

Easy peasy!

 Originally I was going to do a one page workup,

but hey! I love this kind of thing!

So this quickly turned into a two page spread -

just by adding more dabs of color and rolling.

Awesome sauce!

(I like how the pink and yellow turn into orange -

just a nice confirmation of color theory at play!)

 I had this bright idea to try some gelli plating

since I had the brayer out.

I dabbed the teal, grabbed some white and proceeded to brayer those together. 

I figured the white would tone down the teal a bit.

(Not that I don't like teal all bright and beautiful.

I do! I used to have teal streaks in my hair to prove it!)

I stamped the color straight onto the page.

 Then came that moment when I remembered -

not all artsy things we try turn out the way we imagined.

Perfect example - 

because the page didn't have a hard

 surface underneath, 

the inked image was all wonky.

Normally I don't mind that,

but it wasn't what I was going for here.

 I pulled out a couple tubes of Dina Wakley's acrylics

and started brayering those onto the pages.

A little fuchsia, lemon and lime that I bought at Joggles.

 Better . . . and closer to what I envisioned.

But still a little dark,

so I used Dina's white, or buff, and rolled some 

on to tone down the overall effect. 

 Totally happy now with the background,

I moved on to Santoro Deco Mache papers and

a page from my Japanese dictionary. 

(At least I think it's Japanese.

Honestly, it's been so long since I bought this 

on eBay that I don't remember.)

 I prefer hand-torn edges over scissor cut.

I started by playing with placement,

then the individual pieces were glued down and 

covered completely to seal the edges -

using Dina Wakley's Clear Gesso.

 Now there was a little too much white!

Easy enough to fix with some teal 

fluid acrylic from Golden.

(Yes, I do have one of everything. Sorry. 

It's a bad habit of mine.)

I watered the color down even more, 

then applied it with . . . my finger.

Some diarylide yellow made some 

awesome rings around stamped images of a 

couple old medicine bottles I save 

for stuff like this. 

 I wanted to work on some of those open areas 

with some sparkle and shine. 

Fine Tec Pearl Colors watercolors

are just the ticket for that!

 I also used a new-to-me glittery marker from

Kirarich to make even more circles.

Cause one can never have too many.

It's kind of like art supplies.

Hahahahaha!

 I am also an Artist Ambassador for

Zebra Pen. 

Recently they added

Mildliner Double Ended Highlighters 

to their product line.

I used the few I have on hand and started 

filling in some details on the background papers. 

They worked great over the dried gesso!

The mildliners also worked well to outline some 

of the postage stamp images.

At this point, I pulled out some of 

Jane Davenport's new mixed media supplies.

That little girl's face is a rub-on transfer.

Super simple to apply.

You seriously just use a popsicle stick that comes with the transfers.

(Not nearly as much fun - or yummy -

 as getting your own the old fashioned way!)

 Back to toning down the background a bit.

I bought this Color Box white ink pad a couple

weeks ago, and it doesn't seem to be 

very well inked, but it worked good 

enough for me.

I just turned the whole thing upside down 

(try this on a scrap first)

and tapped it down with my fingertips.

Here and there and everywhere.

I love the cool speckled look it gave!

 (I took a moment to check on my pages in the

Mother Leda sketchbook to see how they were

holding up so far.

Super awesome!!! That's how!!!)

I needed to ground that little head to the

page, so Jane Davenport's 

Mermaid Markers came to my rescue!

Seriously! How fun is that!

Also a little stencil and that white ink pad 

set some stars into her tresses. 

 I really got into the process and forgot

to take photos. 

I bet you are thankful for that!

Hahaha!

Let's see. 

I also used Jane's Paint Over Pens, 

more Itty Bitty Stencils from Joggles, 

various ink pads and even more ink pads, 

some Zebra Technical Drawing Pens, 

a UniBall Signo white gel pen, 

and a Zebra Eco Zebrite highlighter!

 And called this mixed media 

journey of excellence - - - done!

 (One last little detail shot!)

And here is the finished product!

I started this whole post by saying I am an

Artist Ambassador for Leda Art Supply

and that I was reviewing their

Mother Leda Sketchbook. 

I also outlined what the company said 

the book was designed for.

But -

the test I put this book through is not nearly

what the book was designed for.

So . . . 

how did the Mother Leda hold up to my test?

My mixed media extravaganza of a test?

It did superbly!!!

Fantastically and exceptionally!

Once everything dried there was 

no real warping and there was no dimpling 

of paper at all.

I counted at least 20 layers of product and 

color that I added to these two pages. 

The papers are thicker now because of all the 

product I added, and the book still closes well.

The Mother Leda still closes flat, with no buckling.

There was no bleed through to the back of either page.

I can easily add art to the reverse sides of each

of these mixed media wonders. 

I can not believe how wonderfully the

Mother Leda accepted all these products!

Soooo happy!

So happy - in fact - that I have started 

another set of pages.

I guess you will have to wait and see

what that might be. 

In the meantime, why not go to 

Leda's store

and check out all the lovely things you need!

Myself?

I have my eye set on that paintbrush kit next.