Two sides of Henrietta - Art Daily Cafe

Moikka! This is quite interesting how these two projects, the one I shared yesterday and this one, come one after the other when blogging. There was several weeks between these when creating! 

But today I'm sharing my take on the month’s “celebration of contrast” theme. I rarely make art journal spreads, but this topic cried out for one! As you may see, the same elements are repeated on both pages, the only difference is the colors. 

I first thought to make a spread using the color of the month and its contrast. But I seldom, or maybe even closer to never, use contrasting color scheme in like that. But what I instead use is both white and black background on a project. It’s sometimes even hard to choose between white and black gesso and which one I like more, so I went with that idea. 

I started the spread by painting the left side of the spread with black gesso and the right with white gesso. Then I used three different stencils to add a little something to the solid surface. I used two shades of grey through two different stencils to add a hint of flat pattern first. Then on top I added a dimensional layer. I used the same stencil on both pages but differed the medium. For the black page I used black Impasto paint as it was the fastest way to have a matte pitch black raised pattern. For the white I went with just use Modeling Paste. 

On top of the background, I then made the two compositions with similar elements. There’s a leaf – black on black, white on white, some black and white washi tape, word stickers, half pearls and a touch of thread. There’s also a portrait of a lady, cut in two. The lady is from an old painting by Anthony van Dyck from 1638 called “Henrietta Maria”. I mounted the print of the painting on top of cardstock and then cut the face loose. I also cut the piece in half and then added the sides on separate pages. I really love how both of the pages look! 

This month’s color was dark red. As I wanted to highlight the contrast, mostly using just black and white and not even the grey scale in between, I added just hints of red in the page. The color is present in the half pearls, some splashes, which are more visible on the white side and then some thread. I made the splashes using a mix of two Liquid acrylic colors, Crimson and Carmine. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you an artful day! 

 

Materials: Prima Marketing, Robyn McClendon (iStencil), Tape Garden, Carabelle Studio, Ranger