Ideas for Painterly Techniques and Looks on Scrapbook Pages

by Debbie Hodge

Painting techniques have shown up on t-shirt, tabletop decor, and wallpaper. We’re seeing wide and messy brush strokes and even finger-painting looks on everyday accessories, clothing and even dishes.  

Amy Kingsford says, “I combined a lively painted background paper with brushes and doodles to get a painterly look for a page about the first snowman we built in 2012.”  

“I was inspired to use this technique on this particular page because the energy of it echoed the same energy and enthusiasm that my boys had about making a snowman. I used colors that helped my photos pop and stand out despite the busy background. I used red-painted doodles to capture and guide the eye through the key elements of the page.”

Kiki Kougioumtzi made a page about her daughter’s likes and dislikes right now.  

She says, “I started with white cardstock prepared with gesso. I painted with liquid watercolors a row of color swatches in rainbow order. When they were almost dry I sprayed them with water, lifted the paper and let the color run (adding more watercolor where needed).”

“When they were completely dry I used a transparent glimmer mist and sprayed lightly, only to bring some glittery sparkle to the colors. I had already decided on the placement of my photo, so when everything was dry (I used heat gun to speed the process) I painted a photo mat with acrylic. Finally, I made spots for my journaling with liquid watercolors.”

Jennifer Matott says, “I recently attended a TASK party with other art teachers, and we had a blast completing creative tasks written by all of the attendees.  I wanted an artsy page to showcase this fun event.  I started by scribbling Gelatos onto the background paper and adding water. I turned the page to allow the paint to drip in different directions. Once dry, I splattered Distress Stain in Gold so that it splattered and looked like big drips.”

Adryane Driscoll says, “This is a photo of Jake in his favorite spot.I created the background by layering digital brushes and using the warp tool on them.  Warping the brush strokes allowed me to achieve the painterly effect. I also tried using the smudge tool to give a watery look to some of the brush strokes on the bottom of the page.”

 

Ashley Horton says, “Our little boy loves looking through the telescopes overlookin the water. We have to make a stop at every one along the pier.  The colors in these photos are more on the muted side and included a lot of Browns and Grays, so I used painterly techniques to add color.”

“Rather than paint, I worked with spray mists to make a ‘painterly’ background.  I diluted two different colors, teal and yellow, with a bit of water and and dabbed them over a chevron mask.  While the color was still wet, I shook the mist dropper over my page, to blend the colors and get a watercolor effect.  When that layer was dry, I taped bubble wrap to my acrylic stamp block, sprayed it with lrange spray mist, and randomly stamped it.”

 

Amanda Jones says, “We went away for Christmas this year so this page documents my son opening his main present from his grandparents on New Year’s Day. I created my page background using paints on a chipboard base. I also created painted leafy embellishments and added touches of paint to wooden embellishments.”

“I used a sponge applicator to apply a layer of white gesso to my 12×12 chipboard base. Using an old credit card I applied patches of black acrylic paint. Over this, again with the credit card, I added a thicker layer of white acrylic paint.”

“I used the same technique to add blue paint. Finally, I added one bold swipe of red roughly where I wanted to place my photo. I used a brush to splatter black, red and silver droplets of paint. For the leaf embellishments I drew rough leafy shapes onto paper scraps with silver paint. I outlined them with a black marker and added detail before trimming them out. I added smudges of red, white and silver paint to the wooden star and snowflake embellishments using my finger.”

Barb Brookbank says, “This is a photo I took of  trees coated with hoarfrost. I took the photo with my iPhone and I edited it in Picfx – adding magical colours and bokeh. The background paper is from the ArtPlay Palette Family kit by Anna Aspnes. This paper added the beautiful texture to the background over which I applied blue and pink paint using digital brushes.”

Adriana Puckett says, “This layout shows my daughter’s 1^st grade guidance assignment. I love what she drew here and how mean the spitting girl in her fancy dress looks!”

“For the background, I used a technique that I read about in the Scraptastic book by Ashley Calder. I adhered masking tape to my craft sheet, then painted white gesso on it in large strokes, leaving some patches bare and loading up in different areas. I then painted, dripped, and dribbled blue watercolor over it. I let the whole thing dry and then peeled off the masking tape strips and adhered them to my cardstock base. It was a really fun technique.”

Katie Scott says, “I made this layout in Mou Saha’s scrapbooking class using Faber Castell paints, inks and gelatos (pastels).  I let my daughter do the journaling, and she is going to put it in a frame on her wall.

Audrey Tan says, “This page focuses on one little word that I’m going to use this year: proactive. My aim is to get ahead of things, be it at home or in the workplace.”

“I started the page with a mixed media paper and slowly built it up using paints and splashes of word art. I didn’t use a photo, but, instead, put a girl image (supposedly to represent me) on the page. I intend to refer to this poster throughout the year to remind me of my one little word!”

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