Background Instructions

Quite a few people emailed me asking for instructions for the background on the "Roots" card so I decided to post it. It is called the "Faux Watercolour Technique". You can use liquid watercolours, coloured inks, food colouring, liquid or pearlescent acrylics or any type of water-based art colours. It is handy to have dropper bottles. Take a piece of 90 lb. hot-pressed watercolour paper and dip it into water letting the excess drip off. Lay paper down and drop colour on top at random. Cover as much of the paper as you would like leaving some white space. You can add a bit of gold or silver ink sediment with an unwound paper clip. A light touch is best. You can also sprinkle fine or coarse salt on top for a tie-dye effect. Take a piece of plastic wrap slight bigger than the piece of paper and use it to gently move the colour around until you are satisfied with coverage. Lay the plastic wrap on top and crinkle slightly. Leave to dry. Check out the book "Painting Greeting Cards" by Elizabeth Joan Black for other great ideas.

Here is another card that I created on the weekend using this technique.