Backgrounds ~ getting over the "blank page jitters"

Some of what we did on our covers will work here, too

Acrylic paint + scraper ~ be sure to scrape super thin for fast drying. If the colour isn’t vibrant enough, add more layers. Start with the lightest colour first and work towards the darker ones.

Acrylic paint + stencils + makeup sponges ~ Use less paint than you think you need for crisper stencil edges. Before stencilling, “pounce” till almost dry on scrap paper to make sure you don’t use too much.

But we’ve also got some new ideas to play with …

“Cloud” stencilling ~ an “oh so simple” to make stencil that gives your page a light airy start. 

Turning your “background” into a background ~ write to your heart’s content

about whatever’s on your mind, but keep turning the page and

overwriting till what you’ve written is unreadable (but you’ll know). 

Faux basket-weave with text ~ cut squares out of an old book and glue them down as a background, alternating the text direction to make a basket weave. Then overpaint the whole page with gesso so the pattern fades into the background and also gives you a good surface to work on. 

Basket-weave with squares.

Basket-weave, but on the diagonal

Once you've done the basic basket-weave, you can "knock back" the contrast with a thin layer of gesso rubbed in with gesso and then add acrylic paint on top using the scraping and stencilling techniques again:

Basket-weave squares ~ next steps:
1. Original basketweave 2. Gesso wash added
3. Acrylic paint scraped 4. Acrylic paint stencilled on top.

Basket-weave squares on the diagonal ~ next steps:
1. Original basketweave 2. Gesso wash added
3. Acrylic paint scraped 4. Acrylic paint stencilled on top.

Don't worry too much about how your backgrounds look ~ they'll eventually be in the background! But if you do one you particularly love, photograph or scan it before you work on it so you can work on it again and again.