/* */ Beulah Bee: chalk pastels
Showing posts with label chalk pastels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chalk pastels. Show all posts

March 03, 2016

The Red Chair


The journal page I share today was prompted by Simon's Monday challenge, Take a Leap Into the Unknown, and it was all that and more!

I took several photos of each stage so my post is longer than usual but I hope you'll enjoy seeing the process. As always, you can click on the individual photos to see a larger version.

I found this lady's image on the net and know nothing about her but wanted to give her a bigger presence because she is so captivating.

I took a leap and cropped out the frame, reversed the image, then printed the photo in a larger size than I normally work with so she'd fill up the page.


I applied polymer gel medium over my trimmed laser-printed photo, placed it on the page and once dry, began the process of rubbing off the paper to transfer the image.



I penciled-in a scene then went over the lines with a black paint pen.



The next photo shows how I used various stamps with black archival ink to create a pattern for the walls, an orchid for the window sill, and a face and frame for the picture on the wall. I also filled in her dress using black and gray paint then took a leap and decided to add bits of tissue paper to her skirt to give it more interest.


Then I took another leap and decided to use oil pastel crayons to tint the window because I knew they would be easy to smear and help create the look of vintage glass.

I used chalk pastels to tint the wallpaper and brown acrylic paint on the wall base and floor. The orchid was tinted with colored pencils because the design is so small a paintbrush wouldn't be practical.

The wall base looked too plain so I stamped a row of images using brown archival ink. My last color decision was the chair and yes, I took a leap, and painted it with bright red acrylic.


I wasn't too happy with the lady's skirt so I dug out some black tissue paper which I added in strips and then finally opted to trim the skirt with washi tape.


Here's one more look at the final outcome (so you don't have to scroll to the top) and in case you're wondering, my journal is the large format Dylusions by Ranger (each page measures approx. 8" x 11").


To learn more about my image transfer technique, click here for a post that further explains the method I use along with some tips. Maybe you'll take a leap too?

January 21, 2016

Got Friends?


Aunt Butch (or Butch)--that's what everyone called her. It was the nickname given to her by my Dad. She's the one on the right and her real name was Olive Lee.

The photo was taken in my Grandmother's backyard and because of the hats, I suspect it might have been her birthday. I don't know why she looked so sour with that "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" expression but in truth, it was her nature to never smile that much.

But I digress. This post isn't meant to be a sharing of family history, rather, it's a chance to talk about a photo tinting theory that played out rather well.

In a previous post, I mentioned using clear gesso over black paper to create a chalkboard effect using pastel pencils and that made me wonder, would this technique work for tinting black and white photos?

The answer is yes and rather well, I might add.

After stamping and tinting the background and pasting on the girls, I covered the tag with a layer of clear gesso then used pastel pencils to tint their clothing and put a little color in their cheeks. The trick is not to apply too much since pastels are generally not very transparent and you could lose some of the photo's detail if you did.

Would I use this technique again? Definitely.

I chose this photo and made this tag so I could link to Simon's Monday blog challenge where this week's theme is Best Friend.

Stamp credit: Tim Holtz Dots & Florals