Simple and super fast technique to create bold flower heads using DecoArt paints

Hi again all!
Another quick post to share a super easy technique for painting flowers. This came about from a journal page I made for a lovely journal group on Facebook called Embrace Your Art by Tiare Smith Woods (love her work, click on her name to see her blog) and her prompt was about using a straw to blow paints.  Well I had a play and it kind of evolved into a completely new technique for me. I created a journal page (second pic) and posted it on Facebook. Then I was asked to do a blog post to show the process, so this is the original journal page, but as I hadn't taken pictures  of the process (again!!) I created another little artpiece (single rose above) just to show how easy it is and how it's done.


 All you need is a surface (arty peeps call it a substrate) and for that I broke into my new mini ring binder and used one of the grey board pages inside. This is by Tando Creative click HERE for details.

Cover surface with white gesso

Add just a TINY number of paint drops - I used about 3 drops of the Quiacridone MagentaDecoArt Fluid Acrylic paint and got a generous sized flower.

Spritz over the top lightly with water.

Blow paint around with a straw into a pool of paint similar to the on below - don't try and be precise, just work with it using the shape to dictate which direction your flower will face.

Then simpley smoosh the paint with one finger in a swirl. 

Repeat this motion from left to right, then right to left working your way down, and back up to if you want to, to create a very simple flower effect.

Top tip 1- you get a much better effect if you do this while the gesso is still wet, and the harder you press with your finger, the more gesso will come through - and it's that which creates the contrast and white highlights. Done!!!

Top Tip 2 - if you feel the flower has become a little too big or 'out of control' you can go back around it with white gesso to shape it as you like. this is what I did on the journal page as the blobs of paint had spread too far with the straw. Worked a treat!
So now I'll enter this into Andy Skinners challenge 'bold and bright" on his blog. 

I then mixed a little green with the black and added leaves and a stem. And finally I tried ANOTHER new technique to try and write with the paints. I used added a few drops of the green and black paint to fine writer applicator pictured above. Spritzed in a few squirts of water. Gave it a shake, tried it out on scrap paper and then wrote directly onto the board - love it! With a little practice I hope to write more smoothly as the gesso was a little more textured than the practice paper.

Thanks for looking and enjoy! 

Suz xxx