For a painterly look + a freebie!!

Last post I mentioned a technique for a more painterly look, That is what I will be demonstrating today!
This is a fun simple technique to give your art a unique look. 
The only special thing you are going to need is an old favorite:  MOD PODGE!!

Good Ole Mod Podge and a plastic ketchup bottle.  You can use a different kind of squirty bottle, this is what I had on hand and it works great!

There have been a lot of posts on the craft sights about  making your own mod podge and you can it is pretty simple in ingredients.  Basically it is Elmer's glue and cornstarch.  I am all for DIY'ing things BUT  here's my tip on mod podge:  You can buy it on Amazon for 29.99 a Gallon with free shipping if you are a prime member. For that price, I spare my kitchen the mess and have it shipped to my door once a year!!

This technique requires adding a layer of mod podge on to your focal area. 

 

My first attempt was with this lovely image. Mod Podge is a water base product and so isn't my ink from my printer.  The first application I used a sponge, and that just lifted the ink and moved it all over the image.  Next I tried a brush, same result.  The last thing I tried was my finger. I tried to evenly spread the podge over the image and while it was better, I was still displacing the ink, you can see some of the color pushed over to the bar margin.   So this was not going to be good with any of these applications.

What I needed to do was quickly get the podge on the surface and get it covered and lift the excess off.
I then tried faithful wax paper!

 

I added about 1 tablespoon of the Podge and then layered a piece of wax paper on top

Working pretty fast - (I learned to do one image at a time for best results) I spread as evenly as I could see and feel  the podge under the paper and then lifted off.

This gave me a nice even coat.  It is hard to seen in this picture.  One thing about this art form, there is a lot of trial and error involved.  Next batch of my impressionist images I am going to print them on a smooth paper instead of a "laid " finish.  While this photo is magnified, you can se the textured finish and I am not crazy about that. They look good in real life, but I will printing on smooth for the next set.

Here are two set of cards with and with out the top coats;

Mod Podge increases the vibrancy of the image and it has a nice oil canvas painting feel to it.

It still looks lovely but it is a more delicate look.
This image is one of my own digitals.

I made a batch of 20 of these cards and they will be March birthday cards for one of my groups.

This image is a NiceCrane  image fromn the Japanese Garden Collection, I made another 20 of these for Birthday cards for my Oriental Stamp Arts Group.


Printed image, sized for an A6 card

With the Mod Podge coating

With out:

 

It's a hard choice, but it gives you another option with your stamp art: digital or rubber, it works beautifully!  If you mod podge your image it also become very durable and you can wipe it down.  I use it often when I am making books and book marks!

 

Here is a freebie for you to play with today!!

A famous painting by John Singer Sargent of one of his daughters, you may notice there is no snow in this painting!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this simple technique!

I hope you have a great day

Ginny M