Over at the Paperwhimsy forum, we have been talking about using napkins in our collage work. Here, I have used napkins for the backgrounds of these four collages. First I separated the backing from the napkins. Then I laid them over a canvas panel to see what part(s) of the napkin I wanted to use. I also checked to see if there was any white showing through the napkin. If there was white showing, that could distract from the background color, I painted the canvas panel first with a coordinating acrylic paint. When dry, I used a fluid medium to attach the napkin to the canvas panel, and a layer over the top. I let the napkin wrinkle naturally as I placed it on the canvas.
When the medium had dried, it was time to get the watercolor pencils and your favorite pigments out (Inka Gold pigments would work well here!). I used both to highlight different areas that I felt needed a little extra punch. This would also be a great time to add a little glitter or gilding flakes. I also added a little brown ink around the edges to give them a bit of antique look. The next step was to spray a coat of fixative, so nothing would smear with additional layers.
The last step was to select one of the many beautiful PaperWhimsy images. For these collages, I selected images from Collage Images – Beautiful Faces Sheets #004, #078, and other assorted beauties. At this step, I decided the collages really didn’t need anything else, except, perhaps a Butterfly? Note: The image in the first collage was tinted with watercolor pencils.
With all the really beautiful napkins available, some times that’s all you need to create a very special piece of artwork.