Spring Fling Mixed Media on Handmade Paper

Artist Tori Weyers Orange Citrus and Art Deco Leaves with vintage ephemera

Handmade watercolor paper with vintage ephemera, acrylic and watercolor. Stencil TCW450 and TCW614

For my very first post as a design team member I thought it would be super fun to break out my stash of ephemera and explore one of my long time favorite stencils from The Crafters Workshop TCW450 Stencil Art Deco Leaves and a brand new stencil that I just got TCW614 Citrus Montage.

Citrus TCW614 and Art Deco Leaves TCW450

Citrus TCW614 and Art Deco Leaves TCW450

First I went through my ephemera stash and found some fun pieces to work with, I landed on an old prescription from Henry Ford Hospital, a tea bag from my favorite lemon tea and an old book page.

Vintage Ephemera and a Tea Bag

Raiding my ephemera stash to find some fun pieces to make source material with!

Next I decided on the substrate I would work on and landed on some handmade watercolor paper. I really enjoy working on handmade paper because it gives your finished piece a different kind of texture and look than working on a machine made paper and I felt for this piece it worked well with the ephemera I selected.

Handmade Watercolor Paper

Once I had all of my materials collected I carefully cut the back off of my dried tea bag and tossed the tea. Next I used the stencils and added paint to my ephemera.

Art Deco Leaves Stencil on Ephemera

Once my ephemera was done and drying I started work on my main piece. First I used my Orange Faber-Castell Gelato and my TCW614 Citrus Montage stencil to lay down an orange. Next I glued down my tea bag and I tore a piece of my painted book page and then laid that down too. Once I had my main three pieces down I used my Indian Yellow Winsor & Newton Watercolor stick to add a bright pop of yellow that I felt worked well with the turquoise and orange. I also cut some leaves out of the book page to use later.

Step one first layers and color choices in bright warm and cool colors.

Step one first layers and color choices in bright warm and cool colors.

Next I used a flat brush to spread the watercolor out a bit around the central elements and then I used a round brush to add a bit of green pattern marks that represent leaves. Lastly I used yellow acrylic paint to brighten up the tea bag which help it to push further into the foreground.

Green acrylic painted pattern over watercolor and ephemera

Next I simply added the leaves I previously cut out. You can see in the above photo I also made a little half orange with the citrus stencil and a black marker. I typically make extra bits and pieces as I go along so I have lots of options as I build my layers the pieces I don’t use just go on the pile of source material for future use!

Cut stencil leaves

Once I have all of my main pieces down this is where I typically stop and evaluate what to do to bring the piece together and push it to a more final look. For this piece I thought it could use some additional contrast and details. As you can see in my final image below I used a darker color (Winsor & Newton Watercolor Stick in Payne’s Grey) around the edges of the leaves to separate them from the book page I laid down earlier. I also used a fine tip marker to add 3 little circles with dots in three separate areas of the piece to help your eye move around the composition.  I also added a bit of Indian Yellow watercolor to the orange and finally added the title of the piece with a bit of hand lettering.

Artist Tori Weyers Orange Citrus and Art Deco Leaves with vintage ephemera

Handmade watercolor paper with vintage ephemera, acrylic and watercolor. Stencil TCW450 and TCW614

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. This post also contains affiliate links. The opinions I share are solely my own.

Thanks so much for checking out my very first post as a design team member and I can’t wait to create with you all year long! Until next time!

Tori Weyers
The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

6 thoughts on “Spring Fling Mixed Media on Handmade Paper

  1. Beautiful piece, Tori. This makes me want to sit down and make Spring/Summer “Just because” cards. I always feel like I’m getting a free art lesson with your posts. Love it!

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