Backgrounds are some of my favorite things to make. I have several quite a few backgrounds prepared in books and ATC blanks waiting for the rest to come along.
Here is a story of how one of those background came to be and what happened to it.
After the pages were gessoed and dry, I added pieces of old sewing pattern. I coated the pages with mod-podge and smushed torn pieces of the tissue into it then applied more mod-podge on top. I was not carefulabout wrinkles because I wanted the texture.
I helped the drying process with my heat gun. Sometimes when I get on a roll, I don't want to wait around for one layer to dry before moving on to the next. Be careful and not overheat the page or you will be more texture than you bargained for.
The last layer of mod-podge was so that I would apply acrylics and wipe them off, leaving some white showing through underneath. See all the textured hills and valleys starting to show up? It is very satisfying to smear & glob on paint and then rub it off lightly in places and in some places polish it down to the glossy mod-podge layer.
To complete the background, I added torn bits of music and text. As it often happens on my work table, these pages lay open for several days while I contemplated what to put on them. Everything I placed on the spread didn't fit. When I stopped trying to create a focal point and just started 'decorating' the background, the piece took shape.
There are happy little messages scattered through out this layout. I wish you could feel all the interesting bumps and ridges in the surface. Even the pictures and text I added last took on the terrain of the background beneath.
Do you think this piece has a focal point? Do you think a piece has to have a focal point?
3 comments:
Hi Lisa! Love your background, especially b/c you used Mod Podge. :D I think the "Sweet Dreams" draws my eye in just b/c it's darker than everything else - but in general, no, I don't think an art piece MUST have a focal point. Especially altered books. It's nice to discover all the little words and pictures attached as you look around.
Another lovely piece! I think the focal point is "Sweet Dreams" because that is naturally how my eye focuses, to the left and up. I do not think a focal point is necessary. Sometimes the gestalt of the piece is the focal point.
I'd definitely love to run my fingers over this spread! It looks sumptuous!
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