Create Art with Dragonflies

My mixed media collage artwork was created as part of an art journal swap for the 'Australian Art Journal Swap Group'. In Colleen's book, the theme was "Napkin Art"... create something using printed paper napkins or serviettes. So, together with acrylic paint, matte medium, paint pens and splash of glitter glue, I've created a garden with a girl, flowers and big beautiful dragonflies!

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins

List of treasures used...

- Art Journal (link is to all Dylusions books)
Paint Brushes (link is to all paint brushes, I used a basic flat wide brush)
Tim Holtz Non-Stick Mini Snips to trim off the excess collage paper
Dylusions Acrylic Paint (link is to all colours)
- glitter glue (I used a clear glue with iridescent glitter)

Shop online at www.shop.artbyjenny.com.au

How I Created This Page ...

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins

To start off, I tore two sheets of Jane Davenport Collage Papers (printed serviettes) into smaller pieces, keeping the portrait of the girl intact. I pieced them back together around the girl's portrait.

A busy design such as this makes it easier to piece back together as the joins don't get noticed.

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
Using a Matte Gel Medium, I glued all the pieces down... the end result looks like I drew the face and simply added the collage around it :) This photo (above) shows the paper while its still wet.

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
Once dry, I painted the shapes of the dragonflies and flowers in lightly using Dylusions acrylic paint (Calypso Blue). Then I filled in the rest of the background leaving the dragonflies, flowers and her hair free of colour (so it showed the serviettes).

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
Next was the greenery for the garden. I used Dylusions acrylic paint (Lemon Zest, a clean bright yellow) mixed into the remainder of the Calypso Blue I had on my plate. The variation of the green was created simply by adding more yellow to create a lighter green, with some areas using only yellow. Being a semi-translucent paint, it layers beautifully :) The blue flower is left free of green paint showing the layer underneath.

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
All the pretty white and green flowers were created using foam flower stamps (from Tim Holtz's Idea-Ology Foam Stamps, Cutout Funky Floral) with acrylic paint (white and yellow). The white flowers were also repainted with more white paint, which ended up cream because I didn't wash my brush!
The stamens and centres for the flowers were handpainted with a small round brush in spots of black, white and yellow.

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
Each of the dragonflies had a whitewash (watered down white paint) over the tips of their wings to lift them off the page. Shadows were added around the hair, body of the dragonflies and part of the flowers, using a wash of black paint (watered down black paint).

Once everything was completely dry, all the extra details were drawn in using white and black paint pens.

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
While wandering through my stash of Tim Holtz Stickers, I found some quotes that suited my page perfectly. The super tiny tattoo style stickers I've had for ages work well too, the perfect size for this girl... so cute! I haven't added anything else to the original print of the girl except for altering her eyes ever so slightly with a pen.

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins
Can't really see, but there is glitter glue over the wings of these dragonflies (above)...

Art by Jenny James, mixed media collage of girl with a dragonfly using Jane Davenport printed napkins

The finished page is full of beauty and wisdom. Thoughts added from Tim Holtz Stickers were 'Shine brightly, be fearless' and 'Do all things with great love.' and my current favourite...
Not only does my mind wander… sometimes it walks off completely.
Finally, I stuck down a quote sticker from Dyan Reaveley that says “Never forget your sparkle” (with more glitter glue over the word sparkle, of course).
At the top right, I added some mini banners made from scraps and wrote the letters a r t in glitter glue. There's something magical about glitter :)

Thanks for reading and looking :) I hope it made you smile!

Have a wonderful arty day!
:)
Jenny

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