Tips on Tuesdays #004 - Tempera Paint Sticks

Welcome to our 4th installment of ToTs; our series of posts designed to spur you on to creative success as you create your entry into our International Mail Art Call: Celebration of Sapphire.

Shuttle Art Tempera Paint Sticks: https://www.shuttleart.com/collections/tempera-paint-sticks

Have you ever heard of tempera paint sticks? I hadn’t either until several years ago when I was searching for a medium to use in my art classes with young students (3-4 year olds) which would allow them to color and blend without making a huge mess (even though they LOVE making messes). I found tempera paint sticks, and discovered that they fit the bill perfectly! As the name implies, they’re solid compressed tempera paint, with a consistency like an oil pastel, though not as soft. In fact, the paint sticks are virtually mess free since they go on dry. And as you can see above, they come in a pretty wide variety of colors including metallics. Tempera paint sticks can be used on just about any substrate, and smooth or textured results are easily attained. Although they’re marketed for children’s art, there’s no need for kids to have all the fun!
In the gallery below, I’ve shown the five shades of blue in the 32 color box; what it looks like when you put one shade over another to blend; the way they look on white paper when you add a bit of water to blend; and what the blended piece looked like after it dried.

Paint stick colored papers can be used as a complete composition, or as a background; it’s up to you!
So there you have it: Tempera Paint Sticks—another arrow in your mixed media creative quiver!

The original tempera paint stick sample used as a painted paper background with black Sharpie designs on top

To catch up on the three previous ToTs posts, click on the images below:

ToT #1: Substrates

ToT #2: Contour Lettering

ToT #3: Collage Stuff: Security Envelopes

Stay tuned for the next ToT from Penny. If you have a question about anything we’ve presented or a technique you’re curious about, let us know in the comments!

Until next time,
Michelle

Tips on Tuesday #003 - Collage Stuff: Security Envelopes

Greetings and Welcome to our 3rd installment of ToTs,
our ongoing series designed to spark your imagination
for your entry in our
International Mail Art: Celebration of Sapphire

Did you miss weeks 1 or 2?
No worries, You can find each of them by
clicking the link below their respective photos below.

This time out, I’m breaking out my stash of security envelopes (it’s not hoarding if you use them, right?) to explore the icy aspects of blue. It seems that they can be had in virtually any color; far and away, the most common coloration is either black or blue (me thinks that works quite nicely for our purposes, eh?). I find them a lovely way to incorporate texture and pattern in collage work. I started by selecting an assortment of blue-patterned security envelopes from the aforementioned “stash.” After cutting strips from my chosen envelopes, I cut those strips into various “shards” (i.e. imprecise, long-ish triangles).

You may recall my substrate (a perfectly trimmed panel from a Labatt Blue beer carton) from Week One - I loved isolating the word “Pristine” below the main line of type - pristine/crystalline/pure/reflective - these were my thoughts when I decided to marry the “Blue” substrate with bits and pieces of the security envelopes. After a bit of fiddling about, I found a rhythm to the different patterns and hues that I rather liked and set about gluing them down (a Craft Bond glue stick was perfect for this job).

I like where this is headed, but it seems a bit “flat,” don’t you think? I decided more blue was in order and turned to the acrylic markers. Giving some contrast and relief to the “Blue” was a great start. I then added some smoky blue dots, white gel pen lines, and silver gel pen highlights to the spiky shards around the perimeter of my postcard. Almost there….

…yep, Yep, YEP! I like it - a whole bunch! A few more little tweaks - a bit of doubling up on some shimmery highlights (OMG - who AM I!?) - and we have ourselves a fine piece of mail art, my friends! Seriously, when I was finished I could hear Idina Menzel - I could see Elsa in her tower of ice - I’m ready to stick some postage on this baby and LET IT GO!

So…. That’s it for this weeks ToTs. I hope you are picking up on the pattern here: you have everything you need! Not a hoarder of envelopes? I bet if you set aside your “junk mail” for a week, separated any and all blue bits therein, and let those gleanings marinate you would have the stuff for more than 1 postcard. You could send one to us and the others to friends and family. Then, not only will you have participated in an International Mail Art event, you will have brought joy to others with your creativity! That’s some next-level Good Stuff right there.

Michelle will be back, week after next, with our next installment of ToTs. Keep an eye out, as postcards are arriving almost daily - we post them here first and look forward to sharing yours here (and on our Social Media outlets), soon.

Creatively yours,
~ PLW