Anyone For Tea?

It's been about three months since I've had any books to work on from my Asian inspired journal group.  On Saturday, I received two, and just finished the pages I did for my friend way up north, Lillian.

With these collaborative books, sometimes I know exactly where I'm going and sometimes I just start and hope for the best.  All I knew this time, is that I was going to use the stencil technique I've learned from workshops with the incomparable Lynne Perrella.  Using multiple copies of the same image, stencils are created by cutting away different parts on each copy.  Paints, inks, stains and pastels are applied in layers, decorative stencils are also used in sections, creating a final image that while inspired by the original, is unique and totally belonging to the artist.  I love this technique!  A bit of upfront work, yes, but ultimately so much more satisfying to me than simply cutting out an image, altering it in some way, and gluing it down,

First, the two page spread:

 

 

Here is a little closer look at my teacup holding lady:

 

 

 

She was done on watercolor paper, and I mainly used fluid acrylics.  Some details were done with glaze pens and souffle pens.  The characters were heat embossed, as was the teapot on the bottom.  The background paper is from Graphic 45's new Bird Song stack.  It was originally a pale pink, but I changed it to green with one of the acrylics, which is very translucent, so the original pattern is still visible.  The bamboo shoots on the right were heat embossed using Ranger's verdigris powder (one of my favorites).

 

An even closer look:

 

 

 

It was the teacup in the image that led me to the facing page.  I did a little online research into the Japanese tea ceremony.  The four words are the principals behind this ritual.

 

 

The background paper is also from the Graphic 45 stack, and it was altered with gold fluid acrylic paint, and the heat embossing in black and pink on the bottom.  The teapot was stamped on a piece of scrap paper that had been previously covered with that verdigris embossing powder, and it is stacked on two other pieces from the Bird Song collection.  Each layer was attached with pop dots, though I don't think that is obvious in the photo.