New Cards: Exploring Golden Mediums

I have been doing some playing - I know that seems hard to believe! - with some Golden mediums. After I had posted the first batch of these cards, a friend suggested that I try Golden Absorbent Ground as well - as it absorbs the paint better. I also had some Golden Clear Gesso on hand - so I though I would try them all together and see what result I came up with. I think that we tend to use brands that we are used to using - and that is probably one of the largest reasons that I prefer Golden products. I have used them for a long time & I like them. They never fail me & their products are always, in my mind, just a bit superior to other brands. There have been times when I could not afford them and have bought many other brands to use - but I always return to using Golden products as soon as I am able to. These cards were made in various ways using lots of layering techniques - I am still considering them part of my tree series. It is interesting to use the clear Gesso over colors for adding more texture. You can then color the clear gesso& layer more colors for more texture. I have to say that, after experimenting with the absorbant ground by itself, I did not like the way my cards were coming out. - too much color was being absorbed and I was losing some of the texture effects I was looking for. I like the way Gesso acts as a bit of a partial resist. The 'magic' happened when I layered some regular gesso on top of the absorbant ground - that yielded fabulous results! I am still in the midst of experimenting - and have several more, larger pieces in varying stages of drying & gesso layering. I had so much fun with these. It seems to be invariable that the ones that I consider tossing turn out to be the pieces that I end up liking the most. A good reason to keep layering and reworking a piece. Even my rag looks colorful and is more fun to use (after careful washing of course!) after these "Golden experiments"!! More to come ....

Oh yes ! I DID in fact start that new quilt too - and I think it is going to be a lot of fun to make. Simple, but effective & sleeping under it will, I think, create happy reveries !

The "Bud"

"Wind Tossed"

Tangled

"Banded"