SV01: Starry, Starry Night — Background Colour Experiment

here are the materials i think i need to start: an extra sturdy slice of cold press illustration/watercolour paper, 527 glue, a stylus and carbon transfer paper and a pallet of cheap watercolours and sumi brush.

i'm using a lighter weight cold press/watercolour paper because my local michaels craft store has a limited fine art supply section—but i think this will be ok. in looking at sailor valentines, many of the traditional valentines are built from a board, then a layer of cotton batting that is coloured. sometimes the artist employed coloured paper in the background or they used fabric. why am i thinking so much about the background colour of the sailor valentine?

the important thing about colour is that one element's colour characteristics is affected by its surroundings. holy chevreul's principal of simultaneous contrast! so i think a cool white background will deaden the colours of the shells, as the light bounces around in the box. i've decided to run a little experiment with the heavy water colour board and the cheap watercolours.


the left picture shows my pattern that traced upon the watercolour paper using the carbon paper and stylus. i'm working on this at night and at the farm, so the colour is off from other images you will see here on this blog. the right picture is a colour corrected image that shows my messy water colour practice. i won't worry too much about staying within the lines, as 1) this is practice and 2) shells will cover the design. the outer ring is a spring green, as i'm going to incorporate my green urchin spine fern leaves and tuck little flowers about them. as you can guess, this would leave me with the potential of seeing the white board. colouring the background will help enhance the illusion of the garden ring. same goes for the blue background and gold accents.

i have great plans for my starry night middle ring. the seashells will mimic van gogh's brushstrokes and will be lined up, one after another (see the purple coquina and blue mussel shells to the left). as you can see, the white background is going to pop up. i thought, why not try a blue/purple coloured background and see how it comes out? for my next post, you will see the valentine background cut out and shells laid upon it to see if my experiment works. i'll also be working on creating urchin spine ferns and little flowers for the border.