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Friday, January 15, 2010

Dropping In

A funny thing happened on the way to working on my latest project: I got sidetracked. I have to watch that...I'm still sticking to my word of the year (remember finish?). But then I saw this art technique in the latest issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine and it wouldn't leave my head. I had to try it. Today.

You've probably seen and heard about the CitraSolv technique and how it works on pages of National Geographic magazine. I'd heard of it before and seen the awesome results that people have come up with. Something about seeing it again really made me want to try it. So after much running around hunting for a National Geographic (I finally just went and bought one), here are my results:


Do you recognize the first one? It's the background for the digital image at the top of the page. I've scanned in all of these backgrounds so I'll be able to use them over and over digitally as well as painting/collaging on the real things. I love the colors in this next one:


A very dreamy looking night scene could be made of this next one:

I put a random selection from the magazine onto the floor and just took a photo of them. Look at the variety of colors you can get. I just love this technique!

As far as I know you can only use this on National Geographic pages AND they have to be from within the last ten years. I tried a few of my fashion magazine pages but nothing happened. I'll keep experimenting but I haven't seen anybody else mention any other magazines where this works. There must be something special in the ink on these pages.

A bonus: the whole house smells like oranges now! ;) But now that the experiment is over and I have a little supply of cool backgrounds, I can get back to finishing my current project. I have to watch these interruptions. Now I'm beginning to understand why it has been so hard for me to complete some projects...

By the way, credit for all of the cute little character images goes to Granny Art.

4 comments:

Jackie said...

I love it! I had never heard of the citrasolve technique. I'll have to check it out but I love your results.Pam come to twitter.I would love to follow you , you can connect to lots of artists.
Come , come:)

Bill said...

Those backgrounds are so wonderful! In fact, they are amazing! I guess I have to buy Cloth, Paper, Scissors to find out how you did it. I think I can get a couple of National Geographics from the school library where I work.

Jackie said...

Good Morning! I couldn't find your new post but I am leaving the comment here until you figure it out.First ,OMG! That digital piece is so amazing.It seems we are so alike. I am always swimming in ideas and second I am so happy you are taking misty mawns class and I have the same problem, I want to learn to paint my sketches.Your second sketch is awesome as well!!oh and thank you for mentioning me:)

Desert Mermaid said...

This is a technique I have NEVER heard of ... I would LOVE it if you'd be a guest artist on my blog and describe it, show the process with your photos, and also TELL US ALL about yourself, your thoughts on creativity ... these backgrounds are making me drool. INQUIRING MINDS WANNA KNOW!!!