Today I’m using some inky leftovers to create a backdrop for the lovely Finn. I love the Luna lights lanterns and this tutorial demonstrates one way to create the impression of lamp light to add a little atmosphere to your artwork.

I used the following products:

Finn

Luna lights

Faerie spells

Twisted vine set

Tree of wisdom

Buds stencil

The steps:

This was another occasion when I was creating a batch of ink spray backgrounds and I needed to mop up some excess ink. I achieved this by spritzing the left over ink on my craft Matt with water and placing a piece of white card on top. The resulting pattern had potential so I kept it.

I decided to do a little stencilling to liven it up a bit and better define the hill in the foreground using torn copy paper and ink.

I stamped the fairy and the lights in pink with the intention of darkening some areas later using my Stabilo All black pencil. The reason I use this is because it is Matt and doesn’t appear shiney in photographs. It is water soluble so care is required not to unintentionally get it wet.

I darkened the fairy, deliberately leaving the parts towards the light untouched. I also added a shadow and began to do some highlighting in gold and yellow. To add a little balance I used the stencil at the top again with yellow ink.

To create the impression of light in the lanterns first I dampened them with water and blotted with a kitchen towel. This removed some of the ink.

Using mainly yellow and white pens and pastel pencils I added highlights. I added black pen to some areas of the lantern stems. I also wanted the reflective or ambient light to appear on the parts of the fairy close to the light.

Next I stamped the words down one side.

To add extra interest I decided to stamp some branches and foliage around the edges and darken with ink to emphasise the light in the centre. I also added some dots of colour using paint pens here and there.

Finally I added the sparkle and mounted the artwork. Some gold stardust pen was also added to the leaves.

Finn certainly seems to be mesmerised by the lights! Remember never throw away your inky scraps . You never know what story they will help to tell!

Till next time…

Lisa xx.