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140lb Watercolor Paper

First I cut up a 4X4 piece of watercolor paper. Next, using acrylic paint I put some color on the paper.

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Acrylic Painted Watercolor paper

Then its time to decide what color scheme I want to use on this piece. I look through my stacks of hand painted paper with an eye for the colors I have decided to use. I have already spent another day hand painting the papers.

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Hand painted papers for the collage

I find some of the papers I want to use then tear & rip them into different sizes and shapes for variety. You can use a color wheel if you are not sure what colors will look good together. Now they are ready to “glue” on the prepped watercolor paper. I have decided to use the cruciform type of design. I keep this in mind while I am painting them on with gel medium.

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Gel medium and other materials I used

I really have a lot of fun in this stage of the painting. I like to add some more paint and mark making to add some interest to the painting. For example, in this picture, I used a tooth pick to scratch in a design. There are lots of mark making tools. I got most of mine from things I had around my house.

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My antique stamps came in this cute jar

This is the #6 stamp I used in the picture with black ink. Give it a try!

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Abstract Painting #6