the no-mud zone

i love paste paper. the problem is that paste paper doesn't always love me back. it seems that every time i try to create some paste paper, my lack of experience with the color wheel gets in the way, so i get hasty and start throwing every color in my paintbox on it, and eventually all my papers look like mud......which isn't the look i'm after.

so, yesterday i got out my supplies with a "no-mud" mindset.

i spread some oooey goooey paste onto wet arches textwove paper using a sponge....and then i squirted two of my favorite colors of paint straight from the bottle onto the paper......

and smooshed it through the paste using a sponge.

then i took an orange chalk pastel and scraped it through the paste, and added a little purple pastel scribble on top.

and a little more scribbling through the paste using the end of a wooden tool....

and then i made myself stop. experience tells me that this is where i could easily enter the mud zone....a few more colors of chalk here, a little more paint there, and this paper is a goner.

so, now it's time to let this dry.....

and while that's going on, maybe i'll pass the time by visiting that pan of brownies i made the other day.....

paste paper finished using elmer's art paste, acrylic paints and chalk pastels onto arches textwove paper