LifeBook Week 09: Jar of Favourites

This week's LifeBook lesson is taught by Lynn Whipple and features a picture of a jar of our favourite things. I changed the project a little bit - instead of the light background I opted for a dark colour and I used rubber stamps to fill the jar, which were not part of the original lesson. I also used Dylusion inks instead of watercolour paints, which resulted in a more vibrant background.

I started out by sketching a large jar shape on my 9 x 12 inch watercolour paper. I used a brush to apply some inks in four colours: sunshine yellow, bubblegum pink, tangarine dream and pomegranate. I sprayed some water on this to allow the colours to blend. When it was dry, I sealed the inks with clear gesso before proceeding.

Next, I painted the negative space with Liquitex Basics Indigo Acrylics. I thought a dark colour would look more dramatic against the vibrant inks than a light background. Also, because of the spraying, I ended up with tiny splatters of ink, which a light shade of acrylics would have picked up and smeared.  I chose this dark blue instead of black to make it look a bit less "stark".

Inside the jar I added a mixture of rubber stamping, doodles and lettering with black and white pens. These are the things that are close to my heart and I enjoy the most. I pretty much tailored the list according to what stamps I had available, LOL! Seriously though, I had the stamps because I like those things in the first place and I was glad that finally I got to use them! After I filled up my jar, I added some light shading (halo) around it with white oil pastels. I also drew a white border and applied some splatters and drippage with white ink. Here's the final look with some close-ups to follow. I hope you like my colourful Big Jar of Favourite Things!