Harvinaisen Kaunis Elämä: Queen of Tides - Finnabair Creative Team Art

I decorated the cover of my precious and much-consulted Finnabair swatch book with the new release chipboards, moulds, and mechanicals. I had waited for a perfect moment, materials, and inspiration to decorate the cover, but with these new release embellishments, it kind of created itself for me.

The journal is Finnabair Art Daily Mixed Media Journal, A5 sized, just a perfect size for a swatch journal. My original idea was to paint the cover purple, my favourite colour but somehow, I was drawn to blues and browns.

I started the process with taking some left-over scraps of Finnabair tissue paper and attached the pieces with Soft Matte Gel to the cover, crumbling and folding while doing it, so it made a bit uneven base, and then primed it with two coats of white Heavy Gesso

Then I decided which embellishments I’d use and how, arranged them on the cover, and attached with heavy Body Gel.

Next, I wanted some more dimensional effect, and mixed Texture Paste White Sand with Mini Art Stones and using a palette knife, smeared some here and there. I did the same with Old Walls Rust Effect Paste, to create more layering. Then, I primed everything with a thin layer of Heavy Gesso.

For the painting process, I wanted to use my favourite medium, Liquid Acrylics. And as said, my original plan was to use purple shades, but somehow found myself using blues and browns! I started with Prussian Blue, mixing some with Ink Black to create more contrast and depth, and then started to add Umber and Burnt Sienna. I used very diluted paints, and sprayed water to make it spread watercolour-ish way, to create natural blending and lines. Then, I did the same with Titanium White, to blend blues and browns together.

As the composition started to look more and more like tidal beach colours, I accentuated it and added some Golden Dragon Effect Paste, as the either last or first sunrays reflecting in the sand. I also added some new release Gold Metallic Flakes using Gilding Glue, only a lightest touch of gold in only a couple of places to highlight the composition. After gilding, I added new release Sage Leaves Matte Wax to give the gilding antique look.

As the final touch to highlight the Queen of Tides (the mould) and some art pebbles, I added a light coat of White Pearl Metallic Wax, and my Finnabair swatch book cover was finished!

See (the very unlike-me speeded-up) tutorial video here: https://youtu.be/c0LYbl0vIUA

Wishing you beautiful moments in your favourite colours,

Emilia