Be your own kind of beautiful

Today I was inspired by a seahorse mosaic that you can find in St. Anne’s on the Sea where I live; I always love seeing artwork when I’m out and about and this dancing seahorse is one of my favourites!

I started by covering the page with Salty Ocean Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad directly onto a blending mat, spritzing with water and pressing the mat onto the paper a number of times to build up splashes of ink to depict seawater.

Then I applied Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain through a circular stencil from Inkylicious and also blotted the stencil onto the page to mop up the excess Stain. Next I used a mosaic dot stamp using both Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and Platinum Planet Brilliance Ink; firstly through the circle stencil to add more details to the large circles that I stencilled and then to the rest of the background so it looked like bubbles of water. I outlined each of the stencilled circles by stamping white acrylic paint using a plastic tube and then smudged the white gesso over the circle. When the paint was dry I coloured it with the Platinum Planet ink using my finger. I added more bubbles by stamping some dot stamps from Paperbabe Stamps using Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and then I splattered the page with some white acrylic paint which finished the background. The foliage is tissue paper which I die cut using Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine which I then stuck to the page using Liquitex matte gel medium; I wasn’t to careful how I stuck them down as I wanted them to look like they were floating and moving in the water.

My dancing seahorse is fussy cut from a colouring book and coloured using Gold, Yellow, Sunset and Amber Spectrum Aqua markers to match the seahorse colours of the mosaic. Then I used a blending tool to blot Rusty Hinge Distress Ink onto the seahorse to add texture and give it more of a 3D look. It is stuck in place using matte gel medium, detailed using some black Derwent Graphik markers and a white Uniball pen for its eye. The words “Be your own beautiful self” are cut from a 3×4” card by Kaisercraft, stuck in place and outlined with a black marker pen. To finish, I added some silver and blue sequins to the background to add some sparkle.

This is the pretty seahorse mosaic and the words say “Golden sun rise on our sands moonlight pass us by. As seahorse dance among the waves. Our sandgrown spirit flies”. I particularly like the words as it mentions being “sandgrown” which applies only to the Flyde coast area where I live and literally means someone born by the seaside; I happen to be a Sandgrown’un too (grin!).

This is the other beautiful mosaic, this time of a pretty mermaid and the verse reads “We dream fondly of seas. Her waves lap softly on our shore. While mermaids songs drift onwards. Our peace to breathe once more”.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika aka BioArtGal and her Polka-Dots, Stripes, Plaids and Patterns challenge over at Art Journal Journey with my circle patterns on my background.

I’m also happy to join in the Under the Sea challenge over at Country View Challenges with my seahorse art journal page.

I’m joining the Anything Goes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with my dancing seahorse too.

I’m pleased to be able to join in the fun over at Creative Artiste Challenge Blog for their Anything Mixed Media Goes with my mixed media art journal page which included inks, paints, papers and sequins.

Don’t forget that you still have until over a week to join our Hot, Hot, Hot! Challenge over at Try it on Tuesday too, maybe you can use hot colours like those I used for my seahorse; it would be lovely to see you there!

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters, Rusty Hinge)
• Inkylicious Stencil (Sun & Moons)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Cracked Pistachio)
• Docrafts Papermania Mini Cards & Stamp Set (Capsule Geometric Krafts PMA105308)
• Tsukineko Brilliance Pigment Ink (Platinum Planet)
• Paperbabe Stamps Stamp Set (Birthday Wishes)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz (Garden Greens 661206, Wildflower Stems #2 664164)
• Recycled dark and light green tissue paper
• Animal Kingdom Suduko & Doodle Book
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Gold, Yellow, Sunset, Amber)
• Derwent Graphik Line Marker (Black 0.05mm, 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft 3×4” Cards (Life’s Treasures CM108)
• Poundland (Assorted Sequins)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Glossy Accents

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Fly Free

I had fun creating this happy page using colours that remind me of some of the flowers in my garden and the bright summer days we have been having of late – I hope you like it!

I started by painting Deep Violet, Bright Aqua Green, Primary Yellow and white acrylic paints onto the page using my finger, blending the colour together where they joined. When the paint was dry, I used a Tim Holtz stencil to add the flowers, using Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. Next I stamped some Tiny Dots, stripes and chevrons, all from some Kaisercraft stamp sets, using black Archival Ink. The bird is fussy cut from Kaisercraft design paper and is teamed with some pink flowers and wording, which reads “Let your dreams take flight” from a Kaisercraft Sticker Set. I outlined the wording sticker with a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen, and then to finish I added some small white star embellishments using Ranger Glossy Accents.

This amazing pink geranium influenced my colour choice for this page, it’s a joy to see it every day from our kitchen window (grin!).

Being summer, it must be “Pimms O’clock” somewhere, especially as T stands for Tuesday – Cheers and Happy T Day!

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m joining the #194 Animals challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the pretty bird that I included on my page.

I’m happy to join the Spots and/or Stripes challenge over at Paperbabe Stamps with the dots and stripes I stamped onto the background of my page.

I’m also joining the Stars and Stripes Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the stars and stripes on my page.

I’m also happy to be joining the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Liquitex Acrylic Paints (Deep Violet, Bright Aqua Green, Primary Yellow)
• Art Discount Acrylic (White)
• Tim Holtz Collection Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil (Floral TH5077)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamps (Tiny Dot CS360, Mister Fox CS173)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Kaisercraft Fly Free Collection Paper (Sister P1897)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.8mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• White star embellishments
• Ranger Glossy Accents
• Pritt Stick

Tissue Paper at A Vintage Journey

Today sees the start of a new challenge over at A Vintage Journey and I had lots of fun art journaling for Astrid’s fabulous Tissue Paper challenge.

Here’s what we would like you to do this month:
“As the title suggests, use tissue paper. There are many different ways you can incorporate tissue paper into your project – create texture by scrunching it up, stain it, paint it, wax it, stamp on it, emboss on it. You could use cheap tissue from the supermarket, recycle gift wrapping tissue, or even use old dressmaking patterns. Just remember to create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk”.

Inspired by a beautiful display of flowers in my garden, I used a couple of new techniques with tissue paper to create the background as well as all the foliage and flowers on this page – I hope you like it!

For my tissue paper background, I started by stamping Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire, Twisted Citron and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks onto a blending mat, spritzing with water.

I pressed the tissue paper onto the blending mat and spritzed with more water to disperse the colour. Then I lifted the tissue paper off the blending mat and dried it with my heat gun.

Next I scrunched the tissue paper into a ball, unravelled it so it still retained most of the creases, stuck it onto my art journal page using a UHU Stic and trimmed off the excess tissue to fit the page. Then I brushed a Watermark stamp pad over the raised creases on the page, applied silver embossing powder and heated it using a heat gun; this was a fun new technique for me.

I love the veins of silver that resulted. I chose the silver as it depicts the backdrop of silver-leafed plants that are in the flower bed in my garden.

Next I selected tissue papers from my craft stash, I was actually surprised by how many different coloured tissue papers I had as they are all recycled from gift wrapping (grin!). I cut the green and beige tissue paper into strips to create some of the foliage and also layered some tissue papers 5 pieces thick and die cut it using Wildflower Stems Tim Holtz thinlets and my Big Shot machine to create more foliage and flowers for my page.

I gradually built up the foliage first by layering the strips of light green, dark green and beige tissue paper and the cream die cut tissue paper pieces onto the page using matte gel medium. When the gel medium was dry I outlined the strips with a black fine line marker and then coloured them using Sea Green, Evergreen and Dessert Spectrum Aqua markers. For the cream pieces I outlined them with a white gel pen and shaded them using a Cold Grey Big Brush marker.

To create my pink flowers, I used a flower die cut and turned it upside down so they were the same shape as the ones in my garden. To create different looking flowers and a 3D effect, I also cut the die cut flower shape into individual petals so that I could build up the layers on each flower.

The yellow centres are created using rolled up tissue paper which I cut into small pieces using scissors and stuck in place like all these tissue elements using matte gel medium, when dry I added more detail using a black fine line marker and white gel pen. I also built up layers of the die cut green tissue paper for their stems and leaves and once the gel medium was dry, I outlined everything using a black fine line marker and added more detail to the leaves with this marker too. As the flowers in my garden are so bold and beautiful, I added the words “Live your life out loud” which is a Kaisercraft sticker edged with the Cold Grey Big Brush marker; this finished the page.

As some of you may be aware we replanted our flower beds last year, so we have lots of new flowers in our garden. These bright pink Tanacetum Coccineum flowers have grown beautifully this year and are definitely a favourite of mine so I wanted to capture their beauty on my art journal page (grin!).

Here’s a view of the flowers with the silver-leafed plants in the background which inspired the silver embossing powder background of my page (double grin!).

There’s lots more inspiration at A Vintage Journey, so please pop over to see the amazing creations made by my fellow Creative Guides.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Halle of Halle’s Hobbies and her Words to live by challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the words that I included on my page.

Over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday, their challenge is Summer Vibes! So I’m joining this challenge too my summery flowered art journal page.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mowed Lawn, Chipped Sapphire, Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers)
• Recycled tissue paper (White, Light Green, Dark Green, Beige, Cream, Pink, Yellow)
• Tsukineko Versamark (Watermark Stamp Pad)
• Papermania Embossing Powder (Silver)
• Sizzix Thinlets Tim Holtz Alterations (Wildflower Stems #2 661808)
• Uni Pin Fine Line Marker (Black 0.05mm)
• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Sea Green, Evergreen, Dessert)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Kaiercraft Sticker Sheet (Fly Free SS289)
• UHU Stic
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Heat Gun

Make a wish

With the garden blooming with colour and happiness, I created a bright coloured flowery art journal page which was also inspired by a few of my favourite challenge blogs – I hope you like it!

I started this page by collaging pieces of flowery decoupage paper onto the background using Liquitex matte gel medium and then I applied some Pébéo white gesso. When it was dry I used a couple of stencils to add dots over the white gesso using Abandoned Coral and Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink. Next I stamped the flower images from Magenta using black Archival Ink and coloured them using red, orange, pink, purple, yellow, light and dark green Uni Posca paint pens. I added more detail to the flowers using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen and then added some sparkle using Ranger Stickles. The fairy is a wooden shape which is coloured black using a black Faber-Castell Big Brush marker and covered with some glitter glue; it is stuck in place using Ranger Glossy Accents. I doodled lots of small dots using the white, pink, yellow and green Uni Posca paint pen and outlined them using a black Uni Pin maker. The “make a wish” wording, which I thought the fairy may be asking, is a sticker from Kaisercraft and I outlined it using a black Uni Pin pen so it stood out more. To finish, I splattered the page using black DecoArt acrylic paint.

The flowers are starting to bloom in our garden, here’s what our flower beds look like at the moment.

They have changed so much over the last few months as we head towards summer (grin!).

Challenges

I’m glad I found out about Challenge Blogs as I enjoy taking part, they provide me with inspiration for my pages and are a wonderful way to meet like-minded arty people. So here are the challenges I’m joining today:

I’m pleased to join the lovely Erika N, also known as BioArtGal, who is hosting the In the Sky/In the Air challenge over at Art Journal Journey with the fairy flying between the flowers on my page.

I’m joining Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and their Use Stencils! challenge as I used a couple of  dot stencils on my art journal page.

I’m also joining in the fun over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and their Bright Colors Moodboard challenge with the bright colours and purple flowers on my page.

There are a few more days left to join our 10^th Birthday Party at Try it on Tuesday, so grab our badge and join in the fun, be colourful and share your art that you love to create with us.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Abandoned Coral, Cracked Pistachio)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Uni Posca Paint Pen (Red, Orange, Pink, Purple, Yellow, Light Green, Dark Green)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker (Black 199)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Craft Sensations (Deco Stencil Set 154892)
• Stencil (Dots)
• Magenta Self-Cling Stamp (Delicate Daisies C40296-0)
• DecoTime (Patch Paper DS9454)
• The Works (Fairy Shapes)
• Ranger Stickles (Icicle)
• Hobbycraft (Light Green Glitter Glue)
• Kaisercraft Sticker Sheet (Secret Garden SS283)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Ranger Glossy Accents

Wild and Free

With the warmer weather of late we have been having fun in the garden. We have weeded our flower beds and added a mulch of bark and have been watching the spring flowers grow and new foliage shoot up. So I created this happy page to celebrate, using some soft spring colours as well as some fun techniques and the wording “all good things are wild and free” (grin!).

I started by stamping the page with a dot stamp from Woodware Craft Collection using Rose Bud Memento Ink and a flower stamp by Hampton Arts using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink. Then I covered the page with pastel shades of pink, turquoise and orange acrylic paint and also Pébéo white gesso; they are all applied using a brayer to build up layers of colour. Once dry I added the large flower sticker and some leftover letters and frame stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

The wording “all good things are wild and free by Henry David Thoreau” and “Just be” which included a sweet little bird are from the same sticker set; the little bird with the flower in his beak reminded me of some Goldfinches that come into our garden to take pieces of a silver leaved plant called Cineraria, not sure why they want it, but it’s fun to watch them (grin!). Then I outlined all of these stickers using a black Uni Pin marker and a white Uniball gel pen so they stood out more and had fun doodling all the dots using black, white and pink Uni Posca paint pens. To continue the spring theme I added more little birds, flowers and as we are making lots of new discoveries this year in our garden I also added the “Discoveries” wording which are all fabric stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle.

As you may remember we replanted our flower beds last year and here’s what they look like at the moment. The apple trees are sprouting and should be in bloom soon, the bluebells are out in force and the bark mulch looks great – I love it!

We discovered that we had crocus in our garden and along with daffodils they have finished flowering but we do have some tulips starting to bloom that we planted in October last year. This beautiful pink frilly variety reminded me of my page (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to join the lovely Wendy from Wendy’s Art and Craft Journal  and her Having Fun challenge over at Art Journal Journey as my page represents having fun gardening.

I’m joining the Polka Dots challenge over at Moo Mania & More with the polka dot stickers and dots on this page.

I’m pleased to be able to join the Easter and/or Spring challenge over at Country View Challenges with my spring pastel coloured page.

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is New Growth, so I’m also joining this challenge too with my springtime flower page.

I’m also pleased to join the Spring Flowers! challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday with happy spring flower inspired page.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tsukineko Memento Ink (Rose Bud, Rich Cocoa)
• Script Ready Made Paint (Pastels)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.2mm)
• Uniball Signo Gel Pen (White)
• Uni Posca Paint Pens (Black, White, Pink)
• Hampton Art Bella Blvd cling mounted rubber stamps (Sand & Surf ICO226)
• Woodware Craft Collections Francoise Collection Stamp Set (Flower Style FRSWS003)
• Home Bargains (Room Décor Embellishment Art 01194)
• Little Yellow Bicycle (Cardstock Stickers Fresh Verse PD-140, Fabric Favourites PD-220)

Cheerfulness

It’s time for a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday, so for the next two weeks our challenge is Say it with flowers and you will find plenty of wonderful inspiration from my Design Teamies over at our blog too!

I was inspired by one of my friend’s blogs, the lovely Christine from Foxgloves and Bumblebees, who blogs about Floriography which looks at “The language of flowers” which I thought linked well to our Say it with flowers theme. So as it is spring here, I choose crocus and looked up their meaning, which is “cheerfulness” and created this page – I hope you like it!

To create this page, I started by applying Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink by stamping the ink pad onto an acrylic block, spritzing with water and pressing the block onto the page. I gradually built up the colours and dried each layer of ink with my heat gun before applying the next, to create a textured effect of drips and smooshes. Then I fussy cut the crocus which is an image from an old calendar and used the leftover paper, from the image, to die cut the letters using a XCut die set from Docrafts and my Big Shot machine, I also cut some into tiny squares. Everything is stuck to the page using a glue stick and then covered with a thin layer of Liquitex matte gel medium so when dry I could shade them using a Cold Grey Faber-Castell Big Brush Marker and outline them with a white Uniball gel pen. Then I added some fine splatters of black and white DecoArt acrylic paint using a paintbrush. To finish, I stuck some purple and green square gemstones onto the page and a postage stamp with crocus pictured on it.

This postage stamp is from Poland and was issued in 1967; it was part of my hubby’s childhood collection which he kindly gave to me for my art journaling (grin!).

It was fun looking at Floriography which is the term used to that describe the Victorian flower language. For crocuses, I found that they mean youth and cheerfulness. If you are interested, here are some fun facts about crocus:

• The crocus is one of the first flowers to emerge in the spring.
• They are often referred to as the light bulb flower because of their shape.
• It is a symbol of cheerfulness as it celebrates the return of spring by bringing the landscape alive with colour after winter.
• Saffron from the crocus flower is used as a spice to season foods.

As T Stands for Tuesday I’m sharing my cup of green tea and a slice of birthday cake that I made for some friends; this was a Victoria sponge cake filled with strawberry jam and buttercream icing covered in dark purple fondant icing just like the purple colour of the crocuses on my page – Happy T day everyone!

Challenges

Over at Art Journal Journey, I’m delighted to be hosting my Hello Springtime challenge this month and as I created my page with spring in mind, I’m pleased to join this challenge – I hope to see you there too!

I’m pleased to join the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Twisted Citron, Mowed lawn)
• Faber-Castell Big Brush Pitt artist pen (Cold Grey IV 233)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black, White)
• Docrafts XCut A5 Die Set (Folk Alphabet XCU503286)
• Old Calender
• Postage Stamp from Poland issued 1967 picturing Crocus
• Hobbycraft Self-Adhesive Gems (Assorted Square 5666141000)
• Liquitex Matte Gel Medium
• Pritt Stick
• Zig Memory System 2 Way Glue (Dual Action Glue Pen)
• Stix2 double-sided tape

The Journey

My springtime page today features a white hydrangea, pretty butterflies and a quote which reads “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course”. I find that this quote applies not only to life but also to my art journaling as I often start with one idea for a particular page which then changes course as I create it (grin!), do you find this happens to you too?

For the background, I started by collaging pieces of dictionary pages, dressmaking pattern tissue paper and some homemade decoupage paper to the page using matt gel medium; I wanted a grungy look, so I let the tissue papers crease as I applied them to the page.

I had fun making the decoupage papers and for the one I used on this page, I stamped recycled brown tissue paper using a Script stamp from Kaisercraft and black Archival Ink (pictured at the bottom of the photo).

Once the gel medium had dried, I blended Parchment, Cadmium Yellow, Navy and Green Liquitex acrylic paints to create different shades of green and then stippled and splattered them onto the page using a paintbrush to build up the background colour. When the paint way dry, I added Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Ink to emphasise the grunge look using a baby wipe and then I added some Pébéo white gesso using a paint brush. When the page was dry, I applied Peacock Feathers Distress Ink with a baby wipe over the white gesso giving it a blue tinge. Next I stencilled splatters using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool through a textured template from The Crafter’s Workshop. I used the same template to add splatters of Ranger Texture Paste and when dry covered the paste using DecoArt white acrylic paint so it stood out more. The letters are cut from an old magazine and stuck to the page using the matte gel medium; they are outlined using a black Uni Pin marker and white Uniball gel pen. I stuck the pretty die cut hydrangea in place and added the butterflies which are rub-on transfers; I thought the butterflies went well with the “The Journey is never truly over it just changed course” quote that I selected for the page. To finish, I splattered the page with black DecoArt acrylic paint.

This page reminds me of a pretty hydrangea that we saw at a local garden centre, this is a tree variety and has the most beautiful snowy lime flowers – I love it (grin!).

Challenges

I’m pleased to link my art journal page to the Hello Springtime challenge that I’m hosting over at Art Journal Journey with my springtime page – I hope to see you there!

I’m joining the Close to Nature challenge over at Moo Mania & More with my springtime page of butterflies and flowers.

I’m also pleased to join the Embrace The Journey challenge over at A Vintage Journey as the quote that I used applies to my creative journey which inspired my Mixed Media Style page – Happy 5^th Birthday!

Over at The Artistic Stamper, their challenge is Colour It Green, so I’m pleased to join this challenge too with my green and grungy springtime page.

I’m also joining the Letters and/or Numbers challenge over at Country View Challenges with the recycled magazine letters that I used for the quote and those that can be found on the background.

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Liquitex Artist Color Acrylic (Parchment, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Navy, Christmas Green)
• Pébéo White Gesso
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint, Black Soot, Peacock Feathers)
• Ranger Texture Paste
• DecoArt Crafter’s Acrylic (Black)
• Uni Pin Fine Line marker (Black 0.1mm)
• Uniball Signo gel pen (White)
• Kaisercraft Clear Stamp (Script CS752)
• The Crafter’s Workshop Ronda Palazzari Designs (Texturized 12×12 Template)
• The Pocket Oxford Dictionary
• Style Dressmaking Pattern
• Brown Tissue Paper
• Old Magazine
• K & Company Susan Winget (Floral Die-Cut Cardstock)
• Royal & Langnickel Rub-on Transfers (LAN1236G)
• Winsor & Newton Matt Gel Medium