Final Touches

 Do you have regular Go Tos when your work is ALMOST finished but still needs that 'sumthin sumthin'?

I do.

In no particular order...and you'll probably notice more than one in each of these!

1. Letraset (or Geoset) lettering. I often burnish across an entire line rather than an individual letter or number. They give a graphic quality that handmade marks cannot.

2. Handwriting ... usually in graphite. Sometimes I actually write real words (maker of things has the t's to cross, i's to dot and upper and lower case letters), sometimes I use asemic writing (lines that appear to form words but that are without specific meaning).

3. Ink or paint spray ... often but not limited to black. This gives a linear work a taste of randomness. I have to be careful with this one as I very often go overboard. 

4. Using gloss medium or gesso as a 'bring up/knock back' effect. This has become really useful when using gel prints as backgrounds (gesso) . For a long time, I've used a coat of gloss medium where I want to add transferred text or an image as it takes the transfers so much better than a matte finish ( added bonus: if you don't like it? easily wipes off!) I noticed that the layer of gloss, when added to just part of the piece (the bird in this one for example), really makes it stand out without altering colour or intensity.

5.  Text. Usually found, in that the piece did not start with a text prompt. I like using backwards text a lot. But also upside down text or random sentences. Often as stripes.

6. Circles, swoops, dotted lines, stripes. There aren't very many of my mixed media collages that don't have some form of these. They are my visual language but also serve to unify disparate elements into a more cohesive whole. 

That's just a half dozen of some of my final touches. If you have any that are your tried'n'true, I'd love to hear about them!