83/365: Scantastic Ways to Add Color to a Page

playing with color and texture for a calendar page;
That green paper is a scan of a vintage book cover.
Looks like fabric, doesn't it?

Today I made:

my scanner work for me...

Whether I'm creating a mixed media piece on a canvas, or working on paper to design an art journal or scrapbook layout, I'm always trying to find new ways to add color to the page. Don't get me wrong, I love me some paint and pastels, but they don't call it mixed media for nothin'! I'm also finding that commercially produced scrapbook paper can get a little boring to use all the time, so lately I've been making my own paper.

A scanner really comes in handy for this. If it can fit under the lid without damaging the glass, I've scanned it. I've tried everything from fabrics (right out of my closet), to vintage book covers, wicker baskets, wood, my hand, scrabble tiles and leaves. Textures and colors stay true when scanned; it's just a flatter version of the real thing. I tend to save actual fabrics and 3-D elements to use as embellishments, but the scanned versions work great as flat backgrounds to write on or can be torn to bits and mixed into a collage. I just have a cheap printer/scanner/copier combo and it does the trick. This is not the most efficient use of ink, but sometimes I see just the right color or pattern for a piece and can't help myself. If you don't have the paint color you need or you can't find exactly what you're looking for in that stack of store bought patterned paper, look around, inspiration is everywhere. And it can be scanned!