Scratched Gesso Background

I made this post to show you another background technique as well as show you my entry for this weeks Tag Tuesday.

I call the background technique "scratched gesso." 

Here it is:

And here's how you make it:

Start by squirting a generous amount of gesso on your card stock:

Smooth it out a bit with a palette knife, credit card, or whatever you have:

At this point, you may want to heat it to set it a bit before you start the scratching:

Once it's thick enough to hold shape, start scratching at it with your knife:

Till it looks a little something like this:

After it dries completely, you'll want to paint it all black. Let no white show.

When the black dries, squirt on a little metallic colored paint and rub it around with your finger:

I put too much red on and so I ended up getting a tissue to finish my background:

And here it is again: