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Materials:
20cm Diametre Paper Mache Box
White Transfer Paper
Magic Tape
Stylus
Basecoating and varnishing Brushes
#2 Round Brush
#4 Round Brush
#2 (or Similar) Round Stiff Bristle Brush
#8 (or similar) Flat Brush
#00 Liner Brush

Jo Sonja Paints & Mediums:
Warm White
Yellow Light
Yellow Oxide
Moss Green
Napthol Crimson
Pine Green
Brown Earth
Charcoal
W/based Polyurethane Satin Varnish


Preparation:
You may give the paper mache box a light sand if desired, however I prefer the rough, rustic appearance that it has
naturally.
Basecoat the box with the Charcoal Background paint and allow to dry.


Transferring the pattern:
Trace the designs onto a piece of lunchwrap or tracing paper. Position the
circular design centrally on the box lid and tape into position with a little magic tape and slip the white transfer paper
beneath. Trace over the pattern lightly with the stylus.
Position the horizontal designs on opposing sides of the box.


Gum Leaves:
Base the gum leaves with a mix of Pine Green + Yellow Oxide (3:1). Apply 2 coats or until they are opaque. Using the flat brush, sideload Pine Green and float a shadow down one side of each of the leaves. Rinse and sideload Moss Green and float the shadow on the opposite side. Load the #00 Liner brush with thin Brown Earth and stem/vein the leaves haphazardly. Add a little Warm White to the mix to lighten and
repeat. Finally load Moss Green and add a final highlight to the stem/vein. Load the liner with Carbon and paint a few insect nibbles over the leaves as desired.


Wattle:
Load the #2 stiff bristle with Yellow Oxide and stipple each wattle blossom.
You may need to work excess paint off onto the palette in order to get the fluffy
appearance. Allow to dry. Reload the brush with Yellow oxide and sideload Warm White. Dab on the spot on the palette to blend slightly and then paint each blossom. (Make sure to keep the light side/highlight side to the same side of each blossom.
This should be the same side as the highlight is on the leaves).


Nuts:
Make a mix of Brown Earth + Warm White (2:1) and base the nuts until opaque and add the stem. Block the hole in the open nuts with Brown Earth. Sideload the flat brush with Brown Earth and float the
shadows. Add a little warm White to the sideload and float the highlight. Finally, drybrush a little of the highlight mix over the mid section of the nuts.


Blossoms:
Use the #4 round brush to base the blossom with Napthol Crimson, don't add
water to thin the paint, but fill it using a heavy drybrushing motion. The strokes
following the directional flow of the blossom, pulling from the centre, out. Add Warm White to lighten the mix, thin and use the liner to add a layer of fine strokes.
Add another layer of fine strokes of Warm White with a touch of the previous mix.
Block the centres with the Brown Earth + Warm White mix. Sideload the flat brush with thin Napthol
Crimson and float around the centre. Float Pine Green to the inside top of the centre Place a comma at the base using the centre base + extra Warm White and then the pistil in the same colour. Use the stylus to paint random dots around the centre and outside edge of the blossoms in Yellow Light and Warm White


Finishing:
Allow the paint 24 hours to dry and cure. Use a soft eraser to remove any visible pattern lines. Wipe over to remove any particles and then apply 2-3 coats of varnish (inside and out).

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