FROM A MIXED MEDIA IDEA TO AN ACRYLIC PAINTING

Don't you love a brand new, snow white canvas? Especially when it's stretched, primed, and deep! I've read that all that whiteness is intimidating to some, but it inspires me to try something different. 

I wanted to do a cityscape for a change, 

but my grand idea flopped.

I had planned this artwork as a collage/painting 

with lots of interesting artsy papers combined with

a very wet, blended sky. I thought the watery acrylics 

would contrast nicely with the hard edges of cut paper pieces.

I  used dioxazine purple, Quinacridone Violet, Indian 

Yellow, Titanium White, & a few other colors that I 

mixed from leftover acrylic paint I had on hand. I 

liked the idea of a complementary color scheme...

& purple is the complement of yellow. (Also, 

yellow-green is the opposite of red-violet!) 

To enhance the wet-on-wet effect, I used a floating medium.

Flow release medium works much the same way.

I extended paint to the sides too.

Art ideas can change as you go along.

Yep, I had cut a variety of textured

and painted papers, but as I arranged

them on the canvas I realized that

they were too precise and perfect for my

"messy," loose, freely painted portions. 

I painted the buildings & more, including a   

few shadows, and then stamped in lines,  

shapes, & textures. See below,
though I want to do more to it.  

   

   I hope you'll try a cityscape if you haven't

   already. If you want to create a collage that's

   not too tight and hard-edged, 

   consider torn papers.