PAINTING WITH MIXED MEDIA ART BOOK ON SALE! BRAND NEW, NEVER USED.

A LOVELY HOW-TO, FULL-COLOR, FULL SIZE! ONLY 4.99.

HUNDREDS OF GORGEOUS PHOTOS! FIND IT AT ETSY IN MY SHOP, GUHINP. JUST 4.99! https://www.etsy.com/listing/834455095/art-painting-mixed-media-book-brand-new?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=PAINTING+WITH+MIXED+MEDIA+ART+BOOK&ref=sr_gallery-1-4&organic_search_click=1

SALE! GET THIS AWARD-WINNING ART BOOK (NEW! Never used!) FOR CHEAP ON ETSY!

HOW-TO FOR BOTH ADULTS AND KIDS!

HUNDREDS OF FULL-COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS TO INSPIRE YOUR CREATIVITY.

Use the many techniques and ideas in your own mixed media art, journaling, even for scrapbooking.

My Etsy shop is called guhinp, and here's the link to the book:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/833131187/how-to-art-book-new-creating-decorative?ref=shop_home_active_1 

 

MUTANT, A COLLAGE PAINTING IN MEMORY OF PLAGUE VICTIMS

I'm mad as hell about it, hate that 100,000 Americans could die from Covid-19, and countless others have already lost their lives in the pandemic.  I'm in sorrow, sheltering in place & hoping you are staying safe.

This artwork began on a vintage anatomy chart. 

It was a canvas-like scroll with rods at top and bottom.

I'll show some steps and techniques below. 

Original old medical chart.

Because the virus is rough, I added texture in places.

I didn't want the original warm tones of the figure (they were too pleasant), 
so I made a Dioxazine purple glaze. But I didn't like that either! So I went blue.

A cool blue wash (acrylics & water) for some of the

background, too, and white too. But I also wanted visual texture.

PAINTING TIP: Open a packet of de-oxidizer, desiccant or silica gel (sometimes found

in new shoeboxes). I sprinkled those tiny pebbles into the wet paint

and got a cool effect!

Close-up of part of the painting and collage elements.

I painted a cut-off tree trunk to symbolize all the lives cut short.

I collaged a cut-out eye, heart, and 3 birds into the piece. 

Owls and ravens are symbolic, too, of course.  

21" x 5.5'

Detail of ravens.

HOW TO PAINT A TIE-DYE EFFECT ON CANVAS SHOES

PAINTING FOOTWEAR WITH A SPLASHY TECHNIQUE

 

Look closely to find where I forgot to remove some tape before taking the photo.

MATERIALS:

Shoes
Tape (masking)

Water

Brushes

Fluid acrylics

A palette

A flow aid (optional)

I used inexpensive canvas tennies (trainers? sneakers?) in white, 

but any light color will work.

First, tuck the laces inside the shoes.

Tape off the outsole if you don't want to get paint on it.

 

For a soft, tie-dyed effect, wet the canvas first with clear water 

(I used a clean paint brush).

 I applied the acrylics (mixed with a flow aid) with the tips of
brushes, working quickly before the canvas dried.

 When I was done, I upended the shoes onto heavy tumblers

and let them dry thoroughly.

I hope this has inspired you to try your own fancy footwork!

DID YOU MAKE A MISTAKE? 2 TIPS FOR REMOVING IT.

 FIX YOUR GOOFS!

HOW TO CLEAR DRY ACRYLIC PAINT FROM AN AREA

(TWO POINTERS TO HELP CLEAN  UP AN ERROR IN YOUR PAINTING)

Yes, you can cover mistakes with gesso or collaged materials. 

But here are two reminders of other techniques for different effects.

TIP #1: Sandpaper! See photo above.

It removed dry acrylic paint quite easily.

TIP #2: Pour on some rubbing alcohol and let it sit awhile.

Then rub with a dry cloth. See lighter areas above.

Thanks for viewing.

 

FLUID ART, POURED PAINT, FUN TECHNIQUE

I tried pour painting for the first time!

If you haven't used this technique before, study up on it first. I'm always jumping in head first and I also experiment, a lot. So my first two results, below, are mixed, but I did enjoy the effort.

Here are some of the materials you'll need:

• Canvas surface and acrylic paints
• White gesso
• Plastic or rubber gloves
• Paint pouring medium
• Silicone oil (a medium that helps make "cells," which are soooo cool!
• Plastic cups with lids to keep paint wet
• Craft sticks for mixing
• Squeeze bottles for more pour control (optional)
• Paint brushes to touch up and embellish pours
• Plastic drop cloths (or many, many layers of newspapers or butcher paper) 

Set your canvas on a jar to raise it up.

I used cobalt blue, a yellow-green, and a metallic blue-green for my first pour. I also substituted some pure pigment medium for some of the pricey pouring medium, in the spirit of exploration. (It's a Createx transparent base.) I had to add water, too, so the mixture would be thin enough. The pouring paint must not be too thick!!! 

My first finished fluid art.

Again, with my tendency to NOT follow rules, I added some Createx extender

to the second attempt, and even used an old, painted canvas as my base,

rather than a new, gessoed canvas. 

I also added  "Cell Magic" (silicone oil).

The heat I added didn't create cells, but I like the crackle effect.

 I do recommend that you read other instructions

 and see some videos if you are serious about trying this painting effect. 

Thanks for viewing this post. I always appreciate followers of this blog. 

Paula
 

NEW COLLAGE - PAINTING step-by-step

Learn how I created a mixed-media artwork in sequence!

I began with a used canvas, barely gessoed with thin, watery white gesso so the unwanted painting below would show through somewhat.

Rough blocking out of the lowest and highest values is always a good idea, at least for me. You can always change your mind later, but this gave me an idea of my layout.

Step 1

Next, I mixed a blue-gray acrylic paint and applied mid-tones. 

Pointer: Always strive for balance, even at an early stage.

Step 2, some mid-tones added.

 Then, collaged papers and text, and a small, real feather.        

I also stamped pattern to create a few bright accents.        

Petroleum jelly can be applied selectively (I used streaks) 

to protect previously-painted areas. Make sure that the   

paint is dry before you apply the resist (the petroleum   

jelly). Then paint over that with a contrasting color.   

Let THAT paint dry, then wipe off. A really cool effect!

    

THIS FINISHED WORK, BELOW, IS DONE IN A TRIADIC, PRIMARY COLOR SCHEME.

"Temporary," by yours truly, Paula G.

Thanks for viewing this post! I appreciate it.

 

Wide Acrylic Painting with Several Techniques

I HAD A WIDE CANVAS

and wanted to paint over the previous work.

 

First I did a quick, light wash over most of the unwanted painting with diluted white gesso.

 

 

 

 

 

When dry, I painted thick swatches of paint as shown below.

Work quickly now!

 I used Pthalo blue and burnt sienna liquid

airbrush colors, fluid transparent

 Pyrrole Orange, and a couple other

purple and blue colors.

 

Next, before the paints could dry, I used a spray bottle of water, and tilted the canvas to encourage blending and running.

Blue and orange are complements.



Painting techniques that might enhance this piece are spattering, blown ink lines, and/or freehand mark-making. 



NON-OBJECTIVE GRID PAINTING WITH SEVERAL TECHNIQUES

LARGE ACRYLIC PAINTING WITH TEXTURE

 

This could also be called an abstract painting, I suppose, if I had used a landscape as my inspiration. Do YOU see it as a simplified scene?

 

I often use a grid system to keep my composition pleasing. Check out the horizontals and verticals in the artwork below.

The finished painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail. I repeated drips elsewhere on the canvas, too.

 

 

Another technique I used was to apply very thick paint with a painting knife in a few swoops to lead the eye. You can see them in the top picture.

 

Here's a close-up of scratching that's not too visible in the large photo.





Thanks for viewing this! I appreciate you.

Paula



I'm Back & Painting, Playing with Mixed Media, Creating Assemblages & More!

 Holbein inks and Sennelier shellac-based inks are fun to work with. I wanted to create some cool collage papers with them.

 

The 13 Holbein drawing inks are waterproof and come with droppers in the screw-on tops. Some are transparent, some opaque.

Sennelier shellac-based inks have a transparent, satin finish and thin with water, if you can believe that!

For the first example shown below, I worked on acrylic paper from a pad, spraying a little purple fluid acrylic from a spray bottle. Then I used the applicator tip of the Carmine color of Holbein ink. It's a powerful pigment! Then I let that dry.



I actually liked this first step better than the result later.

Next, I created a few puddles of rubbing alcohol and added alcohol ink. The effect, shown below:

I do like the colors together.

Thanks for viewing Mixed Media Manic!

 

(Full disclosure: This post is derived from a much earlier one. And new stuff is coming, I promise.)

ACCENT LINES WITH THE THREAD TECHNIQUE

This simple non-objective painting (done with acrylics) needed a finishing element or two, so I
painted a piece of sewing thread and dropped
it onto the surface in a couple of places.

Pretty much primary colors!

Originally intended as a background for collage, and who knows?
Maybe I'll still use it that way!   Here's a link to a more interesting mixed-media work I did with the same thread method: http://mixedmediamanic.blogspot.com/2015/06/paint-curly-lines-with-thread-wild.html

ALTERING PHOTOS FOR FUN!

Scratched first, then the color was enhanced with markers.

Got any old processed prints that just aren't the best? Did'ja go through old albums with relatives at Thanksgiving (or maybe you WILL, at Christmas), and found or will find some duplicates or just plain bad shots? Here's some ways to have PHUN WITH PHOTOS! Even with kids (see my caveat below)! One or two can even be done with inkjet prints, while a couple of others require commercially-processed pics.

First, for the scratching activity (the photo above with the leaded glass), dip a processed print in lukewarm water about a minute, blot, and use scratch tools or even sandpaper on the parts you wish to lighten or remove. If the emulsion hardens too quickly, just run warm water over the picture again.
If you want, add color back in with markers, watercolors, or inks. This project is a great way to re-work photos that contain distracting elements! Here's a link to another scratched example.

Next, bleaching the print is best done on a commercially-printed photo, since rinsing afterward is a good idea. Inkjet prints would run with a water rinse.) Try a bleach pen if you want to write words or numbers or symbols. Then wipe with a damp paper towel, rinse under water, and dry. Young children should not attempt this project.

Shot inside an old house to "frame."

In the photo above, there was just too much dark and my view wasn't great anyway.
BUT, here's another way to use household laundry bleach with photos! Mix a solution with half water, half Hilex in a tray. Dip part of the photo in and watch the colors change! You can even protect parts of the photo with a wax resist product first if desired, and then dip the entire thing into the tray of bleach solution. See example below. Also see "Dodg" at this link.


Partially bleached in a tray.

Cutting and rearranging the parts is nothing new, but it IS easy and sometimes the results are striking. I've also previously discussed stretching two similar pictures into one, discarding the most boring strips. (See another example here.)


Of COURSE it works with either
horizontal or vertical strips, even
angled pieces!

Finally, coloring photos the easy way, with markers: Try buffing or smoothing out the streaks with cotton balls. Go for unreal colors and psychedelic effects.

Markers are just so easy!

Thanks for viewing this post! I appreciate it.

NOBODY USES FLOOR WAX ANYMORE, RIGHT? YA GOTTA TRY THIS!

Y'know how expensive fluid acrylics can be? Or acrylic airbrush colors. Even the tiny little bottles aren't cheap. I made my own with the method explained below.


A fun experiment!

First, I mixed Liquitex tube acrylic in Prism Violet thoroughly with acrylic floor shine.


Go more opaque or
more translucent, as desired.

Be sure to get the mixture
as smooth as possible.
I should have strained mine, but didn't,
and it turned out okay!

Next, I poured the now-fluid acrylic paint into a clean,
empty eyeglass cleaner spray bottle.


THE PROJECT

Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay India inks come in many colors, in a convenient dropper-stopper glass bottle. These highly pigmented India inks not only remain lightfast and permanent, but are also totally waterproof when dry. The colors are brilliant and transparent (except black and white).

My support was white Yupo, which I first sprayed with clear water. Then I added violet India ink in places. While that was still wet, I sprayed my homemade liquid acrylic in some areas. Silly me, there wasn't enough difference in the two colors (duh), so I grabbed orange airbrush acrylic to add a few accents.   


I also splattered pure floor shine!

Adding droplets of clear floor shine at the end, but before the India ink is too dry, will create some cool effects.
I'll include this example, below, using Teal Bombay India ink diluted with water on Yupo. Then spattered with clear acrylic floor wax (the liquid). Then I used the ink bottle's dropper to add dark accents back in.


The India ink is repelled by the acrylic wax!





NOT ONE BUT, COUNT 'EM, TWO TECHNIQUES!

METHOD ONE: CREATE INTEREST WITH INDIA INK...
A SHARP IDEA!

Besides the permanent ink in a shallow dish, you'll need a single-edged razor blade.

This is the ink I used, and it worked fine.

My first example, below,
was done on watercolor
paper, but do try Yupo or
even a canvas!
Dip the sharp edge of the
blade into the ink, and use
it as a drawing tool
on wet or dry paper.



I've done both here.



 METHOD TWO: GESSO HAS PULL!

In this demo, you'll pull a wide brush of white gesso through wet color and ink lines. But you must be quick and work while it's still wet! I used a primed canvas as my substrate. Do limit your paint palette to three or four colors that work together. You'll also need a spray bottle of water, a rag, and the goodies we used above in method one.
FIRST: Paint swatches of your colors all across the surface, leaving some bare white above and below.   


Colors included several metallics and Quin Nickel Azo Gold.

SECOND: I used the trick from method one, both horizontally and vertically, before the paint could dry.


Is your wide brush filled with gesso for the next step?

Note that I extended my black lines to the bottom but not at the top of my painting.
THIRD: Pull the brush and gesso down through some of the paint and ink at the left of the page, and continue across in the same manner. Beware of muddiness...you might wish to clean the gesso brush once or twice. Don't do anything at the top of the artwork just yet!

Still not finished, but cool beans, huh?

FOURTH: Spray clear water on the top portion and tilt the paper, encouraging it to run a bit. If the paint and ink is now too dry to flow, add a little more as needed. I also tipped my canvas for some flow toward the bottom!
Blot anywhere it's needed, or blend with a clean brush, or add more lines, or dots of color, spattering, even a few scribbles! (I had a great time with mine, below.)


I even used gesso to make more razor blade lines.

Thanks for viewing this post! Do come by again.