Questions and comments...

...abound from the last post about working on CD's so I thought I'd answer some of them for you.

The process is relatively easy.  I start by filling in the hole with heavy gel medium and waiting oh-so-patiently for it to dry overnight.

I coat one side with black gesso, allow it to dry and then coat the other side (use the blow dryer if you don't have my exemplary serenity -  ha!).

I secured some keys and oddments to the gessoed CD using heavy gel medium (for the weight of the keys in this case), and after it was dry over-painted with white gesso twice.

 Splashing on the intensely coloured Adirondek alcohol inks was the best part.

I then inked in some of the holes and ridges with my black Pitt pen, and added some circles with my white Uni-ball Signo pen.

I managed to twist John's arm, and he made me some wooden blocks to use for backings - they're 1/2" x 3 1/4" x 2 1/2", AND he primed them for me.  What a treasure he is!  Although the heavy gel is not yet dry, this back view photo gives you the general idea.

I encourage you to give it a try, using keys, dried vegetation, puzzle pieces, metallic embellishments, bottle caps, etc.  No limits, all fun!

Plastic is everywhere - an inexpensive pattern maker!

I love making backgrounds with plastic - plastic 'anything's-that-flat' can be used to make patterned backgrounds quite easily.

I started taking photographs halfway through this process, so I'll catch you up as I go along.  Using a palette paper and mat board surface, I painted a wash of yellow on the board, plunked down some embroidery thingies, and weighted it with an essential Van Gogh tomb.  I actually did this a couple of times with different washes of paint.  These washes were heavy body acrylic, thinned with copious quantities of water.

This repetition resulted in a lively pattern:

 Feeling a need for more pizazz, I added more quinacridone gold,

and then decided a layer of herringbone from a plastic bag would help.  The quinacridone burnt scarlet would make it pop a bit too.

The paint, thinned with air brush medium to a very fluid layer this time, was liberally splashed on the support with the plastic bag stretched over top.

I covered it with another piece of palette paper (waxy side on the paint) and plunked down my Van Gogh bible again.

 I very patiently watched it dry overnight, and the reveal in the morning showed me this.

I'd say I've gone too far, but if I decide that's the case, I can always knock it back a bit with more colour, more pattern, maybe gesso!  The air brush medium thinner works quite differently from the washes created with water in this technique, so there's my lesson for the week.

How about you?  What are you learning in your artwork?

Cheesecloth soaker

I know we've talked about cheesecloth additions before, but you keep asking for this one, so here it is.

Here I've got some cobalt green paint left over from a session.

I thin it extensively with water, and

drop in some cheesecloth (already lightly coloured in other areas.  I allow it to dry, pick it up, and

use it to mop up some leftover yellow paint the next day.

It will make an interesting addition to a background like this one.

And, you know the drill, the palette paper where it was drying will make a great transfer!  Look at all that terrific texture.

I keep a wide range of painted cheesecloth underneath my easel, and they become beautifully coloured in a great range of hues over time.

One of my students loves this technique so much she's turned them into a scarf-making industry, paired with mixed media broaches to go with them.

And if you don't want to go that far, you can, at the very least, feast your eyes on the rich colour you've created.

Playing with elastics -

- it's not just for kids!

Wrapping some elastics around a hard brayer, rolling it into paint and then painting directly onto your support can yield some energetic lines.

What happens, though, when you use a soft foam paint roller and do the same thing?

Wrapping the elastics on a softer surface gives a bumpy and uneven texture to your roller.

Here I'm priming the roller with paint for use on my first surface

and another one.

Lightly running the roller over the first support gives a totally different look than heavier pressure on the second, and much different again than working with a hard brayer.

I'm loving the palette paper when I'm done, too.  Perfect for a transfer!

You'll note that using different brayers (foam, soft, hard), altered sizes of elastics and varying your pressure when applying will give you a wide range of effects with this technique.  It's clearly time to get those elastics working for you.

If you think I'm stringing you along...

...you could be right!

One of those household staples that can be used to good effect in your mixed media work is the lowly ball of string.

Here I've assembled some string, a soft foam paint roller and a support that's already well layered with various techniques ( palette paper transfer, alcohol inks, script transfer, etc.).

I run the string-encircled roller (ends tucked neatly under the layers of string) in some antique copper metallic paint,

and then lightly over the support.

Note the lovely pattern on the palette paper when I'm done - won't this make a great palette paper transfer?

There's more than one way to skin a string, though!  Here I've  randomly placed some string on a support, and then over-painted it all with a soft brayer rolled in paint.

On this support, I taped the string outside the edges of the mat board.  I rolled a soft foam roller in paint and then over the matboard.  Once dried, and string removed, it makes a lively background.

Oh, and save those painted bits of string to incorporate them into your mixed media works as well - everything is fodder for this style of painting!

It's NOT pork...

...but pulled paper instead!

You'll need some gloss medium, a support, paint brush, paint and any paper from a magazine, disused book, tax package or telephone book.

Coat your support with a good layer of liquid gloss medium (I use Golden),

and slap on your sheet.  Here I've used a sheet of very light newsprint from the provincial portion of the Canadian tax package.   Only in Canada would they use a colour like this for taxes!

In order to facilitate the pull, you can add masking tape to it - if you do it in different directions, you'll get a great array of effects.

After the medium and paper have dried for a couple of minutes (or to your preference), use the masking tape to peel off the paper in different directions.

Now that it's really ugly (sorry, make that distressed looking), you can add a wash of colour over the top of it all.

Since I'm not that fond of the result so far, I've spritzed/splashed/drizzled on another wash of paint afterwards.

I think this will make a great background for a painting.  How about you?

Here's an example of a painting utilizing the pulled paper technique - more taxes.

'...and Taxes '    Mixed Media © Win Dinn  2013 

It's so easy...

...I could even do it in my sleep!

Take any support (in this case, a well-used mat board 'tester'),

and sponge it with a paint-covered paper towel, sponge, plastic wrap, cloth, etc.  Here I've used a paper towel to add a turquoise to the mix.

Repeat the process with another colour (I've used  lavender here),

and another (greyed lavender),

 and another (purple).

You can continue the process until you're blue in the face (or purple, turquoise, lavender, grey, etc.) and you've got a wonderfully subtle background for your artwork.

Some heavy lifting...

might be required in your next studio time.

With some slightly thinned heavy-body paint, a spritz of water, paintbrush, a support and some paper towel, you can create a really interesting background.

Here, I started with a mat board support that's coloured with some violent orange left-over paint.

Over this I painted a wild cobalt teal, spritzed it with a fine spray of water,

  

and covered it quickly with a paper towel.  A quick press with my hands, and a paper towel lift,

revealed a prettily patterned paper towel - you can use this in another project!

The pattern that is left on the support has toned down the orange and creates a vibrant background for the next piece of art off the easel.

You can, of course, repeat this process many times - I'm thinking a lavender over top of this one might be fun!