Category Archives: mixed media

Kingfisher mixed media painting.

Ali Hargreaves gave another fab demo  on Artist Demo Days on facebook, this time  a watercolour  (or mixed media) of a rather bedraggled kingfisher.  I had a go and made a small painting and it was fun to do.  I still haven’t found a way of getting the turquoise colour to be true on the photo.  I used some shimmering blue acrylic ink and some pearl Pearlex for some of the white flashes on a few feathers.  In other  places I have used white acrylic ink and pulled the ink out to makes the ruffled feathers.  You can also find her demo here.

mixed media kingfisher

Physalis and poppy heads mixed media painting.

Practising with some texture in this painting using sand mixed into acrylic paint.  This was painted using the techniques from  Alison Board’s first book ‘A beginners guide to watercolour with mixed media’.  I love this book as it it gives you lots of ideas and easy to understand instructions and I like Alison’s lively, loose painting style.  I used dried fern, fennel,  and acer leaves dropped into the wet background and left to dry.  There is also some lifting out, using a leafy stencil and a magic sponge eraser, and some messy splattering and dripping.  The camera hasn’t quite picked up on some of the subtle shading so it looks much better in real life.

Owl mixed media painting

I am a big fab of Alison Board, so whenever I get the chance I watch her demos on Artist Demo Days on facebook, or on her own web page, then sometimes I have a  go myself.  However this one is from one of her workshops on the SAA site.  I used watercolour, gouache, brusho,  conte crayons and a fine liner pen.  Alison used a photo of Boo, a little owl, which has such a lovely face, and I love the splashy loose techniques she uses.

Shimmering dragonfly on black paper.

It has been a while since I had my paints out and this is the first attempt using black watercolour paper.  Alison Board was doing a demo for SAA so I followed along with that  (more or less).  This is a mixed media piece, and I really like the shimmery Rembrandt watercolour for the wings.   You can’t really tell from this photo but the mount is quite green so it brings out the greens of the background even more.

Mixed media misty trees landscape

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Another attempt at a mixed media painting Chris Forsey style from his video Pushing The Boundaries of Watercolour.  I did try to change it a little from his original by adding a tree stump into the centre of the pond rather than having a large focal tree in the central background but  am not that sure that it worked.  I used too strong a yellow in the background and the painting in real life looks more like there is a forest fire in the background rather than subtle  evening sunlight.  I quite like it though and it was fun to paint.

Mixed media scene

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I love watching Chris Forsey paint, in fact I could watch him paint all day, he can take rather ordinary scenes  and fill them with vibrancy and life.  Over the last couple of months I have tried different painting techniques using a variety of media.  Chris Forsey’s video, Pushing The Boundaries Of Watercolour, shows you how he starts with a couple of sketches or photos and takes you through his thinking process and how he achieves his resulting masterpieces.  I have tried to follow a couple of his paintings from start to finish while changing them ever so slightly.  I do like my results but still see many mistakes.   This was painted using oil pastels, watercolour, and acrylic inks on bamboo paper.

Sketchbook Project 2014 Organised Chaos (cover)

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I finally finished my Sketchbook project for 2014 and it is now in Brooklyn and will go on the Northeast tour in 2014.  I like the idea that my little book will be going on tour and not just sitting in my bookcase at home.

The theme I picked was ‘Greetings from…’ so mine is Greetings from this extraordinary place called Earth and is named Organised Chaos.  What makes out Earth unique?  Is it just chaotic randomness or is it all structured and within the laws of nature?  Why do you find similar patterns emerging on different surfaces.  I don’t give any answers I merely depict what was going on in my head while I daydreamed about the questions.  I took out the rather thin paper that was in the journal and used bamboo paper instead as I like to use all kinds of media.  I also changed the cover from the plain brown card one to a grunge board one which I then painted with gesso and acrylic paint.  I sprayed the cover with a light coat of sealant but it reacted a little with the ink on the label so I hope it still scans ok.

Mixed media name badge

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We have a few new members in our Craft (scrapbook) crop and so we were asked to make name badges to help newbies remember who’s who.  Mine is a mixed media one  and it really didn’t look like this in my mind when I started it.  I had quite a few mishaps along the way and this is the result.
Black leather background, gold coloured gauze, white card with stamping, resist and spray (scrap bit from a previous project), eyelets, mixed fibres, dangle from an old necklace,Tim Holtz swivel fasteners and a kilt pin. Name printed using Quilted butterfly font.  Leaf with the micro ladybird is a pin that Ceara gave me a while back and it just happens to go really well here.
I am looking forward to seeing what all the other name badges look like as we have scrappers, jewellery makers, knitters etc in our craft club.