Experimenting with texture

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch 140 lb cold press watercolor paper 

This painting is on un-gessoed watercolor paper. I wanted to see the behavior of the fluid and high flow acrylics on the un-gessoed surface. I started wet into wet, and let the paint flow. After layers of stencils I decided to experiment with glass bead gel and fiber paste. I also used stencils to apply gel medium,  which served as a resist for a glaze layer of phthalo blue. You can still see a hint of this layer in the corners.

Floral Collage

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on Canson art board 

 This is my first time painting on Canson Arches art board. I gessoed it before stenciling then dripping high flow paint. Then I collaged some flowers I printed on my ink jet printer. I considered adding some glass bead gel but decided against it. I'm not sure if I like the glazes I used to tone down the background.  Below are some photos of the painting in earlier stages.

See the birdie

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

Here's a whimsical painting I finished last night. This one started with drips and blooms of Golden high-flow acrylic paint. I started to see birds in the resulting underpainting, so I took it in that direction with pastel pencils,  collage and paint.

Here are a couple of photos of the painting in earlier stages:

Experimenting with mixed media on watercolor paper

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch 140 lb cold press watercolor paper 

I'm trying other surfaces. I just bought some Canson Art Board, which is Arches watercolor paper mounted to what appears to be mat board,  but I didn't want to use it until I experimented first. So I did this one on a similar unmounted watercolor paper. This painting started with gesso followed by drips of high flow acrylics and stencils. I also wanted to try using clear gesso as a ground for pastels.  It worked Ok but my attempt to 'fix' the pastels with matte medium wasn't to my liking. As I suspected might happen,  the pastel pigment was darkened by the medium.  I ended up augmenting the pastels and medium with fluid acrylics. The pastel definitely added to the intensity of the colors.

Summer Wildflowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 12 x 16 inch canvas panel 

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

 Today I finished a couple more mixed media paintings. The first one, my impression of purple coneflowers (echinacea purpura) started out with red fluid acrylic paint that I textured with plastic wrap, followed by several layers of stencils, stamps, glazes and one large collage element, tracing paper to which I had been applying leftover paint.

The second painting,  rudbeckia, started with a layer of patterned tissue paper followed by several layers of stencils and glazes.

The photos below show the final stage of each painting,  before painting the flowers. I considered stopping at this stage for both paintings.

Sailing

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 12 x 16 inch canvas panel 

Today's painting started out with some texture I added to the canvas with crumpled tissue paper and gesso. I painted some reds and yellows then let it sit for several days before I decided to turn it into an abstract of sailboats.

Here is the underpainting:

Funky Flowers

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel

I'm still trying to get the hang of the mixed media creative process. I started this painting with a collage of patterned tissue paper, then I pulled out the paints and stencils and started to paint.  I've been switching between this painting and a couple others. 

Here are some of the intermediate stages:

Centerpiece

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

 I'm still experimenting with mixed media, and I'm trying some of the techniques in Acrylic Solutions,  written by Chris Cozen and Julie Prichard. For this painting I used a brayer to apply the first layer of paint. After I brushed on a second layer I let the shapes that emerged inspire me.

The photos below show the various stages and layers.

I used scraps of painted tracing paper that I had stenciled and stamped with leftover paint for the flowers and leaves. This is what it looked like before I glazed the final layer.

Fireworks

Painting by Vicky Christensen, acrylic on 12 x 16 inch canvas panel 

 This painting is the result of many layers of texture, stencils and acrylic paints and mediums. I started by applying molding paste through a stencil, followed by drips and runs of Golden high flow acrylics. In later layers I wanted to see what would happen if I mixed acrylic paint loosely with matte medium and applied it with a palette knife to partially obscure the layers beneath.

The photos below show the painting in earlier stages.

Aquarium

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 12 x 16 inch canvas panel 

Here's another mixed media experiment. I started this painting with a collage of tissue paper scraps that I had painted and stenciled with paint left over from previous paintings. Here is what it looked like before I painted it:

Mixed media experiments

Painting by Vicky Christensen, mixed media on 16 X 12 inch canvas panel 

Since I'm in mixed media mode, I spent some time preparing some canvas panels for experimenting with collage and a few other techniques. Today's painting is the first to be completed. This one started with random bits of tissue paper that I had stamped, stenciled and painted with leftover paint from previous paintings. I used light gloss gel to glue the tissue to the canvas panel then stenciled some patterns on it after the gel dried. Today I added some glazes. Turns out I really like phthalo blue.

Below is the piece before I added the glazes (in landscape orientation).