Tutorial: Mixed Media Art ‘Peach Garden’

Like the previous mixed media art tutorial I did (which you can find here) this piece was inspired by a page I did in my daily art journal. I didn’t have such a clear idea of what I was making this time, so this was mostly just a huge experiment, but I really liked how it turned out, especially because it is so different (particularly in colour) to most of the work I do.

If you are interested to find out how I made it, read on.

You will need:

• Your surface (I am using canvas board)
• Acrylic paint in colour of your choice (I am using a mix of cadmium red and cadmium yellow)
• White Gesso
• Heavy gel medium
• A selection of tissue paper in colours of your choice
• A paper doily
• Bubble wrap
• Stencil (I am using Distressed Dots by Creative Expressions)
• Masking tape
• PVA glue mixed with a little water
• Palette knives
• Sponge
• Some sort of floral decorations (I’m using flowers I made out of clay)

Firstly, cover your surface in varying thickness of gesso with palette knife or similar and stick tissue paper over the top however you like. Then, take a small amount of gesso - whatever you have left - and spread it over the top of the tissue. If it rips, that's fine, just make sure it is stuck down.

When it is dry, rip the unstuck tissue paper off, but most of it should still be left. Using the scrap tissue paper that you have just removed, stick it back on over the gaps and begin layering it up using the PVA glue and water mix. If you like, try folding the tissue paper to create more texture.

Next, cut up a doily into small sections and paste them, with the PVA and waster mix, to your picture. Try positioning them in a rough line vertically, then allow to dry.

Mix some gesso with paint to create a colour similar to that of the tissue paper you've used and then use it to print with the bubble wrap in the bottom left corner of the image.

When it has fully dried, use your stencil to print with a similar (but slightly different) colour in same place. I ended up not liking the uniformity of my print so I smudged it and added a bit more gesso. However, if you like how yours looks, keep it as it is! I then used the side of the stencil that I'd applied paint on to, to make light, reverse prints across the image.

Next, when dried, stick masking tape diagonally across your image. Leave small uncovered strips between the lines of tape.

Make a mix of gesso, heavy gel medium and your chosen colour and cover over the masking tape strips. Allow to dry before you peel it off. Do the same again, but at the opposite angle. Again wait for the paint to dry before peeling the tape off.

Get a little gesso on a sponge and lightly sponge across the bottom left corner and up the side and along the bottom. Don’t press to heavily so as to obscure the underlying layers.

When the gesso has dried, position your floral decorations wherever you want on the image and paste down with the heavy gel medium.

Now your image is finished! Let me know on Instagram if you make anything with this, using the hashtag #madebyciara!