Trying Something New, Again!

Windows of the Soul – Mixed Media on Canvas Board – 10×12 inches

I finished this painting today and was inspired by the tutorial from a new book I purchased called – Acrylic Solutions, exploring mixed media layer by layer, by Chris Cozen and Julie Prichard.  I love this book.  It takes you through the steps to create multi-layered and textured images.  I had completed a few of the exercises in the beginning of the book and decided to give this one a try.

Firstly, I didn’t have any of the paint colors used in this tutorial, except Titanium white.  I had to kind of wing it. I tried to blend colors as close as I could tell in the book, but I was also conscious of not wanting to make an exact copy.  I focused on working out the placement of the lights and the darks.   Secondly, I didn’t have any images I could use as transfers, so I used stamps instead.  I am going to see if I can get a book with Architectural images that I can photocopy images from as that can be useful in the future.  Lastly, I also stopped at a certain stage with the adding of colors as I preferred my painting to be more dark/blue and less green.  My marks and words are different too as I didn’t like some of the marks in the lesson and I wanted to make this my own.  I don’t find adding marks natural to me as I am not used to doing it.  I suppose it gets easier after time.  Hopefully I will have my own marks that are distinctive to me.  I also added another window.

Although this painting is similar as in the book, it is not the same.  I had fun making this. Having completed some of the previous exercises in the book helped me when blending the paint and working on the different layers.  I also used my fingers a lot too!  Although this is not something I would normally paint, I can use the techniques for some landscapes that I would like to make.

Warning:  When buying a new book that you like, it can be so easy to go crazy and buy all of the supplies that are used in the book.  This can be expensive.  (I haven’t bought anything yet!)

Chris Cozen works for Golden Paints (lucky her!) and all of the products in the book are Golden.  Golden paints can be very expensive in the UK.  However, one can shop around and buy grounds and glazes from other manufacturers.  You can also find Chris and Julie on YouTube for more inspiration.

What do you think?