Tag: Painting techniques

Innovative Mixed Media Art: Abstract Monograms and Textured Paintings | Completed

Personal Reflections

The AI created the above featured image after a few attempts of not getting it quite right. I then asked it to show me an image of a black woman doing finishing touches to artwork and photography. I give it 8/10 this week.

This week I was able to do finishing touches, like mounting an abstract painting on paper onto canvas and setting up for product photography. I also completed the remaining x15 A5 sized artworks on art board.

Some of the x 15 abstract collaged monograms sculpted paintskins on canvas board
Doing product photography
Love this mixed abstract painting using acrylic inks on paper mounted on framed canvas.

It has taken over a year to complete the series of about 30 + mixed media artwork featuring paint skins for texture.  I’m also glad to have come up with the concept of paint skin to create abstract versions of the monogram underpainting.

https://videopress.com/v/q5sbUGPr?resizeToParent=1&cover=1&autoPlay=0&controls=1&loop=0&muted=0&persistVolume=1&playsinline=0&preloadContent=metadata&sbc&sbpc&sblc&useAverageColor=1
Making an abstract monogram from sculpted paint skins

I love the interesting mix of textures that the offset mosaic like arrangement in the colleage creates.

The knife-sculpted paint skin allows me to extend the boundaries of the canvas, reminding me of overgrown nails. 💅🏽, which I later trimmed down. This has inspired future works.

Lining up for product photography.

What things did you finish off this weekK?

Mixed Three Mixed Media Techniques

Behind the Scenes

Short one this week as blogging from my phone as my laptop died and I cannot decide whether to buy an I pad or laptop.

Meanwhile I’m back in the swing of painting and making as I settle into my new 9 to 5 role. It’s amazing what a rested mind will do for art and creativity.

Continue reading “Mixed Three Mixed Media Techniques” →

Abstract Saturday/ Sunday

Behind the Scenes

Below is a collection of paintings and initial drawings I did at the City Lit Abstract Painting Weekend Course. It was fun. There were lots of other painters there.

Some of us ate at Itsu Covent Garden on the pavement at lunch and watched as the Free Masons tried to recruit more members from people (men walking by. Our lunchtime vista was a strange mixture of men wearing dark Crombie coats, hell’s Angels, and a couple of Harley-Davidsons on the pavement.

Perhaps that inspired me to create this really feminine piece of work below. Some of the feedback in the crit was that I have a really light hand. I felt light creating it, so that was nice to hear.

Continue reading “Abstract Saturday/ Sunday” →

Why Painting Julian Opie Simplicity is Quite Hard

Behind the Scenes, Personal Reflections

Our teacher took us through some portraits this week in my art class. The usual classics were there for us to study composition, tone, paint strokes etc. But I was struck by how much I was drawn into Julian Opie’s work.


I’d never seen his work before, and I noticed how my eyes were pulled into pattern finding.


However, I took on the challenge of seeing what my marks and finish might be like if I painted in the style of Julian Opie. I initially thought it might be easy; perhaps I was being lazy, but when I realised the attention to detail demanded in getting the contrasting tones right. Another hurdle I had to surmount was the light and the dark shapes to make sure those correctly gave the impression of light and shade. I discovered in class that trying to do this using oil colour is another difficulty because Julian Opie probably uses acrylics. But never mind, it’s all practice.

Making my life difficult wit oil on canvas board

Mixing the shades and tones

Inspired by exaggerating skin features

Behind the Scenes

My art classes for drawing and painting ended last week and inspired a new focus in my portrait paintings.

I noticed the extent to which I’m interested in the deeper anatomical elements of the skin. For instance, I noticed I spent a lot more time than others in the class on the intricate details of features such as thread veins and fine lines.

While mixing the different colour skin tones, I got the idea of potentially using my cosmetic chemistry insights and knowledge to develop a series of figurative paintings in future. I will link back to this post when I have done the paintings influenced by insights I gained this week.