Demo: Lindsey Cole - Exploring the Landscape with Mixed Media
It was a cold, cold January evening (-8C reported at Hurn Airport!) but that did not deter our members; we had an excellent turn out for Lindsey, a great friend of the club. She demonstrated some adventurous techniques for adding texture to our landscape paintings and shared her won examples. She stressed from the start that though she was using acrylics, with a little bit of experimentation, the techniques could add richness and texture to oils, watercolours and other media.
The key was trying things out. Her favourite surface was mount board and she shared a selection of ideas with us. She always started with a couple of layers of gesso, then, she suggested:
Scratch in or drag textured scraper (cut a pattern in an old credit card).
Work in some texture paste..
Stick on some fabric such as scrim, lace or netting, bits of string (use some acrylic gel medium).
After that:
Trickle on some liquid paint (add medium, ) or acrylic inks
Use a hair dryer to chase it around or tilt the board this way and that.
Add a small blob of paint to a rag and polish it onto the surface.
Drag on some paint with some form of squeegee (a credit card, perhaps or a piece of card).
Roll on some paint with a brayer.
Then stand back and consider what you have got and what you can do with it. Quite often, it’s a good idea to rehearse some ideas for a final painting (you can also organise your colours while you are experimenting).
Lindsey took us through her process using a photo of a woodland scene as a reference. It was a most entertaining demo.
Lindsey’s workshop will be on Saturday, 24th February.. She will bring materials to experiment with and members can expect to spend a happy time trying out all sorts of ideas before embarking on a picture using their own photo reference or drawing. While the focus will be on acrylics, people wishing to experiment with other media will be welcome. Email Jen if you would like to join us.
(All links to Hobbycraft, as they have a most oomprehensive website. Other art shops are, of course, available - you might pup up the road and have a chat with Lunns…)
