Sunday, May 1, 2016

A Mixed Media Bird Quartet


When I painted my big mixed media tree I included four birds on the margins.  I thought they would be nice on four small paintings, so here's my start.

The surfaces are 6" x 6" cradled boards from Dick Blick.  They weren't very expensive and the quality is nice.  My first step was to apply a coat of spray primer on the fronts and sides.  Then it was on to the collage part.  Mostly I used papers, including some brushwork designs I made with black acrylic on deli sheets.  They laid down really well and I will make more and use more in the future.

Another thing I added was paper clay pieces.  I made molds with two part silicone molding clay over various nice things around the house - carving on the back of a chair and the metal plates behind door pulls on some antique Victorian era pieces.  I pressed the paper clay in the molds and could unmold them pretty much immediately.  But then the paper clay pieces needed a day or two to dry.  Before I glued them on, I sprayed them with workable fixatif to seal them (but I didn't seal the backs, thinking that would give me a better bond).  

I also used texture paste, glass beads, and Prima small and large stones.  However, with the large stones I didn't get enough gel behind them.  Some of them fell off, and I ended up pulling the others off.

No comments:

Post a Comment