Want to Learn How to Make a Postcard? Register now for Mixed Media Postcard Art Tutorial

Probably you did not know how well you can celebrate a birthday or an anniversary without necessarily being too expensive. Mixed Media Art is one platform that will show you how well you can achieve this using available mixed media techniques that will help you put create and out together post cards that you can use to invite your friends and family to your big occasion. Your skill level at this point does not matter and neither is your preferred style. At the end of it all it is about the inspiration you get from your work.

It is for this reason that Mixed Media Art has established two sessions for online tutorial art that will help you come to terms with what suits you best. These will be online tutorials that will help you develop your Mixed Media Skills towards creating of a postcard. And why do you choose on a postcard? You can play around with simple techniques that will eventually create wonderful backgrounds that can be used during any holiday season. Good luck as you attend the sessions.

Come and visit our tutorial video - it's available right now!

Gelli Plates is what you Need from Gelli Arts for your Prints

Probably you have no idea how much more Mixed Media Art has to offer and the level of customization you can get to. The imagination that you want to use gelatine to make your own printing plate could make you sick because of the messy situation associated with gelatine plus the fact that you will spend so much time.

However GelliArts have created the Gelli Plate which is an alternative for you and much better because it is non - perishable. It will give you the same results as having used gelatine but it is non – toxic and you will be able to make many more prints. You will get the Gelli Plate in three different sizes 6″x6″, 8″x10″ and 12″ x 14″. It is said that the 8″x10″ is the best for A4 sheets of paper.

While it is advisable that you gather together all the materials you need as well as ensuring you have enough space, see below some of these materials that you will need:

• Acrylic paints
• The Gelli Plate
• A brayer and mark making tools
• Stencils
• Netting or lace
• Sequence wrap

Even as you make your prints you ought o exercise some creativity.

The Beauty of Stencils on your Mixed Media Artwork

We would all love to put our creativity to book for everyone to see. During your creation, have you ever thought of what beauty you would experience by the use of Stencils? With them you are able to add shapes and patterns to your work giving some perfection to it.

See below the types of stencils you can work with:

• Found objects like paper doilies, leaves, pressed flowers and feathers all that can be found around your home.
• You can chose to make your own stencils that will allow you to have full control over your creativity. You can create own photos and print then in whatever color you wish to. 
• Buy ready made stencils from your local craft stores. 

Your approach to using stencils needs to be slow and steady especially when adding layers to your creative work. As you add your palette and paint to your brush make sure you run a test to make sure the wetness is not too much. Too much paint will lead to “bleeding” of the stencil where the paint runs from under the stencil which leads to losing your design.

Check your results after the use of each stencil to confirm that all is well before adding any other. Enjoy your creation.

Creating Little Fat Books

More often than not, some of the interests we have are lengthened and strengthened through increased learning and attending workshops on the same. From them we learn the basics and simply try to experiment what we learn.

Have you heard of Little Fat Books? They are much smaller than the normal handmade books with a measurement of 10.5cm x 10.5cm. They could feature with found objects on them or with nature elements.

Among the many that you can find, include one that you can look through a central circular. Making of Little Fat Books can be all exciting and in various types and shapes. You can also use different layers of color and the many materials that you can recycle soft drink bottle caps cut, rusted, circular metallic pieces while incorporating painted curtain rings.

One of the many Little Fat Books you can build on with your knowledge and as an interest is called “Twigs”. It is unique with two pages that are adjacent to each other. Little Fat Books have a stunning look and especially if you have the basics at hand. Because of their sizes they can our comfortably fit onto your hands.

Look out for these elements. They will entice your interests further.

Mixed Media Painting Tip

When creating mixed media paintings, I love using water color paper but it's hard to keep it flat or to prevent paint from getting on the wrong side. Here Michelle explains how she uses a backing board to keep the paper safe.

Key materials:
- Piece of Coreflute; this piece is 11.5" x 20"
- Cereal box plastic
- Masking tape

Note: any thick cardboard will be sufficient. It just needs to be stiff enough to hold its own weight.

** Have you tried this technique? ** I'd love to hear what you have tried! **

Have You Ever Thought of Working with Canvas?

Beauty is good and beautiful things motivate us on a daily basis thus everyone loves beauty. After all who does not like being identified with a beautiful thing or item and more so that which has been done on a self creativity platform?

Have ever thought of what you can do with canvas? Has it ever occurred in you that mixed media art can be applied on mini media canvas? From canvas you can achieve a lot and in many cases it should be the size of “4x4”. 

You can literally use it to make mixed media collage on but you will need embossing paste for sticking items with. There is nothing you cannot be glued on it which are preferred to be metallic the likes of metallic flowers as small as you want and as big as you want. You can also make them with the shapes that please you best.

Besides you can also choose to spray with colorations while fixing up other smaller shapes than the metallic flowers. At the end of it will look more of an orchard. Beads can be added at the middle of each flower and on completion you will have made use of a simple canvas to produce a beautiful piece of work.

Mixed Media Artworks are More than a Thousand Words

There is a famous adage which says that a painting can depict a thousand words. However, this cliché can be modified if placed under the context of mixed media art. Mixed media art is worth a million words. But what is mixed media art? Mixed media art, as the name implies, is a work of art that utilizes more than one (1) medium.This is the reason why it can exceed the words that a one-medium painting expresses.

There are various ways by which an artist can produce a mixed media artwork. Two (2) or more drawing materials can be used in order to come up with a painting. For example, a lovely picture of a lady on a canvass can be produced using oil, acrylic and watercolor. Some mixed media artworks also use collage materials. These simple items can be found in our homes like plastic bottles, magazines, newspapers,wood, scrap metals and fabric. In fact, for some people these products can already be considered as trash. This makes mixed media art more interesting because aside from expressing one’s ideas and thoughts, the artist can also help in saving mother earth. Plastic bottles are considered as non-biodegradable. They do not decompose. As such, they reduce landfill spaces and they pollute our oceans and rivers. It also takes huge amounts of fossil fuel, a limited natural resource, to produce them. Scrap metals, when used in a mixed media artwork, also saves the environment because instead of throwing it away, the artist recycles it. Old and defective appliances like television sets, cassette players and VHS players can also be employed in creating a mixed media artwork.

We can also derive a lot of mixed media art ideas from famous artists because a lot of them utilized the said type of artwork. Leonardo da Vinci used charcoal, black chalk and white chalk in coming up with a painting entitled, “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and St. John the Baptist”. The said artwork is currently located at the national gallery of the United Kingdom. In illustrating the biblical scene of the Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci used tempera and oil. Tempera consists of colored pigment mixed with a binder that is soluble on water. This painting is the first artwork of Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo also used the same technique in “The Torment of St. Anthony”.

Mixed media artworks are not only limited from the legendary artists of the renaissance era. There are a lot of existing artists which are very passionate about this field of art. The perfect example of this artist is Serena Barton. Would you believe it? She mixes wasabi with common painting materials in some of her collection! Wasabi is a spicy green paste paired by the Japanese with sashimi and sushi. Rhea Carmi, an Israeli mixed media artist, combines sand with other painting media in several of her works. Other artists also use mud in their artworks.

In other words, there are countless ways by which an individual can create a mixed media art piece. The options are endless. One can use simple materials that can be found in one’s bedroom, garden, living room, kitchen or even bathroom. One only needs a huge amount of imagination to succeed in creating a mixed media artwork.

Here are some awesome Mixed Media Art Ideas for you to try out...

Quick Handmade Mothers Day Gift

- In this post, you'll be able to discover a wonderful gift for the up coming Mothers Day which you can humbly present to your Mom.

Creating Layers Online Tutorial
- Creating layers for mixed media art is really easy, watch the video in this article and you'll surely appreciate the importance on mixed media art layers.

“Wish” Art Journal Layout 

- If you want to learn how to create a layout for your Art Journal, this a very informative post about creating a nice Art Journal layout 

Faux Dichroic Glass 

- Creating something from different stuff is really cool and fantastic. If you want to learn about using glass for your artworks then this post is just for you.

Found Objects for Mixed Media Painting 

- Recycling is really important in our artworks. In this post, you'll discover other things that you can use for your mixed media art projects.

Utilizng Readily Available Materials for Mixed Media Art

All along Mixed Media Art has supported creative ideas to the stage of implementing them to success using materials that are readily available in our homes or those that are relatively cheap to buy compared to undertaking the corporate route of specialty with an entire range to choose from and which you are expected to match. This at times can be very frustrating.

Talking of readily available materials, visually textured backgrounds are easily created by use of text pages obtained from old books, magazines, conference proceedings or even knitting patterns. From them you can create a great background art since they are of different paper textures, font’s types and sizes. On these materials you may also find diagrams or sketches that will effectively add to the background layering. Words could also be used to add meaning and create a story

Old books are more preferred than the use of a book of value because from old books you can create many pages and the covers can be used as substrates for future projects. They can also be used as papermache to provide strength by shrining them together as well as creating interest and especially when knitting or dress making patterns are in play.

Tips When Making a Black Altered Book Page

The process and materials for making a Black Altered Book Page are fairly easy but when all is completed, the end product is so beautiful because of the brightness of active patterns and color. The tools and materials used include:

• Bottled American lamp acrylic paint
• 3 – 5 different sheets of origami paper that come into styles
• Scissors
• Small punch like heart, flower or star
• Aleenes Tacky glue or any other white one
• Sakura metallic gellly roll pen

The technique is also a straight forward activity

• Paint your page spread with black acrylic and let it dry
• Cut and punch origami paper and adhere with glue. Thin wood pulp Origami paper work better especially for punches and is less expensive unlike the washi papers that have toothy, fibrous texture and are more expensive. Washi paper is best for the corners and cut papers.  Glue is applied with a toothpick which helps to keep the other parts of the background better surfaces to work on.
• You can be creative and draw a pathway (or several of them) with one of your pens and write a favorite quote, something you want to say, or perhaps about your joy in creating art. 

You will fill the areas with your favorite patterns as you chose to fill the background with stars and symbols. Many great patterns can be obtained online and there is a lot of fun in creating these pages.

Using Cereal Boxes for your Mixed Media Art Projects

There are different ways that you can use cereal boxes and plastic sheets for your mixed media art projects. One excellent way to use the plastic sheet inside the cereal box is to use it as a protective covering for your altered book project to avoid the paint from getting around the edges of your book when painting or creating a layout. You can also use it as an alternative for plastic covers which can be bought in department stores. So instead of spending money for plastic covers, you can certainly use the plastic sheet inside the cereal box as the cover for your mixed media art projects.

And for the cereal box, you can actually cut the edges evenly and by doing that, you already have a cardboard that you can use as a book cover out from a cereal box or you can as well use if for paintings.

Creating mixed media art projects is really fun! While creating, you can actually discover things that you can reuse. Recycling things is a good practice since recycled materials are free, it can save you lots of cash and by recycling materials for your artworks, you are helping the environment.

Start creating and recycling now!

Stuart Morris, a Successful Artist

Becoming successful in anything is really not that easy. You will definitely need lots of patience and perseverance to reach your goals in life. Like with arts, there are some artists who prosper and there are also some who fail.

Let me introduce you to one of the most triumphant artist in the world today. His name is Stuart Morris. Stuart is a British artist based in East Anglia. Being an artist, Stuart loves using natural materials such as wood, rock and sand, whilst his bold use of color is a nod to the Post-Impressionists that captured his young imagination.

Stuart has an entrenched textile printing business and is the top charity fund raising in the UK. His company - "Stuart Morris" flourished through the years with different clients from home and abroad including heritage and charity organizations.

If you want to be successful like Stuart, here are Stuarts's top 5 tips for aspiring artists

Be single-minded and set your sights on what you want to achieve,

Be determined and don’t let anything stand in your way,

Work hard at your craft,

Release your inhibitions and let your personality come out in your artwork,

Be expressive – the best paintings are not necessarily ‘life-like’, but tell a story

Different Ways in Designing an Altered Book Layout

Designing an altered book layout is really fun and exciting since it brings out the artist in you. You can create a wide range of designs using the different supplies that you have to make your layout really beautiful.

When we talk about designing an altered book layout, there are lots of style that you can apply. You can add some borders to enclose the text in your altered book, you can also highlight the words you want to stress, and adding colors to your altered book layout by drawing anything relevant for your layout and many other things that will fit your layout. You are actually free to design the layout as long as you don't over design it.

With that being said, I know that you'll be able to create a fantastic altered book layout that you'll be proud to share with your family and friends.

So what are you waiting for ? Start creating and designing your altered book layout now!

Get that Gloves Off while Painting

Painting is among the famous art work today. There are lots of people expressing their artistry through painting using different techniques that will boost up the appearance of their work. When painting, there are different tools that you can use to paint. You can use a paintbrush, your hands with gloves and some other tools. These tools can help the artist to make his/her painting look good and beautiful.

However, There are painters who use their bare hands when painting. This is actually among the most exciting technique when painting since you can feel the paint in your finger tips and will make you more careful since you don't want your painting to be messy. Using your bare hands when painting is like going back to your childhood days where you just grab a paint, dip your fingers and stroke it anywhere - remembering the good old days which is really fun and exciting.

It is really nice to experiment sometimes. Painting with that gloves off will certainly make you feel free while painting making your artwork more expressive and personalized. Letting go of your inner child to express your thoughts and feelings can be an outlet to create that masterpiece!

What are you waiting for? Take that gloves off and start painting now!

Using Beeswax for Mixed Media Art Collage

Beeswax are naturally produced wax from bee hives of honey bees. It's a great medium that can be used in arts. You can use it as a decoupage medium for sticking papers and objects to different surfaces.  Not only that, It can also be embossed to add surface to your art and polish using an oil pastel to put in color.

For beeswax collage, there are several substrate options available that you can use. You can certainly use Wood, Masonite, Paper, Canvas (small gallery wrapped or canvas panel), Encaustic board, Clay board and Metal.

When painting the wax to your chosen substrate, it is advisable to use natural bristle brush because synthetic brushes will melt. And once you use the brush in the wax, you will not be able to use it again for any other purposes since the wax will harden.

You can buy beeswax over the internet or at craft and hobby stores. When purchasing for beeswax, it can be is sold in one or two pound blocks or in bags that contain small pellets.  It can be colored yellow which is natural or it can be white in color- meaning, it's filtered. You can find beeswax online or at a number of craft and hobby stores.  Prices will vary but I usually pay around $11.00 for a 1lb block.  

Try using this medium now for your mixed media art collage!

Image Source: jack and cat curio via Compfight cc