Daring Adventures

I have been experimenting quite a bit with mixed media projects this summer (see the "Pages and Paint" button on my sidebar.) Last week, I ordered a beautiful new book by Mati Rose McDonough called, "Daring Adventures in Paint." In the book, Ms. McDonough provides inspiration, encouragement and step-by-step instructions for various techniques to use on canvas. Of course, I am never alone in these ventures.

First, we started by creating a rich background using various layers of acrylic paint. We started with painting a warm magenta/orange/pink layer. Next came a aqua/blue layer. Then, we got to play with our block printing brayer and painted on a rich yellow/orange layer. The result was a really deep, rich, layered effect. It really turned out beautifully and we all felt happy with the aesthetics of our work. 

Then, we pulled out our supply of papers which includes scraps of beautiful papers, various ephemera, bits of this and that, and began to create paper collages on our canvases. Ms. McDonough suggests using gel medium for adhering these bits onto the paintings, but we didn't have any (and I wasn't up for a craft store run today...) so we used Mod Podge. It worked, but wasn't as clean or smooth as it would have been with the gel medium. We'll definitely be making the trip to the art supply store tomorrow!

We were very proud of our results. Ms. McDonough's instructions are very clear and her encouragement takes away the intimidation factor.

In all, it was a very successful project. We all enjoyed trying the techniques that are so wonderfully articulated in the book, but most of all, we enjoyed spending the afternoon together doing our favorite thing - creating!