Exploration of Mixed Media Painting Techniques

 

The world of art is changing. The new and old are meeting, crossing, and creating a new idea that’s beautiful, fascinating, and captivating.

Mixed media painting has this incredibly unique quality that speaks to both the old and new. It captures the beauty of a traditional painting with the power of digital technology. What could be more novel than combining these two mediums into one? The possibilities for creativity are endless!

Here, Seattle-based artist Ari Glass shares some mixed media painting techniques that can spark your creativity.

What Are The Main Differences Between Oil Painting And Watercolor?

Artist Ari Glass shares the differences between oil and watercolor painting.

1. Drying time

Oil paints are known to take a long time to dry, many months in fact. Ari Glass shares that it is for this reason that oils are better for artists who prefer to spend more time on their work - with oils, artists have much more opportunity to experiment with different techniques, such as mixing and blending colors. On the other hand, watercolors dry much faster, so they are better for someone who likes to work fast.

It also helps that the watercolors can cover a large part of the painting with a little paint. If your workspace is hot and dry, your watercolor paints are going to dry really fast. You can reduce drying time by working in a more humid location.

2. Mix

Ari Glass shares that oil colors can be much easier to mix than watercolors simply because of their really slow drying time. However, mixing watercolors can be quite a bit more difficult due to the fact that they dry more quickly and the fact that water doesn't always behave the way you want it to.

Mastering watercolors may seem easy enough, but in practice it can be difficult. When mixing watercolors, take extra care because it only takes one drop to ruin something you've been working on for a while.

3. Colors

Oil painting offers a wide variety of colors for you to use. According to Ari Glass, this is due to the really slow drying time of oils and the fact that oils contain a lot of pigments. Watercolor paints give a more translucent effect and dry a lighter color than the one that originally appeared on the support.

4. Cost

Watercolors are usually cheaper than oil paints. The great thing about watercolors is that you can use a little paint to cover a large part of your work. A tube of watercolor paint can, in fact, last many paints, while oils cannot.

With watercolors, you only need a little water to mix them, but with oils, you also have to invest in other materials.

In Ari Glass’ opinion, oils can be worth a lot more than watercolors. This doesn't necessarily mean that an oil painting is automatically worth more than a watercolor, but oil paintings tend to have higher prices.

5. Bug fixes

If you make a mistake when painting with oil, you will find that it is not that difficult to correct the mistake. All you have to do is use turpentine or mineral spirits. One of the great things about oil paintings that take so long to dry is that this gives you the opportunity to correct mistakes or even repaint areas of your painting.

Ari Glass shares that with watercolors, it can be very difficult to correct mistakes due to their quick drying and watery nature; watercolors are self-propagating and cannot be controlled as effectively as oils. Mastering watercolor can take a lot of practice and correcting mistakes can take a lot of skill and dexterity.

6. Security

Watercolor paints are much safer than oil paints. They are odorless and non-toxic, so they can be used in even the smallest rooms without affecting you in any way.

According to Ari Glass, oil colors contain some substances that can cause problems if ingested; working in smaller spaces with oils for a long time can cause dizziness and other mild effects in some people.

You might be interested: Origins of Oil Painting

The Beginners Guide to Gouache

 

Usually, before you start thinking about making gouache or even trying this type of paint, you will learn that gouache and watercolor are two closely related mediums that are famous for how easy it is to get involved with it. For the same reason, it is not uncommon for them to be the gateway to many other media even at an early age, since they provide a large number of possibilities while their handling remains quite simple and enjoyable with the beginning artist.

Of course, when you  begins to go more towards the detail and precision in the representation, you can discover that it is a medium that contains a large number of techniques with which one can work in great depth.

Do you know what are the main characteristics of gouache and the difference it holds with watercolors? In this publication, American artist Ari Glass will identify them and what is more, he will explain how to make your own artisanal (or homemade) gouache, which will allow you to work at oyur ease with this fabulous medium.

Gouache

While the term “gouache” wasn’t introduced until the 18th century, similarly opaque water-based mediums have been used by artists for thousands of years. This form of gouache was widely used in manuscript production, and the colors used were those present in the medieval and renaissance color palette:

·         Red: Cinnabar, Vermilion, Brazilwood, Alizarin, Dragon's Blood (no dragons were injured in the process; it was obtained from a plant), Lake Caramine

·         Blue: azurite, crozophora, ultramarine, enamel

·         Green: malachite, verdigris, terre verde

·         White: lead (toxic), lime white

·         Yellow: ocher, saffron, orpiment, Naples yellow

·         Brown / Black: Charcoal, Ivory / Bone, Lamp, Amber

Some of these are no longer in circulation due to their toxicity, but they were key in the pictorial arts for a long time.

Certainly, it is likely that the tempera-style version of gouache is the oldest of all (and ultimately, it is also one of the forms of preparation that we will see to make gouache), but today we can find a considerable number of variations due to the diversification of materials with which it is possible to work , that have been discovered over time.

Today, contemporary artists like Ari Glass value gouache because it provides precision, full, flat color coverage, and crisp edges. It can be used to paint lettering or fill in drawings, it allows flexibility because mistakes can be covered up.

Tints, Tones and Shades in Acrylics

 In this article, Seattle-based artist Ari Glass will help you figure out how to mix the right colors from your paints. Tints, tones, and shades are variations of the hues found on the basic color wheel when white, black or both are mixed in. To help you get a better grasp, Ari Glass will explain these color concepts, and will also help you to understand why even complementary or analogous colors, schemes based on the color wheel, sometimes don’t match.

 

Explore the tonal range

Each color has a tonal range of tints, hues, and shades: a scale of brightness, from lightest to darkest. You should use tonal color for everything from the strongest lights to the darkest shadows. This way you will mimic the behavior of light on a certain object or space and create a three-dimensional effect with its depth.

1.       Tints: Tints are created by adding white to the colors. With this, you will be able to soften the shine of the acrylics and create different pastel tones, depending on the amount of white you use.

2.       Tones: You will get different tones by adding gray or a mixture of black and white to the colors. As you adjust the amounts of black and white in the mix, you will get different, more complex variants, explains Ari Glass.

3.       Shadows: You will get shadows when you add black to the colors. Contemporary artist Ari Glass recommends using black just a little, because it is a very dominant color and might end up completely overtaking the color of the shadow.

Let’s Practice

You can paint a painting in which each color is mixed with gray or black to create tonal effects of light and shadow. A photograph with harsh lighting as a reference image will give you plenty of contrast to experiment with. Choose the theme you want. To know if you are doing it correctly, photograph the finished color painting in black and white. This way you can see if the tonal range you have used is correct.

Shadows: Apply areas of deep blue to the background and the rest of the shadows. The attractive contrast of dark with powerful lights will define the shapes. For foreground shadows you can introduce softer tones with blends of blue and gray.

Tints: Add lots of light yellow tints to evoke a feeling of light. Use red and blue in between yellow to add interest. The tonal difference between tints and shades produces great contrasts and creates outstanding light effects.

Tones: Ari Glass suggests using subtle gradients of blue, yellow, and red. Use darker shades near the shadows and lighter shades that blend in with the inks on top. Experiment first on a palette, adjust the ratio of black to white in gray mixes to create different shades.

Secondary color mixing: Links primary colors by mixing secondary color tints, tones, or shades. Expand the range of red inks by adding blue to red to create pastel purples; or add a touch of red to blue-gray mixes for a greenish hue.