The last few days I’ve been back in the attic after a couple of weeks away having fun at the Commonwealth Games and visiting friends “up North”. I’ve been making the most of a drop in temperature and my first port of call was to get stuck in with the Citra Solv as mentioned in my last What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday post. Alas, it was not to be. It seems I’ve bought the wrong type of Citra Solv which ends up making the pages greasy and not moving any ink. Grrrrrr! So I’ve got another order in. Hopefully it will arrive faster than the last one and I’ll have a report for you by next Wednesday.
Returning to my game of adding something to every board in my Pinterest account I decided to focus on Mixed Media next.
Sometime back I found a tutorial by Sabine Belz called Abstract Acrylic Painting Spackling and Ink which looked good fun so I decided to have a go at that. The tutorial is in German so I took my best guess at to what she’s actually doing.
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First I took an old painting I picked up from the dump
and covered it with ‘all purpose filler’ mixed with PVA glue.
It didn’t turn out as planned as the “canvas” is one of those printed on plastic ones so is very stretchy. I intended to make the surface smooth but went for textured instead when I quickly saw that smooth just wasn’t going to happen. As the filler dried it cracked giving a nice crackle effect so I lightly sanded it to get rid of the worst knobbly bits and went with it.
I added inks, water and tissue paper.
Then I used a palette knife to add texture paste mixed with a little bit of ink.
I felt I ended up with too much colour on the finished piece so added a bit more texture paste with my finger and tried to blend it in with a bit of water.
The biggest difference between my attempt and the one in the video is that everything was drying almost as soon as it was added to the canvas where as Sabine Belz seem to have more time to work with the materials. The sun’s come out again and it’s very, very hot in the attic. Maybe I need to add more water next time.
I’m not sure how much I like the finished product but I definitely loved the process and will give it another go some time. I might add some glass beads medium to the inked stripe to make it shine a bit. It will be going on my Mixed Media Pinterest board either way. So all in all I’d say that was a success!
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If you’d like to join in with What’s On Your Workdesk Wednesday click the link to find out how. Post your own work or take a look and see what other artists/makers are up to.
Happy WOYWW Gillian….wow that really is a super technique and I think yours looks fabulous…Cheers and have fun with the new batch RobynO#39
That’s a great canvas – I love the texture you’ve achieved on it. You can get acrylic mediums that thin the paint a little bit to give you more working time – it might be useful for hot weather! Hope you have a great week,
Diana #45
well the heat in the attic is the drying issue sorted..you could ry acrylic paints with the extender medium, but they are much more opaque looking than you’ve achieved here. I like it – it looks like a radio wave!
Wow you did well with that photo, well done
Bridget Larsen #20
It think it’s great! I really like the colours and design. Thanks for dropping by and for your kind comment.
The colors are wonderful on your canvass, and I like texture and the way go down the project. Beautiful. Gillian, thank you for your earlier visit and comments. I was surprised that you were 34, as I was 34 when I went to bed at 3 this morning!
I had a similar experience – started at 33, then went to 36 and settled at 34!
There are mediums you can buy to add to acrylic paint for more “open” time.
thanks for visiting and your kind words.
Robyn 13
Hi Gillian.
Sometimes you never know how much water to add. I imagine the heat in the attic had a lot to do with how quickly the paints dried. I like the finished look though, the colors work well together and I love the texture – very abstract.
Today I’m off work so hoping to get around to at least those that have visited me so far.
Happy WOYWW
Peace, Kay (14)
Hi there I like your finished piece. Could have done with some of your heat here today. It has been really cold and we had to have heating on 🙁 Happy WOYWW Anne x #33
Amazing abstract design for your experimenting ! Ali #7
If you want more white areas, you can always go with white paint over it. Or gesso. Anyway I like your piece and you are right, the working process is fun.
Cheers
Gabriele 29
Hi Gillian, that is a great technique and I will have to pop back and have a look at the tutorial. I’m a bit late tonight as I have been taking my mother out today. Thank you so much for the visit to mine. Have a great week and happy crafting, Angela x # 44
Did you just create that over plaster it’s a lovely effect it creates but it does dry super quick I found that out too when I made one over plaster.
Happy Late WOYWW hugs Nikki
It’s not actually plaster. It’s an all purpose filler, the sort you used to have to mix yourself but now comes ready made. I mixed it with a bit of PVA to thin it down a bit so it would go on more easily. That was for the initial covering.
For the top layers I used “proper” texture paste mixed with a bit of ink.
There’s one area I’m not keen on, right in the middle which I have tried to modifiy a bit. I think it needs to be lightened but I haven’t quite got up the courage to add more texture paste. 🙂
ooh love the result! I wonder if flow medium would keep the paint open longer? I must check out the tut too. Here in the UK it’s so often damp so stuff takes ages to dry. Good for some techniques, for sure but maddening when yo want to be getting on with things 😀
Happy WOYWW! a little late
Mary Anne (1)
https://scrappystickyinkymess.wordpress.com/
Ha, ha, ha! I am in the UK Mary Anne. On the South Coast.
The temperature in the house hasn’t dipped below 21C since June and the attic is much hotter. It doesn’t have opening windows so it get’s really unbearable up here. For a few weeks it was impossible but now it’s cooled down a bit it’s doable until about 4.00 p.m. 🙂
Your post was really interesting and I love to see it progress.
It looks amazing
Thanks for sharing
Enjoy WOYWW Neesie #62
This looks so fun I want to try it! Glass bead paste is one of my favorite ways to add texture. Love the finished piece. Hope you do this again! Diane #77
I really do like your canvas. Love the colours and I like the effect where the colours have run down the canvas and you have kind of faded them out. Great!
Hugs and Thanks for visiting me whilst I was in deepest Wales with no signal hence the lateness of commenting now.
Neet 11 xx
ooh this is looking interesting. I was going to say I have been waiting to try the citri solv technique (I presume you mean the one with magazine pages to manipulate the colours?) but struggle in the UK to find it-then I noticed you mentioned to Mary Anne that you are on the South coast so wondered where you get yours from?
Kyla #24
Hi Kyla
I got the first lot from Ebay UK but it still took 2 weeks to arrive. This second lot I also ordered from Ebay UK and then discovered that the company I’d bought it from is just around the corner from me – at least their address is. When I asked them if I could pop round and pick it up they said “no” so I’m still waiting for it to arrive by post which is a bit frustrating as I ordered it 6 days ago.
So I haven’t really found a handy source yet!
Looks like a very interesting technique! So many things to try. Thanks for visiting my blog earlier in the week. The iron filings require a really good seal to stay in the card, Glossy accents works really well as long as there are no gaps lol. #4
Wow! Great effort, Gillian. Radio wave? I saw a skyscape with reflections in the water… But that#s the fun of abstract.
Thanks for your visit – sorry it has taken til Tuesday to get round – but…. all is done for the bride to pick things up Thursday ready for Saturday!
I feel about 6 stone lighter!!! (wish I was), having accomplished it all.
take care. God bless.
Margaret #27
Skyscape with reflections in the water . . . I love that!
Congrats on getting your bridal stuff done. Hope you’re treating yourself to something nice to celebrate you accomplishments”
xxx