Creating a piece of art can involve the application of just one skill in one medium. Or, as Jane shows here, it can be a mix of skills and media. Neither approach is better or worse than the other – just different and fun because it is so different. Give it a try!
Mixed Media
I love mixed media because you can use anything you have to hand.
I like to use a combination of handmade and tissue paper with watercolour, acrylic and coloured pencils.
For instance if you get a sheet of tissue paper and screw it up then flatten it out, glue it to a painting board (scrunched in places) and let dry. It gives a nice textured surface to paint on to.
The great thing about mixed media is that you can use any medium at all, you can put any kind of combinations of medium and use them together.
Background or piece of art?
This background is made up of;
An A3 sheet of layout paper and on to that I have glued a scrunched up piece of tissue paper (colour is yellow) and then once it is dry I painted on the surface with watercolour, using reds and purple and orange, leaving small bits of the tissue showing.
You are probably wondering why I used layout paper as a base, I wanted a thin background paper so I can then do rubbings on to the painted surface, here I have used a plastic feather and collected leaves, by using a soft permanent coloured pencil I used my found objects to take rubbings from, by overlapping leaves in different colours keeping it autumnal.
Seafood in seaside towns
Starting with a pencil sketch, I’ve used layout paper again and a HB and a 2B pencil.
I transferred my sketch on to another sheet of layout paper, over the top I’ve glued a piece of yellow tissue, then a piece of orange tissue and another piece of yellow tissue.
Once dry I’ve used my water soluble pencils to fill in colour and detail.
In this one I’ve used layout paper and painting over the sketch with watercolour and then using found objects to take rubbings off to create texture.
Book Illustrations
Camel
For this book illustration I used layout paper as a base for the first layer and scrunched up tissue glued to it and once dry I painted over the tissue to create the sky and the sand dunes .
Adding details with coloured pencils. Next I put a sheet of tracing paper over to top as layer 2. The tracing paper softens the background. The final layer I have used some textured handmade paper for the sand and just added shading with coloured pencils.
The camel and rider are drawn on to a tan sugar paper and I’ve added details using coloured pencils. All layers are glued together.
Antelope
Again the antelope illustration is made up of many layers using the same process and same mixed media materials. The sky is the base layer, the scrunched up tissue I’ve used on the pale mountains have added extra texture with the watercolour and this is the middle layer, and the antelope and rocks is the top layer.
The Book
The cover is also made in the same way using layers and mixed media.
Gadsby’s sell all of the art & craft materials and supplies necessary for creating pieces of art like those created by Jane.
You have to supply the artistic talent and dedication to make the pieces you love. It is hard work, but it is amazing fun too.
Jane is a member of the Gadsby’s team. She has a wide knowledge of the arts & crafts products and materials sold by Gadsby’s both from the perspective of an advisor in the shop and, for many of the products, from personal use too.
Please note that this is not a service that Gadsbys offer to clients – just an example of the private work done by one of the highly skilled and knowledgable Gadsby’s team shown for your interest.
