Making your Own Postcards with Mixed Media Art Tutorials

Beauty can be presented in many simple ways without having to spend fortune of expenses. With the holidays setting in, you will need to send greeting cards to your family and friends hence Mixed Media Art could be your solution to help you manage your expenses. How? They will help you make postcards that are not too expensive and which will be having inspiring art work regardless of your level of your skills.

They intend to help you achieve this by inviting you attend their two – day sessions for online art tutorials where they will teach you how to put together simple mixed media techniques that will produce great postcards. This could be a great opportunity for you to exercise your creativity as you mix with the members of the Mixed Media community. This is besides being able to create amazing postcards at very controlled and manageable costs. Within your own creativity you can be able to navigate around since the online tutorial will provide you with all those details. You will have your styles as you prefer either simple or complex. Good luck as you plan to attend.

Come and visit our tutorial video – it’s available right now!

Creative Art Journaling using Inspiring Quotes

Inspiring Quotes for Art Journaling

Have you ever thought of journaling that would lead you into creating your own layouts?  It is on these layouts that you will caption some inspiring quotes and eventually the whole layout would become an art journal. Mixed Media Ephemera sheet  from Mixed Media Art emphasizes on ways you can use inspiring quotes as below:

• Using a lot of printed quotes
• Using one word as to create a central theme
• Use of words that will individualize layouts.

Below are some of the simple steps you can apply to create a beautiful layout:

• Start by printing out the quotes and single out that which inspires you most using a sharp object
• Do a little shading for color activation.
• Fill out the letters using a darker color and while using a paint brush blend the two colors at the middle of each letter.
• Carry out a repetition of the same to other words and use contrasting colors
• You will have completed your layout by probably adding a gold gel pen

You can also use the quotes on a pre – painted art journal page and what matters most is how you play around with the quotes that eventually give you a beautiful layout.

Writing Down your Thoughts on a Mixed Media Journal

Did you know that you can easily express your thoughts and ideas on paper? Yes by the use of Mixed Media Art Journals which you will create with mixed art genre. There are 3 ways in which you can approach it and still give your best?

• You can prepare a layout of your journal then write
• You can write then decorate the layout.
• You can first write then incorporate your layout.

You ought to be organized with tools and supplies to comprehensively achieve your journaling goal.

• A sketch book or notebook would do since you are doing Mixed Media Art. You could also use an old altered book.
• Fast drying glue is preferred to stick printed photos and images you may include in the journal.
• Good writing pens .A gel pen in black is a must have and you can mix with other colors of white and brown.
• Have time to gather your thoughts. Develop your own style and explore on them with inner creativity and which you will continue to practice instead of sticking on a theme.
• It is time to write and your handwriting at this point is not important. The same applies to where you begin or end.  Since this is a journal keep writing with a non – judgmental approach and trust the journaling process!

Meet the Self -taught Mixed Media Artist Christine Marshal

If you are fun of Mixed Media Art you will want to hear how Christine Marshal started off as a self-taught artist though she is a qualified Reflexologist. She discovered her talent when she was practicing painting on small canvas because she could not find a wall art that she liked for a big wall space at her home.

Thinking about her next project and keeps her awake and Christine says that art has given her great freedom because it’s all fun and exciting. She loves texture and shimmering objects which she frequently uses in her art work. Some of the gel mediums and embellishments she celebrates in include broken ceramics, Sequins, beads and buttons among others.

With the many selection of paints embellishments and found objects that surround her she is always ready to experiment hence labeling her work “creative accidents”. She will use anything and everything in her art work if she thinks it will work.  Look out for: –

• Butterfly three mini mixed media collages
• Three mini canvas in greys
• Mixed media canvas collage
• 3D mixed media canvas painting

The above are some of the items that received a heavy sell in her first ever arts and craft show at ASSEMBLED in Somerville, MA even with no experience.  Finally she has created her first gallery shop on Etsy, called “Key2MyArt” as well  as  creating a Facebook page “Key2myart – Christine Marshall“.   Christine is now completely hooked on mixed media and can’t absorb herself enough in all the beautiful art that she has viewed on so many websites. 

Becoming a Media Mixed Artist in Photography

Did you know you can be a Media Mixed Artist in Photography? Photography can be a professional career which would cover different visual art mediums like book binding, sculpture, and print making and fiber arts.

And what can you do with photos? From Rachel Greig the proud owner and designer of Darkroom Door, a rubber stamp company based in Australia there is a lot you can do with your photos. She used her own photos to design rubber stamps just for fun before starting out the Company.

With her love for mixed media, rubber stamps and paints featured heavily in her artwork since she used them to create textures. She would use Ferro; a Metallic paste to create amazing textures and there after combine it with precious metal to give the texture a highlight. With this aspect, she is able to create wonderful butterfly canvas with great texture.

Greig is now a renowned artist who has travelled globally to meet and teach other artists on Mixed Media and rubber stamping as well as share new idea while making new friends.

All her inspiration of doing what she does came from the many years she spent in black and white darkrooms and together with her husband and partner they are making it big. You can also become creative with photography.

Do what you Love and you’ll surely have Fun!

The quote “DO WHAT YOU LOVE, LOVE WHAT YOU DO” is very common but with a lot of controversy. However it is best to look at it in a deeper way especially if you love Mixed Media Art.

It is not every time you will have some work that will have people react they way you expect and more so those who do not understand Mixed Media. And this brings out the question of what art do you practice or what is your style? Do you sell your pieces of art?

To answer the above questions, Mixed Media encourages you to have your own style which probe you further to showcase your work.

Question your talent, ability and your work in general as an artist. Think about your art in a new way and don’t doubt yourself because of other people’s opinions.

Now to the quote “DO WHAT YOU LOVE, LOVE WHAT YOU DO”. Create what you love and decide how you will love it and if you are passionate about it you will continue working on it until you figure out something from it.

After it is finished and you can smile at it, you owe it to yourself to love it. Someone else’s interpretation of your art should not become yours. You did it so LOVE it including the mistakes in it because they make you grow.

The Amazing Results of Allowing your Intuition Lead you Through your Creativity

Recent research shows that the voice within you should help you to explore your creativity more but instead we find ourselves going in circles and we are neither at peace neither content. We keep searching for answers that we cannot find. It has strongly been advisable that we stop researching and start listening to our inner voices without being afraid.

Take an example of a painting work. In many cases results from our own creativity gives us pride and pleasure. However the creative process should gives us more pleasure hence you should enjoy the painting process and celebrate more when the painting is over.

You will get a magical feeling when your whole intuition leads you into the flow and if you become totally absorbed with the process.  Too much focus on results will either lead to frustration or disappointment hence it is important to understand and practice how to reach inner harmony.

Mixed Media Projects

There are SO many different elements of mixed media art that it’s easy to get overwhelmed when you finally have some time to create. I find having a handmade art journal at hand allows me to make a little art each day – and that makes me happy! Here are the key steps for when you are feeling overwhelmed:

1. Start with the Back

Start be creating a background. There are SO  many great techniques for creating backgrounds. Some of them include:

• credit card painting
• gesso resistance painting
• gluing down ephemera
• creating a collage with vintage elements
• gesso with scribblings

Make sure you leave your backgorund to fully dry before you proceed with the next layers.

2. Collage elements

Pull out all those images and ephemera you have tucked away. Cut , tear, and arrange until you have it an arrangement that you’re happy with. Then the glueing fun begins. You can use a glue stick or gel medium for this process. Again allowed to dry completely before the next step.

3. Making your mark

Get at your markers, pens and textas to get ready to add some journalling. And some highlights some doodling and some words.

Here is a general layout I put together in the face of being overwhelmed by too many options:

You can find more mixed media projects over at MixedMediaArt.net.

Have You Been Throwing Away your Canvas? Not any more!

Canvas is one of the many materials found around our homes and which is hardly thought of. But wait until you meet a creative person who will tell you to collect as much as any item you come around because you may need it in future.

This simply implies that the readily available canvas can be put into good use for mixedmedia art with a little bit of creativity. When you desire to make sturdy background for your masterpiece, then canvas is the material to consider. If you are looking for inspiration of putting a mixed media idea into action try it out on canvas and the commonly used is “4×4”.

Apart from its availability, it is easy to use because you can either choose to slightly paint it before use or directly spray it. Use damp brushes if you have to paint. Use different colors that blend and once it is dry you can begin to decorate your canvas.

However there is need to use glue which is advisable that you first apply it on the back of the tissue paper and give it a few moments to soak in. Apply glue on the canvas as well and afterwards carefully lay the wet tissue paper onto the canvas which you should smooth out with your finger nail to remove excessive glue and you can now stick out what you want to.

“Voilà! A Mixed Media Art Tutorial”

This essay is a short tutorial about mixed media art. One needs a huge amount of imagination in successfully coming up with a mixed media artwork. So that is the first step, one must have the passion and desire in producing a creative mixed media artwork. One should have a burning fire in his or her heart because that will keep him or her motivated. Aside from that, one must decide on the size of the artwork. How small or how big is the subject? What is the size of the artwork? It will all depend on the artist. It will all depend on you. Next, one must select the base. Will it be a canvass? Will it be a wood? Or will the artist use just simple paper? Again, it will all rely on the preferences of the artist.

After deciding on those matters, comes the most challenging part. At this juncture, the artist will now look for the different media that he or she will use. In looking for the art materials, one can never go wrong with traditional drawing utensils. We have oil, acrylic and watercolor  One can also use the combination of charcoal, chalk and pencil. However, combining various brands of one medium will not count as mixed media art. Even if the brands are different, as long as they are of the same type of medium, the objective of this tutorial to create a mixed media art will not be achieved.

As mentioned previously, one can also look for different household items that can be used in this artwork. So at this point of time, the artist should now roam around his or her house for unique items that can be used to express his or her feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas. One must be ingenious and innovative at this moment. In considering various types of media, one must remember that it must be a combination of a wet and a dry medium. Different types of paint are considered as wet items. While collage items which are located in our households are considered as dry items. When one uses pencil as a medium, one must make sure that it is a fundamental and essential part of the artwork. Do not use the pencil to merely draft the initial sketch of the artwork. After this, the next step is to create the mixed media artwork itself. This procedure requires patience and perseverance. One must not hurry in creating the artwork. One should not be hast at this moment because it might lead to errors. This is where the artist will express his or her aspirations, ideas, thoughts, emotions and feelings.

After using all the items to complete the artwork, one must now affix the signature and the date of the completion of the artwork. Voilà! The mixed media artwork is now complete. Hopefully, this mixed media art tutorial would be a great help to all the budding mixed media artists out there.

 Here are some great mixed media art tutorials from Mixedmediaart.net

Creating Layers Online Tutorial

-If you are looking for a good video tutorial about Craeting Layers for your mixed media art projects then yo should watch this!

Creating a Gratitude Box

– This is another great video from mixedmediaart.net showing how to decorate an old wooden box. 

Found Objects for Mixed Media Painting

– If you love recycling, then this is a good video that will show you how to recycle things for your mixed media art projects.