An Art Filled End of the Week

Susan Penning

My friend, Susan, and I are taking a six week mixed media class from another of my friends, John Arbuckle.  We had our first class last night.  It was great!

It's a really fun class and all the participants seem to be enthusiastic and talented.  We are lucky to have John as our instructor as he is a very talented artist and a gifted teacher.  He promised us 20 techniques to use in mixed media work and I think he gave us more than that last night alone.  Imagine how much he'll share with us over the next five weeks.

We created a printing block with a piece of cardboard from a cereal box and some fun foam from the craft store.  Not sure what the exact name of the product is but it's a plastic foam sheet with peel off sticky backing.  We cut our sheets into whatever shapes we wanted and then stuck the pieces down onto our cardboard.  You then use the created 'plate' to print with by brayer-ing on paint.  It worked like a charm.  I've read of this technique but I can't remember ever actually trying it out before.

This is the print I did with my 'plate.'  I really like the effect and I think we got a lot of design for minimal work.  I will be using this technique again.

After we created the printed spread we used stencils and layers of paint to create a background that we'll be able to build a collage onto in later classes.  This was a simple reductive use of a stencil.  I am always surprised at how effective it is.

This morning I finally got around to filling my new watercolor box with paint.  I've had the box for a couple of months now but sheer inertia kept me from filling the half pans with the watercolor paint I had on hand.  I need a few more colors to completely fill the box, so I got those ordered today, too.

I did a color chart to include in the box so I know exactly what colors I have in there and where they are located.  I have more empty half pans, so I can customize the box to suit me.  If I am traveling and want a particular color palate I can make it so.  The watercolor box is well made and has a thumb ring, removable half pans and a lot of mixing space.  If you are looking for a box for your watercolors I found mine here.

Vimeo video featuring John Arbuckle