Having fun with multi-media art

Yesterday I decided I would have a go at multi-media art. I watched a tutorial on YouTube by someone who sells the bits and pieces people use and she was demonstrating what makes for a good design and what doesn’t, in her opinion. I tried to follow her advice, but was limited to what I could find to use. My board was the cardboard end of a pad of art paper. Hopefully substantial enough but not of any value so I wasn’t constrained by thoughts of wasting a canvas board.

Overall I am pleased with the result. I started by cutting some bubble wrap that just so happened to fit they way it did. I didn’t measure it. Next the CD and some buttons, pieces off an old shower puff and a couple of pieces of wool and some pencils. I felt the design flowed well from top right to bottom left.

Next step was to cover it with white acrylic paint. The advice was to use gesso because it covers better and provides a better undercoat. But I don’t have any so acrylic it was.

The first colours I added were blue and green. I felt it was getting a nautical look with ‘waves’ and fishing net and the wool looking like rope. I chose yellow for the pencils as a bit of brightness.

Red goes well against green. I had a choice of red, bright green or white cords/laces. Interestingly, when I asked on an art Facebook group initially everyone said use the red and one person said to go with my initial instinct. So red it was. I also added some white and other colours to tone down the background, giving some variety too.

However, then people added in to use the green, and because I felt the piece needed something bright I wove that round the red, added some more yellow and decided it needed a border and a bit of black here and there.

I enjoyed doing this, but the downside is that now I will throw even fewer things away. Everything will be seen as potential multi-media piece fodder. I don’t think I will go down the road of buying things though. More interesting to use stuff I find rather than buying purpose made things.

Next question is – where shall I put it?