CONTENTS GET INTO MIXED MEDIA MATERIALS AND COLORS EMOTIONAL PORTRAIT COLORS IN ABSTRACT SCRATCH ART SPEAKING WITH FABRIC IMAGE TRANSFER PHOTO INSPIRATION LAYERED ART ART FROM ART JUNK TO ART SAY IT WITH TEXTURE PAINT MOSAIC LEARNING MORE GLOSSARY INDEX AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
GET INTO MIXED MEDIA Read this book with a sense of adventure It is designed to help you discover and unleash the creativity that exists within you a creativity that exists within all of us You will find the projects in this book will help you express your feelings your thoughts and your ideas through your art Create images of your own thoughts and messages you want to share When learning to create mixed media enjoy the process and don’t worry too much about the finished product Find your own individual style and run with it MINI-BIOGRAPHIES Throughout the book you will find mini-biographies highlighting the works of well-known artists You can learn a lot about mixed media techniques by looking at great works of art Experiment with the techniques the artists used Examine each artwork to see how its parts were put together and how symmetry types of lines and color were used 4 WHAT IS MIXED MEDIA Artworks are called mixed media when they combine two or more media or materials For example using ink and colored pencils in one work is mixed media If a work includes beads photos fabric or any other object that’s mixed media too Mixed media became very popular in the 1900s Before that artists used mixed media to highlight parts of an artwork For example gold leaf was often added to make something in a picture such as a halo shine In the early 1900s artists began questioning the rules about art including whether media should be combined Famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso created his first mixed media work in 1912 Today artists mix techniques and materials and so should you Paul Klee Swiss German 1879 1940 used watercolors and printing ink to create Birds Swooping Down and Arrows in 1919
Design elements When Creating mixeD meDia What makes a mixed media artwork interesting It will depend on the creative use of the elements of design line shape texture and composition Line is the edge between two colors or shapes It does not have to be straight Lines can go in any direction and come in any shape length or thickness Artists use lines to draw the viewer’s eye in the direction they want it to go Shape is any enclosed space in a painting A shape’s edges may be created by lines textures or colors Texture is created in two different ways Physical texture describes the surface of the artwork such as smooth or rough Optical or visual texture is the way an artist creates the look of a texture Composition is the arrangement of all the shapes lines colors spaces and textures in a drawing Artists carefully use these elements so viewers eyes will follow a path leading to the key or most important element or message of the work CARL BEAM 1943 2005 Canada Ojibwa artist Carl Beam was the first contemporary artist of First Nations heritage to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada Beam’s art explored the tension between Indigenous and European settler cultures In his mixed media works he kept artistic elements separated to represent the differing views and experiences of the two cultures Beam used sketches watercolors etchings photos ceramics and sculpture in all kinds of combinations He also added words or objects to reflect both cultures Self Validation Columbia Icefields is an undated work by Carl Beam 5
