Introduction

Mixed Media Revolution will shake up the way you make art!

We all know the creative process can result in many leftover extras, stuff like transparency transfers, scraps and used paper towels. This book will have you reusing, repurposing and reinventing by using these leftovers in creative ways. Making art can be like finding the right puzzle pieces to go together, and this book will help you put together those pieces in a whole new way. The concept for this book takes its inspiration from our first two books, Image Transfer Workshop and Surface Treatment Workshop, as well as all those bits and pieces leftover from our many experiments.

We play around a lot with texture and transfer materials, and as a result we end up with a lot of leftover stuff that is just too cool to throw away. When that stuff is repurposed, not only will you be saving the planet but you will be learning some new tricks you never thought of before. Like reusing the leftover backing paper from fusible webbing that has been painted. You might just find this “leftover” piece to be more interesting than the web you painted and used. You will learn how to reuse it, morph it and change the color and scale of it. This book will also provide techniques for working with composition, perspective and color. Being a double agent isn’t about espionage; it’s about adding depth and dimension to your art by painting on both sides of clear acrylic sheets, like Plexiglas. You will learn wonderful ways to use scanners and copiers and how repetition and scale can enhance your composition. Your crackled surface can become a new surface when it is enlarged, and we will even have you cutting up your artwork and weaving it into something entirely new.

This book will inspire you to push the limits of your comfort zone and turn your work upside down (literally!). We will share tips on how to collaborate with other artists as a way to add on to your work. We had a hilarious time with Tango for Two and dancing with the paint using the music as inspiration and our feet as brushes (see Chapter 6). There is even a video outtake online (visit createmixedmedia.com/mixed-media-revolution to watch it). We think you’ll enjoy trying this yourself!

This book also includes suggestions for additional techniques that will provide further inspiration. A greater focus lies on ideas than technique, but we do run you through all the different transfer and texture techniques that we use (some of them will be found online—visit createmixedmedia.com/mixed-media-revolution). We are always inspired by our readers, our artist friends and colleagues and, of course, our students. We had a lot of fun coming up with these ideas and hope you will take these concepts and run with them. Explore and experiment and dare to be different.

To view the Tango for Two video outtake, visit createmixedmedia.com/mixed-media-revolution.

LAND OF OZ

Sandra Duran Wilson

Featured Technique: Two Way Street (Chapter 3)

Mixed Media on Plexiglas