Mixed-Media Canvas Inspired by Paint Mojo

I belong to a book club that meets at Soul Sentiments, my local scrapbook and mixed-media store. Our current book is Paint Mojo by Tracy Verdugo. I always love meeting with the group although I rarely have time to complete the challenges. Paint Mojo is just too tempting not to carve out some time for inspiration. (The process I used during this LIVE stream can be found on pages 36 – 39.)

During this episode of Drama-free Friday I started with a 12” x 12” stretched canvas and applied a coat of White Gesso.

First things first – I applied Gloves in a Bottle to my hands and you’ll understand why in just a moment. . .

After letting the gesso dry, I used Black Acrylic Ink and a dropper to write “I am” statements all over the canvas. After partially drying the canvas, I used a paper towel to soak up excess ink and also to pounce some of the ink around the surface. I watered down a bit more white gesso and brushed a thin coat over the ink to blend and unify the writing. Some of the ink smeared a little which I loved!. This technique could be a great background for any mixed-media project!

By the way, I love using acrylic inks with a dropper to practice drawing faces. These examples are from my art journals. Both have painted deli paper backgrounds with ink dropper faces on top. When I started this process, I was pretty sure they would look awful! The inspiration for these came during a face class with Carla Sonheim. I thought you might enjoy seeing another way to use acrylic inks.

Next, I used a brown Oil Pastel to draw a large spiral on the canvas. I also used a white Oil Pastel to echo the spiral shape before adding scallop shapes along the inner edge of the spiral. Any pattern would work for this step, but I was following a suggestion in Paint Mojo.

I chose 5 colors of Dina Wakley acrylic paints (Lemon, Tangerine, Ruby, Fuchsia and Blackberry Violet) and used one finger per color to add paint inside each scallop shape. After using a heat gun to begin the drying process, I sprayed the canvas liberally with water to cause some of the paint to run. This helped stop my tendency to think of this layer as “precious.” 😉 Once the paint was nearly dry, I rubbed my hands all over the canvas to help burnish it and spread any remaining thick areas of paint around the canvas. By pre-applying Gloves in a Bottle, the acrylic paint will easily release from my fingers.

Next, I drew a large butterfly on a piece of scrapbook paper to use as my pattern. After laying it on the canvas, I used a black oil pastel to sketch around the butterfly. I watered down some Dina Wakley Night acrylic paint and painted the butterfly body in an attempt to still see some of the background through the body. Unfortunately, the paint was pretty opaque so my intention wasn’t totally realized.

The background around the butterfly is created with the same paint colors mixed with white. I simply brush-mixed the paint and painted about the butterfly, blending between colors as I worked my way around the butterfly.

I added some Dina Wakley Turquoise in the tips of the wings for contrast. Once all the paint dried, I applied Genesis Green Acrylic Ink with a dropper inside the butterfly body and wings and scratched through it with a wooden skewer to add visual texture. I also added a sketchy outline and doodles around the butterfly with a Fineline Bottle filled with Createx Black Airbrush Paint.

I used the same process on Mixed-media Paper with dragonflies. It’s nice to see the difference between the same techniques on paper versus canvas. Both are nice although the results are somewhat different. What a fun and freeing process! I really encourage you to try it!