Alternative Surfaces

with Heather Greenwood

Mixed-media techniques don’t need to be limited to a canvas or paper. The techniques can be used on just about any surface. Take a look around your home and you will find many alternative surfaces you can alter using mixed-media techniques.

Materials

• Acrylic paints and inks

• Gesso

• Matte medium

• Glaze

• Acrylic sealer

• Assorted stamps and stencils

• Brushes, palette knives, brayer

• Acrylic frame or album

• Fabric (burlap, raw canvas, denim, etc.)

• Clay (pre-made pieces or make your own)

• Styrofoam shapes

• Wood surface (plaque, frame, furniture, etc.)

• Stickers, book paper, tissue, and other ephemera or paper scraps

Acrylic

Acrylic is a fun transparent surface for mixed-media techniques. To keep it transparent, keep the layers thin. Here, dry brushing creates a thin layer of colors, blending them together across each piece to create an ombré effect. Dry brushing keeps the background layer thin so you can still see light shining through it. Use stamps and stencils to add more texture and design. You can add collage and doodles, layering them to create a fun semi-transparent piece.

Burlap or Fabric

You can add mixed-media techniques to any fabric surface. The difference between a store-bought, pre-made stretched canvas and fabric is that most often the canvas has been pre-primed. Fabric that hasn’t been primed with gesso will absorb the paint. A primed surface will allow the paint to sit on top.

Use a palette knife and heavy gesso with a stencil to create a design for the background. When dry, use a heavy gesso with another stencil to create a focal point for the piece. Even after the flower is colored with paint and India ink markers, you can still see where the surface is gesso and where it is raw burlap. This creates a beautiful textured effect.

Clay

Clay is a fun and creative surface to paint. You can purchase pre-made clay shapes or create your own pieces with clay from the store.

Step One Create your shapes and bake or air-dry them according to the directions on the package.

Step Two Paint, stamp, or stencil designs onto the clay. Once dry, you can adhere stickers and other ephemera to your piece. In this example, the butterfly is stamped and painted on white tissue paper, which becomes clear when adhered using matte medium. Permanent pens were used to doodle around the stickers.

Step Three Use glossy acrylic glaze to give your piece a glossy shine, and then seal it all together with an acrylic sealer.

Glass

Glass is another fun transparent surface to work with for mixed media. For this technique, be sure to use something that you won’t be eating or drinking from, as you won’t be able to use it for food purposes anymore.

In this example, paint a solid background all around a glass jar. Once dry, apply stamps and stencils. Use paint markers to draw flowers. Lastly, add details to the flowers with pens. Once finished, be sure to seal it with an acrylic sealer to prevent the paint from chipping.

Styrofoam

Styrofoam comes in all sorts of fun shapes and sizes. They first need to be prepped or primed prior to applying any techniques.

Step One Prep the surface.

Option One: Spread molding paste or gesso all over the surface to prime it and smooth out the Styrofoam. Use heavy gesso to give it some bumps and fun texture, much like molding paste would do.

Option Two: Use a fluid adhesive like matte medium to decoupage the surface with old book paper, lace, fabric, etc.

Step Two Once the gesso or decoupage is dry, add layers of mixed-media techniques such as stamps or stencils.

Wood & Muslin

Wood

Wood is an excellent surface for mixed-media techniques. You can find wood surfaces all over the place, from furniture to frames to palettes. If you want to be able to see the wood grain in your finished product, be sure to keep the paint thin. Dry brushing is really great for this.

After dry brushing the background, add paint to the background using stamps and stencils. Using a brayer on your stamps will keep the paint thin and give you a clean stamped image. Once you have a background, you can add collage pieces, stickers, or ephemera to finish it.