Mixed Media was once revolutionary
Like the Daily Express Building in Manchester, built in the 1930’s, it could have been built today.
Even now people are wary of phrase mixed media and aren’t sure what it is.
Simple put, watercolour is one medium, oil is another, ink another and so on. Mixed media is when you use two or more together. If you use acrylic paint and oil paint it is mixed media. You can add as many media as you like, even things like metal, threads, wood and other materials. I tend to stop at two or three but there’s no need to.
The Daily Express building, above, featured on my daily commute to school.
Sitting at the front of the top deck I could see clearly into the windows. Behind the glass, a mass of printing presses running paper at full speed creating the next edition. Hot on the press.
I often wish I’d had a camera and taken some photographs.
In the days pre-mobile phones the thought of carrying a camera around was the realm of professional photographers. Parents didn’t allow their children to carry expensive items to school on a daily basis. The most technical and expensive item I ever got was a watch.Taking photographs was a much slower and more expensive process. In our household photographs were taken rarely.
Chances are if you did take a photo it would be weeks before the film was finished and developed. Then there was the high probability that the photo you took would turn out “Naff” to use the technical term.
The immediacy of digital images is something of a blessing.
Oh how I love them! We can instantly evaluate the image and modify our approach on the next attempt until we have a satisfactory result. There is no doubt there is skill in using film. I could have included some photographs in the painting. I might do one time
Instead I used a different photograph as the basis of this painting which I’ve called Express Essence.
The mediums used are pencil, watercolour and acrylic ink. After battling with those curves for longer than I care to remember, I was keen to clear off the masking fluid.I now made the following notes for myself –
- Paintings always take longer to dry than you expect – let them dry!
- Always wait until the painting is dry before attempting to remove masking fluid.
Words for any Mixed media Artist to live by.
You can find this painting along with others in my shop.
