My Experiment!!

I have been fooling around with stuff that I found in my house to use in my mixed media art. I have used eggshell (this idea I got from Nathalie), ribbon, pencil shavings, lace, and others. I started a new canvas and I was looking for a certain texture........................... so this is when I began to experiment!

I remembered a conversation I had last weekend at a class I attended. A friend asked if I was going to save the teabag I had for my art and I said no. This got me to thinking ............................ I usually drink loose tea so if I saved the leaves and dried them they should be good for Mixed Media art.  So I saved my leaves and gave it a try. I did an Art Journal Page to figure out how to use the leaves to get the effect I wanted!

I started my art journal page by using Golden Gesso and Liquitex Acrylic Ink. I layered the gesso and before it dried I dropped some Ink in different areas and using a plastic knife I drew with the ink.

I really like the texture you get when you draw through wet gesso

I then started my  tea leaves experiment . The first lot I added Golden Regular Matt Gel Medium and Heavy Body Acrylics to the dried tea leaves.

I really like the texture but after drying I could not see the tea leaves ................ not the effect I wanted.

I then did two more experiments. I added Golden Light Molding Paste to some tea leaves and then added Soft Matt Gel Medium to another lot of tea leaves. This time I did not add the paint to the mixtures.

After they had dried I then painted them with Golden Fluid Acrylic Paint. The leaves where visible mostly in the Soft Matt Gel Medium and this is the effect I was looking for to use on my next canvas. My experiment was a success and I can now finish my canvas (will let you see that at a later date)

I then went on to finish my page ............................... added some more acrylic ink which I dripped on the page added some water and moved it around. Then using a paint brush wrote with the ink.

I really love all the texture and I had fun Experimenting!

Look around your house and see what Crazy thing you can add to your next project. Remember to have fun!

Take Care

Marg