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Spring Blows In - a mixed media painting tutorial

Spring Blows In
Cyndi Lavin, 2017
Sometimes (often), the thing you plan is not what ends up happening.  My plan was to try the swipe technique with acrylics mixed with silicone, so that I would end up with beautiful colored cells popping up through white paint.  The swipe turned out to be a complete failure.  I don't know why...others had worked wonderfully, some with even the very same colors.  But the trick is not to let a failure stop you from moving forward!



I poured acrylic paints that had been prepared with pouring medium and silicone oil.  Now that I look at this shot again, I think part of the problem may have been that the paint was just not poured thickly enough.


I swiped in an arch with white paint, but the few cells that formed were ragged.  So I continued swiping until the paint was smeared together and covering the whole piece.  I adjusted the colors and sprayed it with a bit more silicone to allow the colors to slide around a bit.



Just before the piece was fully dry, I misted it with alcohol and dripped black ink from the top with a pipette.  The ink skittered because of the alcohol and silicone.  Turned upside down, I had some more of my beloved trees, looking like they were partially obscured by the arching colors.

Spring Blows In 2

This post contains affiliate links: Dick Blick
Copyright 2017 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. The tutorial only may be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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