On the Wing - a mixed media painting tutorial

On the Wing
Cyndi Lavin, 2017
Prints for sale

I neglected to take a whole lot of step-out photos for this piece, mostly because at one point it went terribly wrong and I almost abandoned it.  Instead, since I had nothing to lose, I gambled on a new direction, and it is now easily one of my favorite pieces from the past few months!  It was honestly not until I got to step 7 that I realized what it was, because I had it turned on it's side the whole time I was working on it.

1. The substrate is wide vinyl tape in a brushed steel finish, over stiff paper.  I sandpapered it lightly.

2. Acrylics used: Turquoise phthalo, Cobalt teal, Titan buff, and Quinacridone gold.

3. Mark out where the shape will go, and use black ink and tar gel to outline some random shapes.

4. Cover the entire piece with dilute white gesso, and scrape it off with a plastic card.

5. Flood the line area with dilute colors, letting them mingle.

6. Cover the background areas with polymer medium, and embed kosher salt in it.  Add a wash of dilute blue interference and allow to dry.  Brush away the salt.

7. Add black ink lines with a razor blade.

8. Strengthen and adjust colors in the line area.


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