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Painting mixed media Flowers from your imagination: Greenery

Painting mixed media Flowers from your imagination: Greenery on ARTiful, painting demos by Sandrine Pelissier
Mixed media / Painting / Painting Flowers from Imagination / Painting technique / Step by step demonstrations

Painting mixed media Flowers from your imagination: Greenery

Free yourself from reference pictures by using this mixed media painting technique to paint a flowers from your imagination in a few easy steps.

To paint flowers from your imagination with mixed media on canvas, you will need:

  • Canvas, I used 24 x 24 stretched canvas
  • Gel medium, I used Golden OPEN Acrylic Medium – Gloss
  • Fluid Acrylics, I used Liquitex Ink in yellow and blue
  • White acrylic paint, I used Pebeo in titanium white
  • Payne’s grey Acrylic paint, I used Pebeo
  • A Conte Pierre noire pencil
  • Blue Sakura Micron marker
  • White Oil Sharpie marker
  • Prismacolor Art Stix
  • Watercolor paint, I used Yarka watercolors.\

You might also like: Online art class: Painting Flowers from imagination in mixed media

How to paint an abstract background with gel medium and fluid acrylics inks

I am going to use a few colors of fluid acrylics inks

  Select a few colors of fluid acrylics, 2 to 5 maximum as they will mix on your canvas.

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

 

Daler-Rowney FW Acrylic Water-Resistant Artists Ink

FW Artists Ink is an acrylic-based, pigmented, water-resistant ink in a range of 38 colors, all of which have either a three-star or four-star rating for permanence. FW Artists Inks work well with airbrushes, dip pens, technical pens and brushes. – Primary Colors Set

Spraying water on fluid acrylic inks and gel medium

Apply the gel medium on the canvas, then add drips of the fluid acrylic ink and spray a bit of water on top.

A series of 3 paintings with abstract backgrounds in acrylic inks

Here are the abstract backgrounds for a series of three paintings.

Finding shapes in the abstract designs

I find that nupastel are working the best to draw on the canvas and acrylic.

Start by looking at the abstract shapes on your canvas and see shapes, Here I am looking for a vase, flowers or leaves. Once you start to see them, outline them with graphite or like here with a black Prismacolor Art Stix.

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

 

Prismacolor Art Stix

Prismacolor Art Stix are artist-quality woodless colored pencils for every level of expertise. Especially suited for color coverage of large areas, Art Stix offer a bold, smooth laydown of color.

Painting the negative space with white acrylic.

painting the negative space with white acrylic

Once you have outlined the shapes you want to keep, paint everything else with white acrylic, using different sizes of brushes : smaller brushes on the areas with more details and a larger brush on bigger areas.

Adding designs with a white marker

adding designs with a sharpie white marker

Then start looking at the shapes that are left and add a level of detail with designs. Here a White oil sharpie on top of the dried acrylic paint.

Adding designs on leaves with white oil sharpie

You can add details like here the leaf veins.

I am a Blick Art Materials affiliate and I receive a small compensation for sales. That does not effect in any way the cost of the purchaser’s order but it helps me keeping the content of this blog free.

Sharpie Oil-Based Paint Markers, White, Medium Point

Sharpie Oil-Based Paint Markers are great for touching up wood and metal, personalizing belongings, or adding pizzazz to school projects. Decorate and add accents to a variety of items, even non-porous materials such as glassware and terracotta.

Adding designs on canvas with white oil sharpie

The center of flowers.

introducing new acrylic colors into the painting on canvas

You can introduce more variety in color and contrast by painting over some areas, like here on the vase with Payne’s grey Acrylic paint.

drawing with sakura micron pens on canvas

You can also emphasize some contours with markers.

whimsical flowers drawings with Sakura Micron pens on canvas
drawing leaves with Sakura Micron pens on canvas
grid based Zentangles patterns with white oil sharpie

Designs can be quite simple or quite elaborate, this design requires me to draw a grid before. I use white Nupastel color stick to do so as I can wipe it off when the design has been completed.

drawing zentangles with white oil sharpie on canvas

Here a White oil Sharpie has been used to draw the design.

drawing stripes with Sakura Micron pens on canvas

You can add stripes, dots…

painting with copic white ink on canvas

You can also paint over some areas with acrylic or like here, White Copic ink.

polka dots on a stem with markers on canvas

Polka dots on a stem.

Glazing some areas with watercolor paint

The oil Sharpie is acting as a resist with watercolor paint

If you paint on top of an area where you used White Oil Sharpie, the oil paint will act as a resist for the watercolor.

Painting yellow watercolor on top of marker

 If you used a water- resistant marker, you can also paint on top of it.

If your watercolor is beading up on the canvas

If your watercolor wash is beading up on the canvas

Add a bit of soap dish

Add a bit of soap dish

It will modify the surface tension and make it easier to spread the paint.

It will modify the surface tension and make it easier to spread the paint.

watercolor and dish soap on canvas
Watercolor on top of waterproof Sakura pens

Watercolor on top of waterproof Sakura pens

painting flowers from imagination with mixed media on canvas

Greenery
Mixed media on canvas
24 x 24 inches

5/5 - (2 votes)

Comments (15)

  1. […] You might also be interested in: Painting mixed media Flowers from your imagination: Greenery […]

  2. Anne

    Thank you for this beautiful art!

    1. Thanks Anne !

  3. Rhonda Preece

    When mixing watercolour with “soap dish” to prevent beading do you mean detergent?

    Thanks,

    PS Great information given in your blogs, thank you.

    1. Yes, either detergent or soap will work.

  4. Christina

    Hello, I’m amazed at the beautiful techniques. I can’t wait to try them. I’d like to know how you are able to varnish the painting after using the oil Sharpie, and also if you apply an isolation coat.

    1. Thanks Christina:)
      Yes I am varnishing with a varnish suitable for oil and water based media. I did not in that case apply an isolation coat but that would be a good idea. I usually spray a layer of fixative before varnishing and I would do it as well before brushing on an isolation coat to make sure there is no smudge.

  5. Linda Graunstadt

    Hi, I love what you do with your paintings ,so free and something I have not see before. I have a question regarding the sharpie oil markers. A lot of
    reviews say the markers dry up when not used or don’t seem to last , do you have a problem and is there a way to store them so they don’t dry up. Thank you linda

    1. Hello Linda,
      I like to use markers, as they are very convenient but I also find that they tend to dry up fast or they get plugged. I store them horizontally but maybe storing them vertically/tip down is worth a try. I now am using more and more dipping pens with ink or fluid acrylic as it has many advantages: you can mix your own colors, no more dried or plugged marker and the result is always water resistant. I will soon publish a post detailing more my pen and ink techniques.

  6. And oil paint Sharpie now on my shopping list. :^)

  7. Mary

    Hi Sandrine,
    Thank you so much for this demo; I’m amazed at all the different media you use so effortlessly. I have a question; for this painting, did you put on a protective coat? Varnish, or spray fixative, or just leave it? Every artist seems to have different opinions about it, I’d like to hear yours. I wish you were closer; I’d love to take a class. :))
    Blessings,
    Mary

    1. Thanks Mary 🙂
      I like to varnish my finished paintings to protect them. As I am using mixed media and watercolor for example might be displaced by a brush, I apply a first layer of either spray varnish or workable fixative and then I am brushing the varnish for a second layer.

      1. Mary

        THANK YOU. I really appreciate you so generously sharing your knowledge. I have a couple of mixed media pieces that I actually like, and was afraid to apply anything as a final coat because I didn’t want to ruin them. 🙂
        Blessings,
        Mary

  8. Hennes Schimmel

    Thanks for this Demo!

    1. Thanks Hennes 🙂

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