As an artist I love to try new things. I really love to try new art materials and it gets even better if I don’t have to pay or pay very little for those art materials! A local art store decided they would no longer carry the Pébéo line of art supplies and so discounted their remaining products 75% off. Needless to say I picked some up! I have no idea what I am doing and I am pretty sure I am not using these to the best of their abilities but this was fun. My husband who I try to get to create with me actually participated and I think he even had fun!
Once again I am going to stress that I have no idea what we are doing. Sometimes that is a good thing because then we are under no illusions as to what we should be doing with them. For example I had no idea that these products were so versatile and can be used on so many different surfaces. I look forward to trying out different surfaces on future projects!
The whole process of creating our 12×12 board took approximately two hours. A note should be made that had we understood exactly what to do it probably would have taken us longer! We wanted something that was organic and flowing to hopefully show the different effects we could get by combining the Ceramic, Vitrail, Fantasy and Moon.
After creating a simple design on paper I took the initiative and using a gold Cernes relief to draw the design on the board (note that it might have been a better option to get out my pencil and sketch it on first!). I did this so that it would create a raised edge that we could then use the other mixed media to fill in.
I might have already said this but I can not stress it enough, we have no idea what we are supposed to be doing! From here we gave it no time to really dry and just started putting the other paints down. We used eye droppers to ‘pour’ the liquid paint into different sections. I would like to point out that at first we tried to just shake the liquid paints in the bottles but it became quite evident that this was not going to work. Toothpicks go a long way in this project. They were used to finally mix the paints in the bottles and to ‘stir’ the liquid paints after they were put onto the board.
The great and wonderful thing with these liquid paints is how they interact with each other. In all the sections of this project we used at least 2 different liquid paints, trying to get as many combinations that we could to see the different effects. Not letting the Cernes relief dry did cause some mixing when we poured the other paints and then swirled the toothpick around. You can also see where we poured to much paint and our lines were covered in paint.
There are many mistakes and goof ups and that is OK! As an artist I do not like showing people all the mistakes and all the art that didn’t turn out. Art is a journey and not all the stops on your journey are going to be ‘picture perfect’, but all the stops, steps, falls, stumbles, leaps, and awe inspiring views are all worth it. As a teacher and a mother of small children I hear so many times “I can’t do it”, and of course we can’t if we don’t take that first step. One step leads to another and then another. Eventually you will look back and see growth. I still create art that I cringe at. Yet if I wasn’t trying new things, ‘falling down’, and practicing what I already know then my journey would not see as much beauty. I would have missed out on so many things!
Thank you for reading! I just want to end this post with some things that I have learned along this latest tumble!
- First stir the liquid paint, don’t try and shake it up, this won’t work well and if the paints are not fully mixed the reactions you get won’t be as pronounced.
- Be in a well ventilated area. These liquid paints have a strong smell.
- Some paints will mix better then others, so experiment.
- If you are separating your paints with lines (as in the Cernes relief) make sure it dries first and that you have thick lines.
- Last I learned that these paints are just awesome! I have been reading up on just how to use them and I am looking forward to trying them out with a little bit of instruction and guidance. Though I think you don’t need instruction and guidance!
