52 Weeks of Art: Week 29

Week 29: Mixed Media

Welcome to week 29 of 52 weeks of art! What are we doing this week?

     This week our medium was mixed media. I love mixed media! It's an anything goes type of medium. In order to qualify as mixed media, you have to use more than one medium. That's it! With so many medium choices out there, there really are so many possibilities. The most common mixed media art out there is collage and paint. 

    Here's some examples of various mixed media art:

I found this here.

I found this guy on Pinterest.

   There are so many more mixed media pieces out there I could show you. I think you get the idea of what it is. While you only need two mediums to consider it mixed media, I decided to use 5 different mediums. I used pen, ink, watercolor, gouache, and origami. 

    Alright, here's what I made:

Riding the Waves. Mixed Media. 3"x 3" on illustration board.

     Here's some pictures pointing out what each medium is. I know, I should have taken pictures between each medium. I am just getting worse and worse at taking pictures of this whole process. Ugh. I will try to do better next time. But don't expect it to actually happen.

All of the lines in the waves are different pens.

I used ink for the dark "inky" sky.

I used various shades of blue in watercolor to paint the waves.

I used some white gouache to add foam to the waves. I tried to add some texture, not sure you can tell from the picture.

I made a tiny origami paper boat. 

    That's my mixed media adventure for the week. I thought about adding a tentacle grabbing the boat, but I feel like that tiny paper boat has enough to worry about.


   

          

On to rating mixed media...

     Just a reminder on the criteria for rating each medium.

Ease of use: How easy was this medium to use.

Affordability: How affordable supplies are for each medium.

Accessibility: How easily accessible supplies are for each medium. Example, are specific tools required that are hard to find?

Fun to Use: How much enjoyment I got out of using this medium

     So, for mixed media, my rating is: 20

Ease of use: 5

 Mixed media is so very easy to use since you can use literally anything.

Affordability: 5

     Mixed media is very affordable since you can use anything you've got lying around the house. You can even use some old magazines, some junk mail advertisements, other miscellaneous things you might otherwise throw away. Here's your chance to reuse, recycle, and re-purpose.

Accessibility: 5

     I'm going to say that mixed media is the most accessible of all the mediums because you can use whatever you have.

Fun to Use: 5

  I love mixed media. The possibilities are endless.

     If you would like to go on this epic art adventure with me, next week we will be doing...

     If you choose to follow along, please post your work using #52weekartadventure!

52 Weeks of Art: Week 19

Week 19: Pen

Welcome to week 19 of 52 weeks of art! What are we doing this week?

         It's another week of art! This time we're using pen. Pen is one of my favorite mediums to use. While I love using color, there's something very beautiful about just using black and white. Using just one color requires you to get creative when it comes to shading. With other mediums (pencil, charcoal, etc.) you can smudge your work, blend it. With pen, you can't do that. There are various techniques for shading you can use. Here's some examples (sorry for the blurry photo):

     You can see that by making your lines closer together you have a darker value. The more space between your lines creates a lighter value. You can use these techniques to add dimension to your drawings. 

     You can get some drawing pens from any art supply store - or Amazon. But you don't have to have the fancy drawing pens. You can use just a regular ball point pen. I have a large selection of various brands of pens. I don't have any particular favorites, I think they all work well.

     I just finished up Inktober, so I've done a lot of pen drawings recently. Here's some samples of some I've done in the past:

     For this weeks collaboration I decided to do a drawing of a magnolia. The husband and I went to Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida not too long ago. There were all these beautiful magnolia trees everywhere. I took some pictures, but the pictures aren't as beautiful as the real thing. Here's my drawing from one of those pictures. 

On to rating pen...

     Just a reminder on the criteria for rating each medium.

Ease of use: How easy was this medium to use.

Affordability: How affordable supplies are for each medium.

Accessibility: How easily accessible supplies are for each medium. Example, are specific tools required that are hard to find?

Fun to Use: How much enjoyment I got out of using this medium

     So, for pen, my rating is: 20

Ease of use: 5

  Pens are very easy to use. As easy as using a pencil. The only down side to using pens - you can't erase it. 

Affordability: 5

     You can get a set of drawing pens for about $10 on Amazon. Pens are cheap.

Accessibility: 5

     You can get some drawing pens just about anywhere. Any arts and crafts store will have them. They are also available online. I love online shopping.

Fun to Use: 5

    Like I said earlier, pen is one of my favorite mediums to use. So yeah, I had fun doing this weeks art adventure!

     If you would like to go on this epic art adventure with me, next week we will be doing...

     If you choose to follow along, please post your work using #52weekartadventure!