Mixed Media

Most of my mixed media works come about as a result of watercolours that were unsuccessful.

When I experiment with watercolor it doesn’t always work (who knew). But failure gives me a valued opportunity to experiment without worrying about the end product.

I generally leave the watercolour stretched on the board for a while and think about whether its worth keeping. If not, I get out my Matisse acrylic white and my pastels and go for it. I attack the surface with renewed vigour capturing my mood and enjoying the opportunity to draw again.

The drawing I do on these works is expressive and physical, based in my body. I throw a lot of thin white paint at the paper, allowing drips to run down the surface, and spread thin layers, drawing back into the wet paint with pastel and chalk, sometimes mixing the chalk with the paint to create different colours and effects.

I usually leave some of the original watercolour showing through. (As you can see in the green shining through here.)