Art for Beginners: Creating Mixed Media Art on Canvas

I love experimenting with my art and that also means experimenting with the medium and what I create my art work on. I am an avid journal lover (as you know), but I have also been playing around with creating art on canvas.

This can seem daunting, but it needn't be, honestly it is so easy to create a beautiful piece of art on canvas. Read on for tips for beginners on getting started on creating your own art canvas.

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Ideas for Beginners to Create Art on Canvas

So where do you begin? I always begin by adding acrylic paint to the canvas. Any acrylic paint is fine. I use cheap paint from Poundland or Wilko. Decide what you want to achieve. Do you want to paint something on to the canvas, if so I usually use white paint, or if you're after something a bit more abstract choose a colour that sings to you and just add it to the entire canvas.

How to create a mixed media canvas

Next decide what elements to add. There really are no limits. I like to add tissue paper or serviettes to my canvas to give it texture. Simply tear into small pieces and use a Matte Gel or Modge Podge on top of the pieces to seal them to the canvas. You can either do this before adding the acrylic or after (I often add the paint before and after the tissue paper.

​The canvas I created here is one where I applied these techniques, but I used a Marilyn Monroe canvas I had lying around rather than a blank canvas.

Adding texture to create a mixed media canvas

I have lots of ideas for adding texture to your art work here Art Journal Techniques and here Adding Texture to Art Work. In the canvases below, I used a canvas layered with tissue paper, gauze, buttons and embellishments which were adding using a matte gel. It really builds the texture on the canvas. 

​I added acrylic paint in layers throughout the process and used an acrylic spray with add definition.

​I love this gold canvas. I created this by painting the whole canvas with a black acrylic paint, then adding gold/bronze paint over the top of it. I love the 'steampunk' finish it has created.

Painting directly on to canvas

For my final canvas I painted directly on to it to create the feathers. I painted the whole canvas white and then added sweepings of acrylic paint using a dry brush, so I didn't add any water to the paint. I then painted on the feathers once it was dry.

You can add any design on to canvas and I find that the paint is easier to control than on paper as the texture of the canvas is much more resilient to paint. ​

I hope that you enjoyed the latest post in my Art Journaling Series. Do let me know anything else you would like to see and do check out the other Art Journaling Posts.

Take Care,
​Kerry xx

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