I keep getting a lot of questions around what mixed media is and how scary it feels, so I thought I’ll share this video with you showing just how easily something can come together and be called “mixed media.”
Mixed media is essentially mixing two or more different mediums. When you work on the gel plate, for example, and use alcohol inks and acrylic paint, the print you pull will already be a mixed media piece. Similarly, if you’re a cardmaker and have used stamping inks and dies over a watercolor painting, you’ve created a mixed media piece. When you start adding collage fodder (die cut pieces, art marks, doodles, stenciled scraps, washi tape, fabric, ribbon etc.), the mixed media pieces become more complex.
You don’t need to make it too complicated. In fact, layering washi tape over printed paper and adding some cohesive stamp/stencil marks throughout is sometimes just enough. And that’s where the beauty of mixed media lies. You can really use things in your stash and create something that is so unique and so personal to you.
Simple doodles, stuck die cuts and simple script stamps can instantly make something ordinary come alive. What I love about mixed media is that it allows you to explore unchartered territories and follow your heart. There are no rules. I’m, honestly, making stuff up as I go along. And therein lies a freedom that I don’t find in any other kind of “arting.”
I hope this video and these words will help you feel inspired and encouraged. While we aren’t accepting any new explorers into the Let Loose with Mixed Media workshop, I do hope that posts like these will nudge you to try out something new and do it afraid.
You’ve inspired me to use my gel press that was sitting unused, un-loved, and unappreciated over the past two years. Now I regularly lay down alcohol inks, acrylic paint and even my stamping dye inks, to create some interestingly beautiful prints… “Thank you for inspiring and sharing your art with me/us!@ 💕👍🏾
Thank you so much for your kind words, Gigi! I am so very happy that you have fallen back in love with your gel plate and are enjoying the process with various media. Warms my heart that you’re having so much fun!
I love this post Mansi, I’m not scared about mixed media but can understand some does if you see all those awesome things that people create.
The greatest thing beside your awesome folio’s and tags is the sentence underneath your last photo in this post it says “Mixed media is the pure form of play” and that it is.
You can play how and with what you want. That’s the most important thing about mixed media, playing!
Thank you so much for sharing your great post and video, stay safe and have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you, Henriëtte. I love playing in my studio and I hope that some of these posts and videos will inspire others to also let loose and give themselves permission to just enjoy the process without worrying about the outcome.