About Kathryn Sturges
My art is a direct reflection of memories, experiences, stuff I appreciate and that which I find important in my day to day; kind of like journal entries on canvas, paper and cloth! My art reflects my life like water reflects moonlight.
Please visit Kathryn’s Website Below:
Mixed Media Eco Art Tutorial
(Please click images below for larger views)
In the name of having a greener studio, I’ve begun my quest to make eco art! I found this great post last week on another blog; it’s all about making Artist Trading Cards out of cereal box cardboard. You can find the post here: Altered Arts Magazine
I’ve discovered other ways to use the cardboard from cereal boxes. Yesterday I created mixed media art on the back section of a cereal box, and here’s a step by step demonstration.
Materials:
- Cereal box
- Scissors
- Gesso
- Acrylic paints
- origami paper or paper from a magazine
- acrylic gel for collage
- watercolors, paint markers, oil pastels, or whatever materials you have on hand
Step 1
Remove the sides, top and bottom of the cereal box with scissors so that you are left with the front and back of the box.
Step 2
Gesso the plain side of the box, it may take two coats to create a plain white surface. Let the gesso dry fully.
Step 3
Create a few shapes with your collage paper, I happened to have some gorgeous origami paper. Make sure you use what you have on hand to keep this project eco friendly. Collage the paper shapes onto the gessoed cardboard using your acrylic gel. Be sure to seal the paper with the gel by covering the top of the paper with gel too. Wait for this to dry fully before going to the next step.
Step 4
Once fully dry, paint around the shapes with a thin layer of acrylic paint, creating a background layer of color. Let this dry for a while and then the fun begins!
5. Now it’s time to get way creative! Gather your favorite art supplies and go to town! You could add watercolor drips by painting on a few thick areas of watercolor and misting them with a spray bottle. Also you could add more acrylic paint. Keep it minimalist by using earth tones and simplifying your design, or go for maximum overdrive by creating layer upon layer of texture. Remember that if you are going to use oil pastels or other oil media, it should be the last step. As the final step for my work, I defined the origami shapes with paint marker because they had blended in to the background. Here is my finished work, it’s titled “She Sells Sea Shells”.
Cereal Box Art Ideas
I’m really excited about the stuff I’m learning about eco art! Today I began two new projects in the studio, one is a spiritual work that I’m creating on an old cigar box! The other project that I’ve started up again is working on an altered book. I’ll provide tutorials for both projects when they’re finished.
Here are some ways to repurpose cereal boxes in the art studio. Think outside the box and come up with your own ideas too!
Trim the edges so that you are left with the front and back of the box. Brush off the plain side of each piece and then let your imagination be your guide! Gesso each plain side and once dry you can do so many different things with them!
1. Use the gessoed cardboard for experimental mixed media works. They are a great place to try out new techniques or try out layering different materials.
2. Turn them into color charts! Try mixing different colors of acrylic paints and paint small swatches of color onto the cardboard. Be sure to label which colors went into each mixture so that you can refer to the charts later.
3. Create a mixed media work and once dry cut the work into squares or different shapes for use in collage.
4. Oil pastels work great on this support too!
5. Create a collage on the cardboard with fabric, ribbon, and artsy paper.
If you have any green tips for the art studio, feel free to share in the comments section!
A big thanks to Kathryn for sharing this mixed media art tutorial! Please be sure to visit her Website Here to learn more about her and to view more of her original artwork.
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