Drawing and Media
Dry Media and Painting Techniques
A useful exercise in trying out techniques and processes that could then be applied in production pieces. However, as I found out, the small scale explorations do not always lend themselves directly to whole pieces in the way you would expect. So the experimentation and learning goes on even when you try to apply them. In fact I feel that this exercise is only truly valuable if you make time for it to be an ongoing part of the creative process - not something that I have always been patient enough to do.
I particularly liked some of the broken colour effects created through the scumbling of acrylic paint and the sgraffito possible through built up layers of pastel or acrylic. Some of the results of dropping powders and the like onto watercolours also produced interesting qualities. You really see the importance of annotating the experiments too.
The challenge now is to continue the experimentation, to look at the work of other artists and try to unpick how they might have achieved certain finishes, and, of course, to be able to wield these effects in subtle and visually satisfying ways myself.
