Painted Paper Studio

March 23, 2024

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Hello Reader,

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I spent the week entirely reworking and re-filming a video on creating transparent mark-making papers.

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Sexy, right?

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I had an idea about finishing touches and elevating your art that I wanted to share with you, but the idea got lost in the effort, so I started over.

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Twenty-five years ago, I had a business creating custom finishes for furniture and cabinetry—I loved that work!

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I learned that creating a gorgeous finish was not about painting a piece perfectly; it was about adding elements of surprise—the unexpected that took people's breath away. A watermark here, a wormhole there—it satisfied people's love of imperfection.

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But every time I had a nearly "perfect" piece, I would get nervous about adding the extra elements for fear of ruining the whole thing. (By the way, I still do - even in my sketchbook.)

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Can you relate?

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I met a man who was a master artisan in the world of furniture finishing. He showed me how to "audition" the extra elements before committing them to the furniture, and it changed how I worked - back then and now.

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Mark-making is a technique in mixed-media art that has the power to surprise and delight the viewer.

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It's the "extra."

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It can add character or depth to a piece you are working on.

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And it can add stress.

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What if you get too heavy-handed with the marks? Or what if your placement leaves your piece unbalanced and ruined?

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Over the years, I have taken what I learned from that artisan and applied the concept to my art.

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Making marks on papers that offer translucency or even transparency opens up new opportunities to make your creative works spectacular.

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You get to "audition" the marks on your work before you glue it down, and you have a really good idea of the finished result.

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In today's video, we'll make marks on various translucent papers to have in our stash. But I don't stop there.

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I also share how I "scientifically" (ha!) determine which papers and mediums to use to get the results I want.

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Finally, I used the papers in a collage to demonstrate the effectiveness of having transparent papers in your stash.

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I'd love for you to watch this video because it is a technique that every mixed-media artist should know.

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And it's fun 😃

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I really missed you all last week, but I feel so much better with this version of the video. Thank you for being so patient.

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xo,

Jackie

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