Painted Paper Studio

March 23, 2024

Hello Reader,

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

Sexy, right?

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.

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

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.

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.)

Can you relate?

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.

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

It's the "extra."

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

And it can add stress.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

And it's fun 😃

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.

xo,

Jackie

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