'A BOOK OF YOUR OWN' -London graphics center workshop

This was a brilliant little workshop!i wish i could start the end of term and the beginning of summer all over again!-within the space of a week there were SO many shows to see[-including our own!]So many things to do while the facilities were still open it was brilliant and I was lucky enough to get into this workshop! 

this workshop was basicly an afternoon learning about mediums that can be applied to acrylics to achieve different effects / tints/ textures , and what else can be done with just acrylics.

It was blatantly more about Liquitex products that the artists techniques-but that suited me!thats what i wanted to learn,

-that also meant there wer boxes of medium scattered around the room and our tabels were stuffed with brand new pots of brand new creativity


We each started with a blank skethcbook - the cover primed with HEAVY GESSO medium , used as a base from which to apply acrylics 

mess is good!

It was one of them time where there was so much to do so much to play with i didnt knwo where to start! litraly a kid in a sweet shop where all the sweets are insane and of mad colours and i can make my own sweets that are much better

I began by using some simple stencil and just 2 or 3 colours to start making some kind of texturised , graphic background.

did make a total arse of it at first as there was so much but by simplifying it and deliberately putting constraints on myself i was happier with the results

These are examples of the artists own personal work, gave me a wealth of excellent ideas and inspiriation.she was very nice and open to speak with 

im now using the skethcbook to further explore research into some of these techniques and also the summer research project we just got

Some of the key things I learnt:

iredescent-turns anythign shiny and kind of metallicy. thought it looked a bit cheap to be honest dont bother with it

- texturised ones are transparent once dry

-there was glass beads and sand 

-we can technically just do this ourselves mixed with whatever texture we desire. mixing it with somekind of glue like wallpaper paste would work-also each pot of medium is like a 5iver or more!![so glad a liberated loads before i left!]

Acrylic paint is waterproof when dry! - so add layers!

-Use stamps, toothrbush splatters, quotes cut from magazines or papers, stencils

combine gloss / matt, put gloss thru a stencil even.

mix it up combine. think collage. infact it is collage basicly

why not add an envelope to the page to put things in paint over that so its still a page? or make one by folding over one of the pages

KEEP YOUR WORK FAST + LOOSE

think of different ways to apply acrylic - use brush, use scrunched up paper, use a card and scrape it

PHOTOCOPY TRANSFER

-use the medium GLOSS GEL MEDIUM onto any printed surface

let it dry

when its transparent drop it in water to soak for 10 mins

gently rub off the paper from the back and your left with a kind of transparent rubber, use more of the medium on the surfuace to stick it down

try it its great!