ImagineFX - 10.2019

In depth Mixed media

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Watercolour Acrylics Digital

O

ver time I’ve dropped

the art school snob

attitude about mixed

media and embraced

what various media

can offer an artist. While I’m best

known for my watercolour work,

I feel that watercolour – or any single

medium, really – can only offer so

much before the limits of that

medium are reached.

I came to realise that the image

I create isn’t bound by anything but

my skill and imagination, and

I began to bring the strengths of

varying media into my work,

combining them in ways that brings

my vision further to life.

MIXING UP MY MEDIA CHOICES

What you’re going to find in my

process is that I hop around to

different media based on what they

offer me during that point in the

creative process. I enjoy working on

my iPad with Procreate during the

earliest stages, since it makes this

crucial part of concepting, sketching

and mockup much easier than my

previously traditional-only process.

However, I don’t enjoy painting

digitally, so I move the next part of

my process to watercolour, where I’m

most comfortable, loose and able to

lay down a strong foundation for the

painting. I know that watercolour has

its limitations, especially when it

comes to achieving luminosity in

colour. I altered my process to bring

in glazing with f luid acrylics over my

watercolour underpainting, which

brings in a new set of challenges as

well as strengths. I don’t like painting

opaquely in acrylic, however, so an

additional stage of my process

includes the versatile acryla gouache.

I’m able to get as detailed as I like,

achieve vibrant colours that I can’t

easily create with other water-based

media, and bring my vision to its

furthest point yet.

This may sound like a lot of work

• and it is – but as a process junkie,
  I truly enjoy the journey! Once I get
  too comfortable with my process,
  I like to change things up and push
  my favourite media to new places.
  Creating is magic, so keep developing
  your process, experiment with new
  materials, and combine them.

CREATE NEW

EFFECTS WITH

MIXED MEDIA

KELLY MCKERNAN shares her multi-layered mixed media

process for creating a stylised portrait of Medusa

Kelly is an independent fine

artist based in Nashville,

Tennessee. Explore her art at

http://www.kellymckernan.com.

MATERIALS

SKETCHBOOK

Q Moleskine

DIGITAL

Q Procreate on the iPad

PAPER

Q Arches Hot Press

140lb Watercolor Paper

SURFACE

Q Da Vinci Cradled

Wood Pro Panel

WATERCOLOUR

Q Daniel Smith

ACRYLIC

Q Golden Fluid Acrylic

ACRYLA GOUACHE

Q Turner Acr yla

Gouache

BRUSHES

Q For watercolour,

Winsor Newton

Series 7, sizes 1 and 4

Q For acrylic and acryla

gouache, Creative Mark

Polar Flo round sizes 2,

8 and liner

MEDIUMS

Q Golden Matte

Medium

Q Golden archival spray

varnish

Varying her choice of media has enabled Kelly to

have more fun while improving as an artist.