I post my finished paintings daily on facebook, and the most frequently asked question I get is "how did you DO that?". The best way to tell you is to SHOW you, so I thought I'd post the step by step photos of one of my recent acrylic marbling paintings "Last Hurrah at Neiman's".
The title of this piece, by the way, was something my genius husband suggested, and it seemed fitting in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. While I'm not a Neiman's shopper, this couple looked like they might be having their "last hurrah" in a department store before socially isolating at home. They seem a little dazed and rattled!
In the Beginning: Marbled Paper
For me, it all begins with the piece of marbled paper. I hand-marble dozens of papers in all-day sessions in my laundry room about 10 times per year, which yields a LOT of marbled papers for me to choose from! It's a messy, laborious process that involves dipping treated paper into a big tray of carrageenan (a liquid, slimy substance that allows the acrylic paint to float, rather than sink to the bottom). I typically marble on top of an old watercolor painting (sometimes the white back of the paper, and sometimes the painted front of the paper); I like the paper to be at least 140# so that it's sturdy enough to stand up to further applications of acrylic paint and become a finished painting suitable for framing.
Process for Developing the Painting
The circular ovals in this particular marbled paper looked like small heads, and since I paint a lot of small headed figures, my eye is trained to start THERE and build the figure around the head. I treat the paper with matte medium before I begin developing the subject matter; after the matte medium is dry, I draw on the paper with water soluble crayon to sketch in my subject matter. From there, I mix up acrylic paint colors (using some opaque white gesso) to block out the parts of the marbling that I want to cover up. I pause between steps to assess what the painting needs, how the figures relate to the edges of the paper (I often put a white paper mat around the piece as I work on it so I can see where my "edges" are), and add touches of paint where needed. Because acrylic is so adaptable, I'm able to wipe off color as soon as I apply it, if I change my mind for some reason.
Without further ado, here are the images for "Last Hurrah At Neiman's"; if you click on each image, you'll see a caption that describes each step of the process.
The title of this piece, by the way, was something my genius husband suggested, and it seemed fitting in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic. While I'm not a Neiman's shopper, this couple looked like they might be having their "last hurrah" in a department store before socially isolating at home. They seem a little dazed and rattled!
In the Beginning: Marbled Paper
For me, it all begins with the piece of marbled paper. I hand-marble dozens of papers in all-day sessions in my laundry room about 10 times per year, which yields a LOT of marbled papers for me to choose from! It's a messy, laborious process that involves dipping treated paper into a big tray of carrageenan (a liquid, slimy substance that allows the acrylic paint to float, rather than sink to the bottom). I typically marble on top of an old watercolor painting (sometimes the white back of the paper, and sometimes the painted front of the paper); I like the paper to be at least 140# so that it's sturdy enough to stand up to further applications of acrylic paint and become a finished painting suitable for framing.
Process for Developing the Painting
The circular ovals in this particular marbled paper looked like small heads, and since I paint a lot of small headed figures, my eye is trained to start THERE and build the figure around the head. I treat the paper with matte medium before I begin developing the subject matter; after the matte medium is dry, I draw on the paper with water soluble crayon to sketch in my subject matter. From there, I mix up acrylic paint colors (using some opaque white gesso) to block out the parts of the marbling that I want to cover up. I pause between steps to assess what the painting needs, how the figures relate to the edges of the paper (I often put a white paper mat around the piece as I work on it so I can see where my "edges" are), and add touches of paint where needed. Because acrylic is so adaptable, I'm able to wipe off color as soon as I apply it, if I change my mind for some reason.
Without further ado, here are the images for "Last Hurrah At Neiman's"; if you click on each image, you'll see a caption that describes each step of the process.
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