Creating an interesting surface for mixed media painting

by Karen Lynn Ingalls

Mixed media underpainting with acrylics — layer #1 • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

Mixed media underpainting with acrylics — layer #2 • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

One way to start off a mixed media painting (or any painting, if you want) is to create an interesting underpainting.

​In this case, I used four successive layers of the same color, and I applied the paint with scrunched-up pieces of plastic wrap. (You could use the plastic wrap your canvas or canvas board came in.)

Each layer deepens the color and obscures the white of the canvas more. You can try layering over different colors, too, including layering over a solid color underpainting on the surface.

Mixed media underpainting with acrylics — layer #3 • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

Mixed media underpainting with acrylics — layer #4 • © Karen Lynn Ingalls

Depending on the effect you want under your painting, you can stop at any point. Any of these surfaces would have worked as a good underpainting — it's all a matter of your individual choice.

One of the many wonderful features of acrylics is their quick drying time, which allows for layering like this, both to create an interesting underpainting and to create an interesting surface of the developing and finished paintings.