birch trees, mixed media, collage art tutorial

birch trees, mixed media art tutorial

I have never used alcohol as a treatment for watercolor and wanted to try it out recently. Here is a step by step tutorial for my collage of trees.

Materials:

• watercolor paper
• alcohol
• watercolors
• acrylic painted tissue paper
• acrylics
• sandpaper
• matte medium

Step One

sepia watercolor and alcohol

I washed a layer of sepia watercolor onto the paper and dropped alcohol onto the paper. The watercolor formed rings where the alcohol interrupted its flow. It looked like some alien ships flying in space and then it reminded me of knots on birch trees.

Step Two

painted tissue paper added

I cut the watercolor paper into two 3 x 3 inch squares which would now be the support for my collage. Searching through my stash of painted tissue papers, I found one with a titin Buff-ish color and glued that to my supports. You can see a hint of the rings showing through the tissue paper.


Step Three

sandpapered and added color

Next, I sandpapered some of the tissue paper off to allow the rings on the support to show through more. I added acylics to separate the background from the foreground. Right image above photo shows sandpaper effect only while the left image shows both the sandpaper and acrylic steps.


Step Four

color added to background

I continued to add acylics to separate the background from the foreground. I also painted parts of the trees to bring out the rings and give the trees form. I also added a bit of black pen to highlight the knots and twists in the trees.

Finished Result

birch trees, 3 x 3 inches, mixed media collage

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