How to Fix Mistakes in a Collage Painting (Lemons & Strawberries)
Messed up a painting? Learn how to fix mistakes in a mixed media collage by swapping in fresh paper, with a simple lemons and strawberries demo.
Embrace Imperfect Art: Loose Collage Painting Tips
Loose art can feel wrong at first. Learn how to embrace imperfection in collage painting, why a little drawing first helps, and why you should make many, not one.
Mixed Media Painting Experiment: Why I Let Unfinished Art Sit
Not everything you make is meant for now. See how a reject watercolor became a mixed media experiment with an acrylic border and collage.
How to Use a Collage Border to Rescue a Painting
Learn how a simple collage border can interrupt a painting you don’t like and give it a fresh start. A quick mixed media trick for any reject.
What to Do With Paintings You Hate: Turn Rejects Into Collage
Don’t throw away paintings you hate. Learn how collage interrupts a reject, changes the mood, and turns a failed painting into a mixed media experiment.
Loosen Up Your Drawing: Expand Your Range of Motion
Drawing too tight? Learn how switching tools, pencil, marker, crayon, and charcoal, expands your range of motion and helps you draw looser.
Banana Drawing Exercise: Explore Mixed Media Sketching
Stop trying to draw bananas “right.” Use them to explore graphite, marker, and crayon in loose sketches and discover your own expressive style.
How to Paint Loose: Why It Takes Practice (and How to Start)
Want to paint loose and expressive art? It takes practice, not luck. Learn why exploring beats chasing finished pieces, with a mixed media still life demo.
Experimental Watercolor Trees: Mixed Media Ideas to Explore
Stop painting watercolor trees to get them right. Explore instead with watercolor mixed with crayon, collage, acrylic, and graphite to find your own style.
Watercolor Circle Exercise: A Brush Control Challenge
Try this watercolor circle exercise to build brush control. Paint concentric circles with a dagger brush, no breaks, no touching. I got 19 circles and 5 touches.
Watercolor Line Exercise: A Brush Control Challenge
Try this watercolor line exercise to build brush control. Paint continuous lines with a sword brush, no sketch, no guides. I got 26 lines and 7 mistakes. Can you beat it?
Why You Need to Draw It First Before Painting Loose
Loose painting isn’t about speed. Learn why a slow construct drawing comes first, how it makes a 45-second loose drawing work, using a tea kettle exercise.