Some of My Mixed Media Paintings

How to Evenly Paint a Large Canvas

I’m working on my largest painting yet! I have to say, this is a lot more difficult than painting on a smaller canvas or piece of wood.

To start with, I was worried about getting an even background color, because with a canvas that size (48×24) you obviously can’t just use a regular paint brush (well, you can but it will take a long time and be hard to get an even color). So I got a paint roller, just like the one’s you use to paint your wall. I mixed the color I wanted for the background, then just rolled on the paint. This was a very fast method and it only took me a minute or two to evenly paint the whole background.

Here’s how the pic looks so far:

The only thing is if you want the background to be smooth, this method will not work because you end up with the tiny bumps, just like when you’re painting a wall. Luckily I didn’t need my background to be smooth.

I should also make note that I’m doing this painting with acrylic paint, because I need it to dry quickly. I would have loved to do it with oil, in which case I would have probably painted the background with a regular, large horsehair paintbrush, but due to the fact that I have no space to allow that to dry for a week or so, I went with acrylic.

I sketched the picture before I started painting it (below) and then I sketched it directly onto my background. Then I began painting it. The picture at the top is what I’ve got done so far.

I plan to have this picture completed by my June 4th art show, and I will post regular updates as the picture comes along. It will be a mixed media painting, with acrylic.

About SoCal Mixed Media

Welcome to SoCal Mixed Media! Here you will learn all you need to know (as I learn along the way) about mixed media ART!

We will be exploring mixing various kinds of paints (oil, acrylic, watercolor), adding photos/pictures/paper to your art, adding unspecified objects to your art (rocks, glass, papyrus, you name it)…..and of course using different surfaces for your art, like canvas or wood.

There will be as many pictures posted as possible, along with the how-to’s, and any comments or questions are welcome. There will also occasionally be a how-to video thrown in there to help with the visualization.

About me personally:

My name is Marcy Eiben. I am a 26 year old artist currently living in San Diego and doing my best to make a living off of art, because I disagree with having a 9-5 and would rather be my own boss and do what I love: art!

I have worked hard over the last year figuring out how to do everything, from getting prints made of my art, to shipping art, to putting on art shows, to getting a website made, to getting business cards made, to marketing myself, etc. etc. so I am now documenting that in this site for anyone else who needs help with the business side of being an artist.

I do a lot of mixed media, but I also do regular, non-mixed media paintings and drawings. I will also occasionally be including pictures of these pieces of art.

Welcome to my journey of creativity! Let’s make some ART!