Mixed Media and Experimental Surfaces
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| resist/rɪˈzɪst/ | A material or process that prevents a later colour layer from adhering to selected areas. |
| gesso/ˈdʒesəʊ/ | A preparatory coating applied to a painting surface to create a suitable ground. |
| synthesis/ˈsɪnθəsɪs/ | Combining information, ideas or elements into a coherent whole. |
Combine and prepare
- Combining media and preparing your own grounds turns the surface into a decision.
- Classic pairs: ink line over wash, charcoal over acrylic ground, pastel over watercolour.
- A resist 防染法 (wax, masking fluid) protects the lights.
A ground that lets wet media sit on almost any support is ____.
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Gesso primes the surface.
Grounds and supports
- Gesso 石膏底料 lets wet media sit on almost any support.
- Draw on non-white supports: kraft paper, book pages, maps, fabric — the ground becomes meaning.
- Test combinations on scraps first and glue the tests into your journal.
A map of drawing media: dry to wet, line-led to tone-led
Synthesis or decoration?
Sort each mixed-media choice by whether the material serves the idea.
In mixed media, every material should serve the idea.
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Otherwise it reads as decoration.
Select all sound experimental-surface practices.
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Piling on for texture alone is decoration.
Synthesis, not decoration
- The CED's synthesis 综合 of materials, processes, and ideas is exactly this.
- Media choices should embody the idea, not just add texture.
- Keep layering stable enough to photograph well — heavy glossy buildup glares.
Wax or masking fluid used to protect the lights is a ____.
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A resist blocks media from the protected area.
Match the term to its role.
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Three mixed-media ideas.
Mixed media fails when it is just "stuff piled on for texture". Every material must earn its place by serving the idea — random collage and glitter read as decoration, and scorers see straight through it.
A drawing about a demolished home: charcoal on torn, gessoed cardboard, with fragments of the actual eviction letter collaged under the ink. Material is meaning — the surface carries the loss.
Mixed media makes the surface a decision: combine media, prepare grounds with gesso, protect lights with a resist, test on scraps — and choose materials that embody the idea (synthesis), never decoration.
Write from an ink wash over graphite
- Graphite states the drawing.
- An ink wash is added on prepared paper.
A student draws in graphite and then adds an ink wash on paper that was prepared so it would not buckle. What two roles are being combined?
Two materials can share a sheet when each one has a purpose.
What does the ink wash add?
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The wash is a chosen process on top of the drawn structure.