Bautista - Printmaking unleashed: more than 50 techniques for expressive mark making

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Cincinnati, Ohio

createmixedmedia.com

Your creative toolbox can be filled with a variety of paints, mediums, found tools and mark-making items. I am forever hunting for things I can use to make a unique mark. Here is a list of my favorite mixed-media tools. Visit the Resources page on page 124 for details on where to find some of my favorite supplies!

chipboard

clayboard

colored construction paper

Dura-Lar

fabric

freezer bags

gessobord

heavyweight construction paper

mixed-media paper

plastic page protectors

Plexiglas

super muslin

wooden building block set

acrylic ink

acrylic paint

archival dye ink

clear tar gel

Collage Pauge (glossy and matte)

crafters ink

dimensional fabric paint

embossing powder

encaustic paint sticks

encaustic wax medium

fabric paint

fabric sprays

fluid acrylic paint

heavy body acrylic paint

ink sprays

interference fluid acrylic paint

molding paste

pigment ink pad

water-based ink

watercolors

balloons

bottle with fine-tip applicator

cheese cloth

chipboard letters

fiber paste

foam-core board

heat gun

hot glue gun and glue sticks

letterpress machine

Masonite

mixed-media hardbound journal

modeling compound

permanent markers

plastic needlepoint canvas stencils

printmaking barren

rubber stamps

self-adhesive craft foam

silicon brush and blade tools

silk fabric

soft rubber brayer

Teflon

toothpicks, skewers, coffee stir sticks, craft sticks

trowel palette knife

Tyvek envelopes

vintage doilies, lace and trim

wood burning tool

2-ply paper towel

anodized aluminum plate

bleeding tissue paper

darning foot

darts

deli paper

embroidery floss and hoop

glitter

grill thermometer

iron

nitrile rubber gloves

pancake griddle

parchment paper

pen

plastic container

plastic syringe

push pins

scissors

sewing machine

sewing needle

small plastic cups

spray bottle

sticks and yarn

texture items: washers, stamps, plastic forks, cookie cutters, wood pieces, tile spacers

thread

Pushing the boundaries, thinking outside the box, always wondering and experimenting is how I approach art and life. I am inspired by everyone and everything that enters my path the texture of a piece of driftwood, a crack in the sidewalk, a fallen leaf in autumn or a blossoming flower. My art is an expression of what inspires me mixed with the things I encounter in daily life. Im not a trained printmaker, meaning I didnt study it in college, but I have always been fascinated with mark making and finding alternative uses for everyday things.

Printmaking Unleashed is about discovering new approaches to transferring a mark onto a surface and building colorful layers using nontraditional methods. Grab a cup of tea and flip through the book! There is no particular order that you have to start, just open it up and soak in the inspiration. Sprinkled throughout you will find ideas for color palettes, numerous creative prompts and exercises. Each exercise begins with a creative toolbox, which is a jumping-off point for materials. Most items I use to create printmaking tools are readily available at the hardware store, dollar store, thrift store and even in your kitchen or garage. Im a big believer in creatively using what you have and recycling materials as much as possible. The step-by-step exercises encourage you to make your own marks and can be done in an art journal, on canvas, on fabric or digitally and then incorporated in your mixed-media paintings.

I built Printmaking Unleashed upon my previous books, Collage Unleashed and Doodles Unleashed. In all of them, I encourage you to develop your style and enjoy the process. My main message is to be free and harness that childlike creative spirit where you feel comfortable making marks without fear. My hope is that this book will be a forever reference in your art librarywhen inspiration strikes, write notes and recipes on the pages. The ideas I present are great starting points, so expand on them and create your own tools. Spend time, even just ten minutes a day, expressing yourself creatively. Simply pick a pen and doodle, make a brush mark on the canvas or write in your art journal and give yourself the gift of creative play. I am truly blessed to do what I love every day. Thank you for sharing in my creative journey!

The mark of a brushstroke that dances across the page, the drizzle of paint as it flows from the bottle, a stick wrapped with yarn, a silkscreen design made with Collage Pauge, drips of paint from balloons popped with darts, vintage lace and trim suspended in an embroidery hoop, wooden pyrogravure stamps, textured printing plates made from melted wax and toothpicks, the bottom of a water bottle, hot glue stencils and craft foam inscribed with a skewer. What do all these have in common? Each one makes a unique mark, an impression on the canvas that helps express a window into our creative soul. Ive always longed to find ways to incorporate different found objects into my artitems that you would not necessarily think to use as a painting tool. I am open to the world of possibilities and am always asking what if? I encourage you to take that same point of view and look with new eyes at the materials in your everyday life, things that are sitting right in front of you, and start to imagine all the ways you can creatively use nontraditional items to make expressive marks in your art.