Pelissier - Painting imaginary flowers: beautiful blooms and abstract patterns in mixed media

SANDRINE PELISSIER

artistsnetwork.com

In Granada Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

12" 12" (30cm 30cm)

I would like to dedicate this book to all the artists who choose to live a creative life even if that often involves a bit of financial uncertainty. When your work is your passion, its not work anymoreit becomes fun.

canvas

paper

watercolor paper, 190-lb. (400gsm)

acrylic inks

alcohol-based inks

colored pencils or Prismacolor Art Stix

fineliner pen, blue

fluid acrylic paints

full-bodied acrylic paints including white

markers

oil marker or paint pen

watercolor paints

brushes, assorted (stiff and medium sized, soft, large and small, flats and rounds, etc.)

acrylic gel medium

box knife or craft knife

brayer

containers for paints and water

Cont pencil

cradled boards

dipping pens

droppers

gel medium, heavy or extra-heavy

masking fluid

pencil

rubbing alcohol

ruler

scissors

spray bottle of water

spray fixative

varnish for water- and oil-based mediums

For many years I could not even think about starting a painting project without a reference image. I think this is probably the case for many artists.

Over time, I got frustrated with that approach; it felt like I was always trying to copy a picture. My goal became to paint in a style that was more personala style that would leave space for intuition and imagination. I wanted freedom from reference images!

Confronted with a blank canvas, I was faced with the question of how to start a painting without a reference. My answer was to look for ways to trigger my imagination. Do you already have a method for breathing life into your imagination? My favorite is one I will detail in this book. It consists of painting an abstract background, adding visual textures and looking for shapes in those textures.

The brain doesnt like nonsense or ambiguity. It will try to make sense of any abstract shape you see. Looking at abstract patterns, your imagination will make you see things like flowers, objects, people, animals, monsters and underwater scenes. It happens automatically without any effort. This is why, without even trying to do so, you might see faces or animals appear when looking at a stuccoed wall. Its also why the Rorschach test is used in psychology to get patients to see things in inkblots and make up stories.

This book is about making flower paintings, but you could use the same techniques to paint any kind of subject. In the last part of the book, I will show you how I apply some of these techniques to landscape paintings.

I hope you will enjoy this book and discover that painting from imagination leads you to a more personal, intuitive and satisfactory way of expressing yourself in your paintings, all while having fun and experimenting!

As you work through the book, you may decide it would be nice to have some support from other students just like you. Join the Facebook group Share your art from Sandrine Pelissier online classes and books where you can share your work and see what others are creating.

Working in my North Vancouver studio on a forest painting and applying (on a larger scale) some of the techniques you will learn in this book.

Surfaces for Painting // Demonstration: Mounting Yupo Paper onto Board // Mediums You Can Use // Making Art Is Fun, So Enjoy the Process

In Boston Acrylic and mixed media on canvas

12" 12" (30cm 30cm)

There are many surfaces you can choose to paint on. My favorites are canvas and Yupo paper mounted onto board. Even if you already have a favorite surface, experiment with new ones once in a while to see what effect a different surface has on the way the paint behaves and on the finished look of the painting.

Unstretched raw canvas

Try painting on unstretched canvas. Some painters dont mind painting on a piece of canvas that is flat on a table while others prefer to first stretch the canvas on stretcher bars, which provides spring and tautness. You may decide to paint on it unstretched and have it stretched only if you are pleased with your painting. One advantage of working on unstretched canvas is that you can easily stack and store your paintings, stretching them only when you want to use them.

Raw canvas requires a coat or two of gesso to prime it prior to painting on it.

Stretched primed canvas

If you choose stretched canvas that has already been primed with gesso, you can start painting right away.

My personal preference is to work in a square format; 12" 12" (30cm 30cm) is my preferred size. Occasionally I will work on larger flower paintings, but the vast majority of my paintings are done this size.

Fluid acrylic and alcohol on canvas

Canvas will accept watercolors, acrylics and inks. Due to the woven texture of the canvas, the visual texture of the background is usually subtler, and the colors are less vivid than they are on smooth surfaces like Yupo paper, stone paper or Claybord.

Watercolor paper and fluid acrylics

You can paint on watercolor paper with fluid acrylics. Bright and vivid colors are often easier to achieve with acrylics and inks than with watercolor paints.

Finished paintings on loose watercolor paper can be framed for protection and display, or you can mount watercolor paper onto a board and varnish the finished work so that it hangs more like a stretched canvas.