Playing with textures

 One way to do a background is to do that first and incorporate it into the painting. Here are a

few ways to accomplish this:

1. Plan several textures. On this example I spattered miskit, laid down joint tape; used saran wrap and wax paper; and dropped coins on the wet paper, and salted the wet paint.

After it dried, I sketched some still life on it and began to paint. I could also do some negative painting. Haven't decided on how to finish it yet, but at this point you can see many of the textures in the background.

The point of this exercise is to let yourself experiment with textures. In the one below, I showed how you could, if you wanted, do some planned painting using textures: used contac paper for the tree shape; miskited out some distant tree trunks; used cheese cloth for distant brush; joint tape; stretched saran wrap to create water in a stream, and wax paper cut circles to create some rock texture in the forground. This could be turned into a loose landscape without too much effort.

Another way to do a background first is to spatter miskit, blow it with a straw, or otherwise spread some miskit on the paper. If I get globby shapes I don't like, I rub it when it is dry to get shapes I like better, or get rid of shape I don't like. After the miskit is dry, create a light wash over it. Remove the miskit. Then place your sketch over the background. It could be anything: flowers, a ballet dancer, faces, buildings, anything you like.