Beyond the brush: Using every day objects in acrylic paintings
Blog about techniques I use to complete my paintings without using paint brushes. Instead I describe how I use low cost every day household objects to create different effect and textures. I focus on how to create different marks, lines and processes on the canvas that go beyond the brush.
Siobhan Guthrie
7/18/20263 min read
My work comprises lots of different mark making but often I don’t just use my brushes. Although I use many different types of brush from large flat to tiny spotter brushes, fan brushes and blending brushes and everything in between, sometimes there are marks I want to make on my canvas that just cannot be made with a brush. To get different effects, I actually use a variety of different household objects and as I shall demonstrate you can get some really interesting results from everyday objects found in your home. This goes to prove that you do not necessarily need to spend lots of money on fancy brushes as we all know art materials are incredibly expensive!
Something which I experimented with very early on with my landscape paintings, which you can view in my portfolio, was how to create fluffy clouds. I just knew that none of my brushes would ever give me what I wanted on the canvas. So every time I need to paint a cloud, I always use pieces of sponge. I tend to paint wet on wet acrylic for this. I push white pigment into the blue pigments that I use as a base layer for the sky. Using a sponge, I dab and blend the pigments into each other. In this way I can build up layers and shadows by utilising the paints that are already on the canvas. After this is dry I will then add highlights on the clouds with a paintbrush using my brightest white pigments sometimes mixed with a little yellow to reflect the sun light if that is necessary to my painting.
Cotton buds and cocktail sticks can achieve interesting line making or cross hatching results, smooth lines and harsh lines. Cotton string can also be a good method to make specific lines. You can view my experimental mark making in the photograph above, complete with a clean palette which I had just washed after finishing my latest commission! The lines these objects make with my acrylic paints would be quite useful for abstract painting or building up textures, making experimental flowers and creating shadows by scratching at the surface of the wet paint with cocktail sticks.
Painting pet portraits and wildlife invariably involves creating shadows especially in fur, hair on on the faces of the subject. For this to really blend well, I will very often use my fingers. Just be sure that whatever paint you are using is not toxic and wash your hands thoroughly before touching anything else or preparing and eating food! I find that using quite heavily watered down acrylic paint works very well for building up layers of shadows. This is what I used for my latest commission of the chimpanzee portrait. I have now finished this piece! I will be talking more about it in my next blog but I used a lot of blending with my fingers for this painting (see below). In addition, I actually allowed the canvas to do some of the textural work for me. As you can see, the tiny holes that are in the canvas itself have enabled me to give areas of the chimpanzee's face a bit of a leathery look. The skin is wrinkled and not supple. I have learnt that not using so much paint can actually be to your advantage as an artist because the canvas can build a lot of the texture behind layers of watered down pigment.
Scrunched up tissues are a brilliant way to dab paint onto the canvas. I have used tissue squares to create tree foliage and these wispy yarrow flowers in the wildflower meadow painting below (see also Landscape paintings under my portfolio).
I hope you feel inspired to carry out your own experimental mark making. I would love to know what household objects you try and how they can be used with paint to create your desired effects.
Contact
If you have any questions about my creative processes or wish to commission a work please contact me. If you would like to commission a pet portrait, please write your pet's name/s in the subject line of the email along with a photograph for me to work from.
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