Mixed Media in Your Own Voice

Each week students work through a progression of studies toward a final mixed-media piece, developing skills in generating ideas, making creative decisions, working through creative blocks, and reading their own images critically. Each session includes a demo, warm-up, work period, and group discussion.

Week one begins with chance encounters: automatic and structured mark-making, and layering paper, oil pastels, acrylic ink, acrylic paint, and water-soluble pencils to build a textured field. 

Week two introduces figure-ground relationships and mindful looking, helping students uncover what an image wants to become while working through the inner critic. 

In week three, students add representational or abstract elements, such as shapes, symbols and objects, exploring tension, movement, and balance. 

Week four is devoted to refining and resolving a piece: knowing what needs more, what needs less, and when a composition is finished. Students will be provided a prepared wood panel, mixed-media paper, and palette paper; with access to shared materials such as oil pastels, colored pencils, inks, and paint. Students are asked to bring their own basic brush set and any favorite drawing or painting supplies. 

By the end of the series, each student will leave with a completed panel and a personal toolkit for approaching future work in their own voice.