Mixed media crumpled tissue technique - tutorial

As promised, a little tutorial on how I made my mixed media canvas (above) for last week's IAE challenge.

1. Take a sheet of tissue paper (any old tissue paper will do - I save the stuff from old shoe boxes!) and give it a really good crumple so it has tons of creases - the more the better!

 2. Glue it to your canvas using a 50/50 mix of PVA glue and water - let it wrinkle and bubble as much as you like, you don't want to smooth out all that lovely texture!

3. When it is completely dry, paint over the tissue - I've used a mixture of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna acrylic paints, but you can of course use whatever colours you like/have available. It's best if the paint is fairly watery.

4. Now the fun bit! Once the paint is dry,  rub over the whole background with an oil pastel in a contrasting colour - this picks out all those gorgeous creases beautifully! You could also use coloured pencil or even a wax crayon for this step.

5. I've painted some of my collage elements - a wooden heart, a bit of old torn corrugated card, and a little wooden key - in white. I've also cut up and painted a piece of an old laundry bag as I loved the pattern and texture (and I do like to re-cycle!) 

6.Other collage elements I've added are a beautifully aged vintage book page, and a wooden button and letters (these have a very light coat of gold acrylic paint so they glisten a little  but the letters still show through). 

I've also used some scrapbook paper leftover from an old project, and a fragment of the paper that I had underneath the laundry bag when I was painting it (perhaps worryingly, sometimes I like the scrap paper underneath more than my actual work!)

7. Finally, all the elements are glued in place. Shouting "ta-da" at this stage is optional :)

The crumpled tissue technique also works really well with landscape pieces - I've also used it here -