No matter what your artistic pursuits are at the present time, there is a genre out there right now that is one hot ticket and it is mixed media art. It allows a person to incorporate numerous techniques and objects on canvas and make a statement that is bold with no qualifier necessary. It is popular because it has no limits and that in itself is very freeing to the producer of such unusual works.
If you ever find a few minutes to peruse the internet, take a look at some examples of it. They are ubiquitous. If you are already an artist who is working with the myriad techniques it avails, no doubt, you have found your place in the artistic sun. Those of us who are involved in it look at the world a bit differently, I suppose. Just as a painter ponders a sunset and imagines how it will be captured with a brush or palette knife, mixed media artists are on a different quest. That quest is for objects and images--anything that will make our audiences sit up and take notice.
My own journey into this infinite genre happened quite by accident. I had created quite a few large works from fabric and I asked a friend of mine, "How would you categorize this work?" Keep in mind, I had studied art on the graduate level, but did not have a name for what I had just created. That was when she reintroduced me to this word in my vocabulary that had been tucked away with "collage" in some safe place in my mind. That was my "A-ha" moment. I have been working with these techniques ever since while continually adding new ones.
You may wonder how something can be fun and serious at the same time. My work is serious because I try to make a statement in each of my pieces, whether it is about destiny or love lost or contemplating what we are all doing here and why. It is fun because I can create those images using many diverse objects, textures, and techniques from embossing to embroidery. The challenge is in finding enough hours in the day (or night) to create everything that is swimming around in my brain. For me, it is difficult to come up for air when I have so much I want to put onto canvas.
So, if you are looking for a way to "grow your art" even further, perhaps you might want to give it a try. But, I must warn you that it will probably be difficult to walk away from once you begin. That is because you will most likely start a piece of work with one idea in mind and just when you are finished with that one, you will suddenly remember that ball of twine in your basement and realize how perfect it would be for texture. As you rush down there and begin digging through shelves trying to find it, all of a sudden, you will probably come across some old hardware that somehow failed to get tossed out. It is likely that the idea for your next piece will be born at that exact moment. As you stand there sandwiched between a hardened gallon of house paint and a stack of old clothes that do not fit anymore, it is certain that your life as a mixed media artist just began. Welcome to the world of the infinite. You have just arrived.
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