Book Review: Paint, Play, Explore: Expressive Mark-Making Techniques in Mixed Media

This book is for those who want to use art as a creative outlet, for those who want to enjoy the process rather than worry about the outcome. This is not the sort of art I'm into but I can see why others may like and enjoy it. There are different types of art for different people. That's the nice thing about art

Paint, Play, Explore by Rae Missigman is an activity book on mixed media art. The process in this book is called mark making which is quite apt because you aren't really painting something recognisable, but I can't call it abstract art too. Anyway, the end result is not important, the process is.

The book covers various types of tools and medium you can use to create interesting marks. There are the usual conventional tools like brushes, stencils, paint rollers but the more unusual ones are using organic tools, such as leave vegetables, or squeezing out the liquids in berries to create your own inks and dyes. You get to make your own drawing or painting tools as well.

There are many step-by-step projects you can follow along to learn the various mark-making techniques. You'll learn how to create a collage, paint with one brush, using primer, resists, pastes and other unusual ways to create art. All the items you need are listed so you'll know what to get. There's no need to follow exactly and use the exact tools because it's not about the tools but the process.

Overall, it's a pretty fun book for those who just want to, as the title suggests, paint, play and explore.

Paint, Play, Explore: Expressive Mark-Making Techniques in Mixed Media is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | AU | JP | CN)

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