Review: 10 Marvelous Mixed Media Techniques with Bonnie Cutts (Craftsy)

It has been a while since I featured any Craftsy courses. By the way, Craftsy has just introduced the Craftsy Unlimited plan where you can watch unlimited videos whenever you're subscribed. It's something to check out if you're really into learning. The plan is US $15 per month or US $120 a year. The courses there are sold individually at around $15 - $20. So if you watch six to eight courses, you've already broken even.

Alright, the course that I'm writing about today is the mixed media course by Bonnie Cutts called 10 Marvelous Mixed Media Techniques. Cutts is an acrylic painter and teacher from Minnesota. In this course, as the title suggests, she teaches mixed media techniques using acrylic paints, mediums and dry materials.

As the course is about mixed media, there's a lot of materials involved, namely different acrylic medium, acrylic paints, grounds, stencils, micaceous iron oxide, watersoluble coloured pencils, crayons and more. So if you want to follow along, it's best to have some of those materials. If not, watching the videos will be sort of like an introduction to various materials that can be used for paintings. Personally for me, I discovered so many new materials I did not know exist.

The lessons are very hands on and guided. You just have to watch and follow along. The examples are quite simple and accessible. We're not looking at creating masterpieces. It's about getting your hands dirty and trying out the different medium and see what they can achieve.

Since we're not trying to replicate masterpieces, there's really no stress. You just have to paint and have fun.

The examples are all very textural. Some lessons involve spreading a thick ground, which will turn into some surface that you can paint on later, and painting other types of paint. Sometimes it involves using thick gel to create glossy art. There's also the use of stencils and using thick paint to paint over and then creating raised art. You may be able to tell from the screenshots I've shown that the artworks are all quite thick and textural.

This course is for beginners. No prior knowledge of art or materials are included.

Overall, it's a pretty fun course. It has certainly opened my eyes to the exciting applications of various medium that I've never heard of.

10 Marvelous Mixed Media Techniques is available for sale on Craftsy. You can check out more reviews there, as well as the description of all the lessons.