Taking advantage of the flexibility of unstretched canvas, colored washes puddle up and merge in deep wrinkles to produce a marbleized effect.
Paint
One or more fluid acrylic paints (or acrylic inks, high flow or airbrush colors)
Substrate
Raw (unprimed) canvas in medium or heavy weight
Tools
Paintbrush, mixing palettes or containers, spray bottle, iron, bucket
Products
A good quality gesso or an absorbent paste or gel
Other
Water, water container, paper towels or rags, cloth towel
STEP 1 Prepare the Surface
Rip or cut the canvas to the size you wish. If planning to later stretch it onto stretcher bars add at least a 3-inch (7.7cm) margin on each side. Using an absorbent paste (or a good quality gesso) apply several thin coats until the canvas fabric texture is barely visible and the surface is very matte. Let dry. Wet the coated canvas with water by soaking it in a sink or bucket. Remove the canvas and wring out water by scrunching it up into a tight ball. Unroll gently without fully smoothing the wrinkles.
STEP 2 Add Color Washes
Dilute fluid acrylic paints with water in a 1:1 ratio of paint to water. Keep inks and other thin acrylics undiluted. Pour or brush apply each color in separate areas, then slightly move the colors with a brush or by tilting the surface to assist the colors in merging. Avoid overworking to keep the colors from getting muddy. Let dry. Place the canvas face down on a towel, spray the back lightly with water and iron using high heat to smooth out the wrinkles.
Diarylide Yellow, Cobalt Turquoise, Titanium White, Carbon Black and Chromium Oxide Green were used to create the completed example.
This marbleized effect uses a different surface than described. Instead of crinkling wet canvas, a textured surface is created by applying Molding Paste onto a panel. While the paste was wet, it was sculpted with a variety of unusual tools including metallic foil with holes in it, plastic cork, thread spool, adhesive spreader, carpet netting, onion netting, plastic doily and mosquito netting. Puddled washes of Iridescent Copper Light are applied over the paste while still wet. After drying, an additional wash was applied using Cerulean Blue Deep and Iridescent Stainless Steel.
ARCHEOLOGICAL REMNANTS II
Teyjah McAren
Acrylic on board
6.5" × 7.5" (17cm × 19cm)
Washes of red, blue, yellow and white are applied onto flat absorbent watercolor paper. The marbleized texture is created by dropping salt, alcohol and liquid detergent onto the wet color washes.
JEMEZ FROM ABOVE
Ming Franz
Acrylic on paper
14" × 28" (36cm × 71cm)
Best results are obtained using canvas coated with an absorbent product. Canvas is naturally absorbent but without a coating will soak up paint in staining effects (see Technique 35) instead of the marbleizing. Commercially primed canvases are often coated with gesso that is not absorbent enough for this technique. These can still be used as long as several additional coats of an absorbent product or good quality gesso are applied as well.