A STENCILED EFFECT...BUT NOT!

HOW TO CREATE A POSITIVE/NEGATIVE PAINTING

In just three or four steps!

First up, the original mixed-media piece on canvas, which I rather despised and wanted to paint over. (See my post here about putting a bird on it!) 

I love nature, but not this collage/painting.

Step 1: Disguise the original work in places with fairly thin acrylic colors, almost at random. Let dry.   

As you can see, I flipped the piece upside-down.

TIP: For partially obscuring the piece, choose colors on either the light or the dark side, depending on the next color, in the next step!

Step 2: Draw outlines of the flat shapes you wish to use. (I selected plant forms, but other ideas include still life objects, simplified people-shapes, animals, and more. I "drew" with thin blue-violet paint and a liner brush (far better than pencil). Note where I began to fill in the negative space in two corners.

TIP: Turn the canvas as you work.

Step 3: Paint the negative
spaces (those around the
positive shapes). If your
background is quite dark
over all, try a very light
color (a high value)
instead of doing as I did.

In the finished painting, below, I
left a few streaks and round shapes
unpainted in the background, to add to the foliage effect.


The finished positive/negative painting.