Grocery Bag Backgrounds

 In my never ending quest to come up with interesting backgrounds, I came across this technique and thought you might like it too.  It's super easy and I love the look. 

I started with birch wood panels but this technique works on paper as well.  Spray your surface with water and apply ink.  This could be a work of art in itself.  Love these colors!  Allow the ink to dry completely. I spray a sealer over the top just to make sure the ink does not reactivate when I add paint to the top.

Next, spray your dried ink with water and add any color fluid acrylic paint to cover the entire board.  Then take your shopping bags and lay them on top of the acrylic paint.  The more you crumple up the bags, the better.  Allow to dry completely.  Remove the bags and voila!

Beautiful backgrounds for your art.  I wish I had come up with this technique on my own but I learned it in an online class from Catherine Scanlon who uses this technique on mixed media paper.  She uses this technique and makes it the focal point.  I like it as a background that I can collage on top of.

Thanks for reading and if you use this technique I would love to see what you come up with.