Painterly Mixed Media Flowers with Collage Borders

In this demo, I turned an old watercolor “reject” into something completely new — a painterly mixed-media floral piece with collage borders. I cut strips of patterned scrapbook paper and glued them around the edges to frame the design, letting bits of the original painting peek through.

Mixed Media Mastery Bundle

Learn how to paint loose, expressive artwork using acrylic and collage. This bundle walks you from beginner basics to confident mixed media techniques—all in one place.

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Once the collage was set, I built the flowers using cad red light, cad yellow lemon, and touches of gray-white for the vase. A liner brush added quick stems and loose details. The fun part was leaving bits of the old urban scene visible under the new layers — little reminders of where the painting began.

I finished with crisp white highlights and soft splatters to keep the flowers light and lively. The key here is to keep it painterly — minimal strokes, bold color, and plenty of texture from both the paint and paper.

Recommended Acrylic Painting Materials

• Princeton Catalyst Brushes – Flats (#6, #12), Rounds (#4, #8), Fan (#4), Liner Brush
  Durable synthetic bristles for versatile acrylic techniques
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylic Paint – Essential Colors
  Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red Light, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White
• Winsor & Newton Cotton Canvas
  Reliable stretched canvas for studio and plein air work
• Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media Paper
  Heavyweight, acid-free paper for acrylic and mixed media
• Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold Press Paper
  Excellent for acrylic, mixed media, and textured effects
• Blick Multi-Colored Painting Knife Set
  Variety of shapes for texture, scraping, and bold strokes
• Miscellaneous: Two pint-sized water containers, paper towels (from Home Depot or Walmart)
• Note: I use canvas or sturdy cardboard as my palette — no store-bought palettes needed.