Finnabair: Sea Breeze – Artsy ATCs by Emilia Tapiola

Summer has been extremely and unnaturally hot here in Finland, and I really miss refreshing sea breeze. I wanted to test how a bit rough-on-the-edges sea painting could be done with Finnabair mixed media; something liberating and fresh, with generous brush strokes or strong palette knife lines. I have painted with artist quality acrylics and oils, but never tested how mediums designed for mixed media actually work for this purpose. So, I picked a couple of tiny ATCs and went all artsy.

First, I primed strong, heavy cardboard ATC bases with white Heavy Gesso, and crinkled tissue paper on top, using Soft Matte Gel. Then added another layer of gesso on top and started my experiments. I mixed some Paper Texture Paste and Mini Arts Stones to create a foamy, dimensional sea wave effect, and using palette knife, applied random, horizontal lines to the cards.

Next, I mixed Impastos Manor Blue, Snow White, and Linen to create a suitable sea-sky colour and added the colour with brush and palette knife, making sure not to be too neat. To create a bit depth, I then added just a hint of Liquid Acrylics, Prussian Blue, Ink Black, and Burnt Sienna, using mist sprayer and baby wipes to control the colours a bit.

Just for fun, I added a hint of Jewel Paste Golden Dust and Effect Paste Mermaid, to give the ATCs a gentle glow. The finished ATCs are not Old Masters art quality but then, they needn’t be – the point was to enjoy and test something new. With Paper Texture Paste, Mini Art Stones, and some crinkled-crumbled tissue paper, even the tiny ATCs got dimensional effect easily, and hence Impastos worked without any heavy medium needed to get dimensional oil or acrylic painting effects. I can only imagine what it could be, when you start playing with 3D pastes and all the works! Next in line, a proper canvas and large, splashing movements… Refreshing, like sea breeze.