Decorate a floor with this under-the-sea mixed media cloth using DecoArt Media® Fluid Acrylics.

SUPPLIES

• water container
• palette or plastic plate
• paper towels
• stylus or pencil
• tracing paper
• transfer paper
• paintbrush
• 3" chip brush
• 1" flat brush
• 1/2" flat brush
• #5 round brush
• floor cloth
• permanent watercolor marker

INSTRUCTIONS

NOTES:

Let dry completely between painting steps.

1. Using a 3" chip brush, apply a layer of White Gesso over the entire floor cloth. Let dry. Once dry, transfer the provided pattern to the floor cloth using the tracing and transfer papers and a pencil or stylus. Mix Phthalo Green-Blue 50/50 with water and paint the background with a 1" flat brush.
2. Add a drop of Ultramarine Blue and Blue Green Light together with a lot of water and use to paint in the tail using a 1" flat brush. (Purposefully do not allow all of the colors to blend when painting in to add variation of color.)

3. Mix Yellow Green Light and water together. Use to paint in the accents on her tail and shell bra.

4. Use a permanent waterproof marker to trace the facial details so they don't get lost while painting. Mix together White Tinting Base, Burnt Sienna, and Cadmium Orange Hue to get the desired skin color. Paint her skin using a 1" flat brush (and the #5 round brush in tight spaces). Save mix for next step.

5. Add a little more Burnt Sienna to the mix from step 4 to make shadows on the mermaid's skin. To keep all of the shadowing consistent, place all the shadows underneath and to the right. Use a 1/2" flat brush to add shadows.

6. Mix Matte Medium and Quinacridone Magenta about 60/40 to create the hair color. (This will make the color translucent so layers can be added and create the illusion of depth.) Use this color for the lips and eyebrows. Repeat this with Dioxazine Purple to color the rest of the hair and eyes. (Allow some areas to be brighter than others.) Save this mix for next step.

7. Use the last mix from step 6 and a very dull paintbrush to add patterns on the hair. Position the Americana Segmented Swirls Stencil at the tips of her hair and use the paintbrush to stencil on the pattern. Repeat for the tail in Cobalt Turquoise Hue with the Americana Kaleidoscope Border Stencil.

8. Mix together Texture Sand Paste and Gold (Metallic) to color the little starfish. Use Carbon Black to fill in the eyes.

9. Mix together Yellow Green Light, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Green-Blue, Phthalo Green-Yellow, and Matte Medium to fill in the seaweed.

DOWNLOADS

RELATED PROJECTS