I love iridescent and interference paints for the way they shift — a colour that seems to breathe as you move. Photographing them with a phone can feel impossible at first: the camera often flattens the shimmer or misreads the colour, and you end up with a dull patch where the surface had life....
Apr 26, 2026
• by Éloïse Martin
Latest News from Sonriseartists Co
I tested three lower-VOC, water-based varnish/fixative options that are easy to find in art shops: Liquitex Solvent-Free Spray Varnish (matte), Winsor & Newton Artisan Varnish (gloss, brush-on), and Golden Polymer Varnish (satin, brush-on). My aim was practical: how do they perform on mixed-media pieces where gouache, acrylic, ink and collage meet; do they change colour or sheen; how do they...
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I keep a running inventory of everything I use in the studio — from the archival gesso I prefer for panels to the exact make of sumi ink I reach for when I want a fast, staining line. Over the years I developed a simple, repeatable system for cataloguing and tagging mixed-media materials that saves me time, reduces waste, and helps me recreate textures or colour interactions across different...
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I run and take part in a lot of studio critiques — as a teacher, organiser and fellow maker — and I've learned that a carefully timed 60-minute session can be transformational for a body of work heading towards an exhibition. The trick is to make space for focused looking, honest but helpful feedback, and clear next steps. Below I share a structure I use regularly, along with prompts,...
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I spend a lot of time photographing test swatches, small paintings and pigment studies that contain metallic and iridescent particles. If you’ve tried this before you’ll know the problem: a beautiful shimmer in real life turns into a blown-out white hotspot in the photo, or the colour shift disappears entirely. Over the years I’ve developed a few reliable approaches using nothing more than...
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I often get asked during workshops: “Should I heat-set this layer or just let it air-dry?” It’s one of those deceptively simple questions that depends on the materials, the urgency of finishing, and how durable you want the work to be. Over years of studio experiments — and the odd panic with a bubbled collage — I’ve developed a risk-based framework I use to decide. Here’s how I...
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I recently switched the bulk of my underpainting work to Schmincke Horadam Gouache and ran a controlled studio test to see how it performs when layered for mixed-media pieces. I wanted to know whether that particular brand truly made a practical difference — not just in colour or finish, but in how it affects adhesion, reactivation, and the final visual depth when combined with acrylics, inks,...
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I take my mixed-media practice to festivals and outdoor events a lot — small commissions, quick commissions, live painting, or just sketching between talks. Over the years I’ve refined a kit that is compact, resilient and, crucially, forgiving of rain, mud, coffee spills and the odd bumpy ride on public transport. Below I’ll walk you through exactly what I pack, how I pack it, and the small...
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Water damage to a gouache painting can feel like a small disaster — colours that bled, paper cockled, edges that softened into a muddy haze. I’ve had my fair share of chilly mornings in the studio when a cup tipped, or a storage envelope let in damp during transport. Over time I’ve developed a practical, step-by-step approach that combines absorbent blotting, considered rehydration and the...
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I remember the moment I debated swapping my familiar student tubes for a row of glossy pro bottles: standing in the art-supply shop, squeezing colour onto a scrap of primed board, watching how a cadmium-equivalent flattened out differently depending on which tube I’d purchased the week before. It felt like a small rite of passage — but also an investment decision. When, exactly, should a...
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I’ve been asked more times than I can count: “Can I swap synthetic brushes for natural-hair when working in gouache?” It’s a great question, especially as gouache sits somewhere between transparent watercolor and opaque acrylic in its behaviour. I decided to run a practical test in my studio to answer it properly — not just theoretical pros and cons, but how the brushes actually...
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