Mix-ability - Texture... and an art swap!

This week's Mix-Ability challenge is to create texture in a mixed media piece... here's mine! I'm in an artists' swap group on Facebook, and I signed up for a coffee theme small canvas swap - I've already received my partner's artwork and this is the piece I'll be sending her way. This was so much fun! I'm wanting to paint more this year and maybe sell some smaller pieces (...?), and I thought creating small pieces to trade would give me courage to paint and break the urge to keep everything. :)

This is a 6 inch canvas - I started with a base layer of brushed acrylic paint and then stenciled and stamped to build texture in the background. When I liked the depth, I sketched the outline of the mug and painted around it with the darker brown wash, then added white highlights, steam, and shading to the mug.

The lilac was done with a small "scruffy brush" - it's a One-Stroke paint brush from a former life... :) I added the ladybug in with Derwent Graphik Line Painters... these are a fine tip acrylic paint pen, and they're great for detail work.

Speaking of lilacs... I got to see a billion of them growing in Judy's side yard on our way back to California! So sweet to meet her *finally* after years of friendship online.

Come play with the MIX crew!