Use Code RDA2026 at checkout
In this hands-on course, you’ll dive into playful mark making using acrylics with brushes and everyday household tools. Experiment with patterns, textures, and layered surfaces, then transform your favourite marks into three bold abstract compositions. You’ll finish with a rich stash of ideas and visual experiments to spark future mixed media, textile, or creative projects.
No prior experience is needed — just curiosity, a willingness to play, and an openness to discovering what emerges through making.
By the end of the course, you’ll have:
a collection of painted papers full of marks and textures
a clearer sense of your own mark-making language
three finished abstract compositions you can build on in future work
Playful, pressure-free mark making using acrylic paint and everyday tools
Creating rich painted papers filled with pattern, texture, and colour
Learning how to recognise strong areas and “good bits” in your work
Developing those marks into three distinct abstract compositions
Gathering ideas you can return to again and again in your creative practice
This course is an invitation to slow down, experiment, and enjoy the process of making without worrying about the outcome. It’s designed to help you loosen up, get curious, and build confidence through playful exploration.
You’ll begin by making lots of marks using simple, accessible materials — allowing ideas to emerge naturally through repetition and variation. From there, I’ll guide you in selecting, editing, and combining your favourite marks into finished compositions.
If you’ve ever felt stuck staring at a blank page, unsure where to begin, this course offers a gentle way back into making — using play, texture, and curiosity as your starting points.
You’ll explore a wide range of mark-making techniques using acrylic paint and everyday tools such as brushes, cardboard, plastic items, and found objects. We’ll focus on pressure, movement, layering, and texture to create expressive surfaces.
Rather than aiming for finished pieces straight away, you’ll create a collection of painted papers full of marks, colour, and pattern — a resource you can dip into again and again.
Using your painted papers, I’ll guide you through creating three different abstract compositions:
a landscape-inspired composition
a fully abstract composition
a geometric, patchwork-style composition
Each one explores a different way of working and thinking about composition.
Step-by-step video lessons you can watch at your own pace
Clear demonstrations of mark-making techniques and composition methods
Guidance on selecting and developing your strongest marks
Three complete composition projects
A final lesson with ideas for taking your work further
Lifetime access to the course content
This course is perfect for you if:
you enjoy experimenting and working intuitively
you want to loosen up and try new approaches
you love texture, pattern, and surface
you work (or want to work) across mixed media, collage, or textiles
you’d like ideas you can translate into sketchbooks, embroidery, or fabric
Complete beginner? No problem. All you need is curiosity and a willingness to play.
This course isn’t about perfection or finished results — it’s about exploration and discovery.
Here’s a full breakdown of the lessons included in the course:
This opening section sets the tone for the course. You’ll be introduced to the ideas behind playful mark making and how we’ll move from experimentation to composition. I’ll also talk through the materials you’ll need and how to approach the course in a relaxed, exploratory way.
This section is all about exploration and experimentation. Using acrylic paint and a wide range of tools, you’ll create lots of marks, textures, and painted papers. There’s no pressure to “get it right” — the aim is to build a rich collection of surfaces and ideas that you’ll later use for your compositions.
In this final section, we slow down and begin shaping our explorations into compositions. Using the painted papers you’ve created, you’ll learn how to select, isolate, and combine marks thoughtfully. This section is about noticing, editing, and allowing ideas to develop over time.
The compositions you create in this course can be finished artworks in their own right, sketchbook explorations, or starting points for further development.
You might choose to:
stitch into your paper compositions
translate marks into embroidery
recreate ideas in fabric and textile work
develop colour palettes or pattern collections
If you find yourself drawn to the textile possibilities of this work, I’ll be developing a follow-on course focused on interpreting marks through stitch. For now, simply notice which ideas keep resurfacing — they often show you where to go next.
If you’re ready to explore mark making in a relaxed, playful way and develop your ideas into finished compositions, I'd love you to join me in Playful Marks for Creative Compositions.
Free for Sketchbook Challenge 2026 VIP members
I’m thrilled to be a guest artist for Susan Yeates’ Sketchbook Challenge 2026. If you join as a VIP member, you’ll get Playful Marks for Creative Compositions completely free as part of your membership.
Join VIP here using my affiliate link — if you sign up through it, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you