A process-focused guide to how watercolor, ink, and collage are layered in Can Maden’s mixed media works, with material choices, drying rhythms, and compositional strategies.
The process begins with archival paper that can hold repeated wet and dry passages. Watercolor provides transparent tonal fields, while ink locks in gestures and structural edges. Collage elements are introduced after the first washes to preserve translucency and prevent muddy color mixing.
Drying intervals are treated as compositional moments: washes set the atmosphere, ink introduces clarity, and collage interrupts the surface with tactile contrast. This alternating rhythm keeps the surface legible while allowing depth and soft transitions.
Large open areas of watercolor balance dense collage clusters. Ink lines guide the eye across the paper, preventing fragmentation and reinforcing a sense of movement found in the surrounding natural textures and urban rhythms of Istanbul.
Watercolor provides luminous atmospheres, ink introduces structure, and collage adds tactile specificity. Together they create a layered narrative that can move between abstraction and figurative hints without losing clarity.
The studio uses acid-free materials and archival adhesives. Collage is integrated after the first washes, allowing the paper to remain stable while preserving long-term durability.
Depth comes from overlapping transparent washes, selective ink contours, and collage fragments that cast subtle shadows and create spatial tension across the surface.