Recently I created a series of abstract paintings using a modified pointillist technique.  Pointillism was made popular by George Seurat and Paul Signac in the late l800's in France.  They painted small dots of color in patterns to form images. 

In my modified technique, I apply spots of color while the paint is still wet, letting them blend together so that the spots of color are not necessarily distinct.  Here's an example:

Recently I added another layer to this process by painting the whole canvas in an undercoating of parchment and white.  Then I added the dots of color while the undercoating was still wet.

Once I'd covered the whole canvas in spots of color, I took a larger, flat brush, and while it was barely wet, pressed it against the canvas.  This process blended the surface colors with the background. To keep the colors from becoming muddy, I cleaned the brush often throughout the process. 

You can see how the light background colors blended with the surface paint, creating a more muted effect. 

Here's another impressionist landscape painting using the same technique:

Here's a square painting I made using this technique, with a denser collection of surface paint: