Acrylic
Raanan often begins a new painting by pouring and splashing paint onto canvas or paper laid out on the floor.Using his hands and fingers instead of a brush. Once he expressed; "One of the things that amazes me most in creating art is the movement of my hands in the paint; they seem to become like magic wands conjuring up amazing images and scenes."
Also you can observe that the inner flow of creative expression is an outpouring of stream of consciousness. “I try to leave behind the dictates of logic in order to be guided by soulful intuition.” As the colors drip, swirl and meld, they form exciting images and new color combination which he shapes and brings to life.
Oil
Paint is squeezed from large tubes onto a palette and spread over the canvas or board. Usually Raanan works with a painting knife, which creates heavy textures and a dynamic surface with many layers and subtlety of color.
Sometimes he uses large house painting brushes loaded with color, dipped into a fluid painting medium enabling him to paint freely with expressionistic abandon.
Bookcovers
Raanan has been painting on book-covers for over fifteen years. He began in 1991, when on a visit to a bookbinder, he discovered that many covers were never used and were to be discarded. Originally intended for the Talmud, commentaries on the Bible, prayer books, and Kabalistic works, these covers are an exciting and challenging new surface to work on.
Often embossed and decorated with a variety of graphic designs and gold embellishments. He uses them as small canvases, playing with the various textures they provide, allowing letters or words to be visible and become part of the original new creation.
He has always loved painting on the covers because the medium lends itself to such varied forms of expression. He has used them to paint landscapes, faces, judaica, and in one series – poetic figures entitled,The People of the Book.
Collage
For many years Raanan has been making collages, of pasted paper of various medium. He attaches smaller canvas onto larger works. He creates 3D objects using book covers as well as various sculptures of mixed media