Movement in Mixed Media

It's been a very busy summer at our house. I've been taking a break from painting due in part to summer activities, and most recently, a very sore right hand. It's funny how important my right hand is to my creative processes! This past few days I've been slowly building up layers on a 24"x36" canvas using my left hand and rags. I slosh on some paint, move it about, and wipe it off in places. Between layers I consider the principles and elements of design. But both the painting and the planning feel all wrong and I think it has to do with using my left hand so much. Argh! Hopefully I'll be right as rain soon. If not, I hope that at least i'll hear soon that using the hand won't cause any damage despite the pain.

Anyhow, after I collaged some highly textured Japanese papers onto my canvas i began to add paint. The images below show some of the stages of development this canvas has gone through. The surface is quite rough and these images don't show that aspect.

Tomorrow I'll post my plans for finishing this piece. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

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I Believe In Summer (16x20, acrylic)

Today I feel the need to state my firm belief in summer. Usually on the first of May one doesn't have to have such faith without sight. There have been signs of spring though - full days of warm and virtually all our snow was gone before it began again on Sunday night. Sigh, it's been a long winter!

Okay, now that I got that outta my system I'll say this; the colours in this bright, happy summery painting have done me a world of good over this past few days of snow and cold. Hopefully we've seen the last of it for a while:-). Ciao!

 

 

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Circling Promise with Prayer (11x14, acrylic)

I may be finished with this one. I think it's got pretty good flow, it feels right, and I must stop and let it percolate for a few days. What do you think?

 

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Summery start

In this start, I am working with a triad of colours: quinacridome red, hansa yellow, and thalo blue. I'm liking it as a bright, summery colour scheme. Time will tell if I can pull it off so stay tuned for updates on progress over the next week. Happy weekend!

 

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Acrylic WIP, 11x14

I'm working on a canvas that I stretched myself this time. It's an interesting surface - the golden gesso has a lot of grab and a bit more absorbency than other canvasses I've used. I am really enjoying it and I can see a lot of potential for exploration.

In general, here are the steps for these "from chaos" paintings:

• Texture - drizzle tar gel, scrape through masks, stamp various acrylic mediums to make an interesting surface. Dry.

• Transparent glazes - I select 3-5 colors that I've learned will work well together (IMHO) and paint several layers on my textured surface. First layer is diluted with water and typically quite loose. The tar gel and other textures absorbs the paint differently and act as natural barriers as the colours run, making for some interesting patterns. The second and subsequent layers are mixed with glazing fluid and are somewhat thicker fluid. These layers are mental doodling to push and pull the shapes that emerge on the canvas. I'm thinking about composition at this stage.

 

Next step for this painting...

• Translucent and/or opaques - near the end of a painting, the acrylics can be mixed with white. The sky is the limit here... no, seriously! If I need to lighten an area and I feel a transparent would look best, I paint the area white and once dry I glaze over it transparently. Or, if I'm looking for an opaque, I blend the pigment with white. Transluscents are beautiful too... Very thin mixes of white and color can cover an area with a beautiful veil of color.

And now it's time to paint.... Have a great day!

 

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Remember Me (24"x24", mixed media on canvas)

Remember Me roses are so beautiful, and what a name! I believe this one is complete. It's been fun!

Happy Monday!

 

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Roses WIP update

This painting has changed lots since my last post. I must confess some serious frustration with this one! I have no photo reference for it because it began from chaos with my rose stamp. As a result I've struggled between representation (ie roses in vase) and abstraction (as it started out). In other texture and layers I saw the sphere (now a rose bowl) and its evolved from there. However, I've spent a lot of time "up in my head" thinking through light direction, glass, colour, etc. I've enjoyed all the painting and I feel like its coming together for me now, although I have a few things to change before I'm done.

Tomorrow is my birthday. Ron has the day off and we are going into Edmonton to shop and then out for dinner. Delta art has a big sale on and I think dropping by there will be a fun diversion. I have an order waiting for me but I'll definitely have a look around :-).

Enjoy!

 

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Mixed Media start on 24"x 24" canvas

Suffice to say... I'm messing with acrylic mediums, texture tools, and collage. Another beginning from chaos painting. These take a while to evolve - all options are open for a long, long time. It's confusing, messy, and usually ends up like this has...abstracted reality. It kind of resembles life. Have a great day!

 

 

 

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Collage today...

I'm working on a 24"x36" canvas today. I've given it several layers of acrylic paint and yesterday I drew up the North American and European coasts. Today I've been designing with national geographic "paint", aka collage. Here's how North America is looking right now... I'm having fun!

 

 

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Brave another way...

I did some experimental "playing" this week, pouring acrylic on canvass and literally watching it dry. Wow, the pigment can take quite a trip across the canvass. the colours move, blend, and displace each other, depending on the water content and the relative weight of the pigments. Anyway, I find it fascinating. The result of two painting sessions was this canvas...

 

This morning I put on some music and asked myself what this pretty coloured canvas wanted to be (okay, okay... I know that sounds crazy) immediately a quote from T.S. Eliot came to mind "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." So, I hand wrote another "risk" quote: "Be you, bravely", and painted the entire background. What remains is a colourful script.

Of my various attempts, I like this one the best. I have just a tad of puttering, and the sides to do before I call this one done. Cheers!

 

 

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YOU (acrylic, 12"x12")

This was a fun one, experimenting with watery acrylic on thick mat board. The paint definitely moves completely differently from what it does on watercolour paper.

First I prepared experimental "masks" using my glue gun on glass for the three words, I let that set up overnight and then carefully scraped it off the glass with a sharp paint scraper (ie razor blade). That worked relatively well. These looked like clear jellies. Kinda fun!

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Then I laid in very light washes on the mat board and let the colours run around and bleed into each other. After I let them dry, I placed the letters on the mat board and used my mouth atomizer to spray thinned acrylic around them. It was fun but I wouldn't call it a resounding success. I used some opaques of the colours towards the end and I feel that deadened the colours to some extent. Still experimenting and enjoying the process!

Have a great evening everybody!

 

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Be (acrylic, (11"x14")

"People have one thing in common: They are all different". Robert Zend

Some of the simple sounding things in life are profound when you sit down to think them over. For example, " Be you, bravely" can be read as BE you, bravely, be YOU, bravely, or be you, BRAVELY. Each of these emphasizes something different.

I'm going to be painting on this topic off and on over the next week. Today i emphasized the first word. Emphasis on BE puts me in mind of action- step into it, embrace yourself, make it happen, act intentionally on yourself, assume your own identity, accept yourself as you were created...you get the picture. It's not a word suggesting standing still for me. It's about action...

This was started as a drippy, runny mix of three colours - orange, blue, and yellow. In places they've blended and run into each other, creating less intensities in the colours (complimentary colours added to each other create neutral greys, browns, etc). At the risk of push my philosophical mood too far, I think personalities reflect the same blending and the result is our uniqueness as people. Then you add in societal "shoulds", or external pressures, and we can easily end up in a muddle, not knowing how to just BE. It takes some thinking to act intentionally upon a canvas, why would life be any different? What do I want this canvas called Cheryl to become? Where am I at now? And where do I want to be? BE.

 

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WIP Misty Matsushima (oil, 10"x10")

This one started out on mat board as a light, watery layer of acrylic, much like I did with Rocky Tak Coast. Thieves islands are just a bit north of rocky Tak in Matsushima Bay.

 

Once the initial wash dried, I followed up with 2 coats of GAC100 on both sides to seal it. (Apologies, this photo is too dark)!

I blocked in the land masses today with oil paint, covering most of the underpainting. Once this dries to touch, I will go back in and do the water..... blessings!

 

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Sheep River Sideshow [acrylic, 9”x12”]

I built up lots of texture on this panel before beginning to paint this landscape.  I blocked in the darkest areas by squinting and then applying the darkest values onto the board loosely and vaguely.  Today I began to apply the middle colors and I’ve got a lot more of that to do as well as establishing the areas of waterfall.  Honestly, I’m getting way too detailed on this and I’ve got to let go of that or else it’s going to be way too tight.  Pushing the pause button for now…  cheers!

Free Swing [acrylic, 24”x24”]

I’ve called this work-in-progress painting “Free Swing” for lack of a better handle. As you can see from the first photo below, I started this one out with just two colors – blue and  transparent red iron oxide.  I wet the canvas first, then drizzled fluid acrylics straight from the bottle and used an atomizer to make the paint run around on the surface.  I took this photo just before I left it to dry. 

The idea for the trees came simply from the vertical paint pattern that the streaks of paint made when they dried.  I used chalk to outline what I hope were pleasing shapes and basically cut around the trees with opaque paint.  The tire swing suggested itself after that coat of paint – there was a section of paint that showed through and I decided to work with it as an opportunity. 

I’m not sure where this one is going but I’ll post an update when I figure it out…  cheers!

Where it’s at with the fishes…

I’ve wrestled a few short painting sessions from the clutches of December and this is where the painting is currently at… 

Although this month has been much less intense than the past 3, I’m still finding lots of ways to keep myself busy!  The progress since my last posting on December 9 has been pretty slow.  I’m trying to build the fish up with incremental layers of translucent and transparent glazes to get the appearance of the roiling mass of Koi.  The various colors of the fish and how they appear both above and below the water means much studying of the photos and digging back through my memories from when I took them.  I enjoy this process, but it is extremely slow – I hope you’re not getting bored with this.  One more post and I’ll wrap these guys up…  I promise!

Defining the fish with areas of dark…

Finding more shapes… with translucent glazes.

Continuing Koi

Here’s how I spent my hour painting today…

First I printed one of my photos of Koi ponds from our visit to Hakone.  I used that to better inform the previous vague fish shapes and to make decisions about the value pattern that is developing.

Then I painted negatively around these shapes using thalo turquoise and transparent red Iron oxide.  I also painted into a few of the fishes with tinted white…  using the same two colors but adding some indian yellow for the fish bodies.  I’m enjoying this painting.  It’s the type of painting that can be done in small increments which is just what I need right now. 

Still lots to do on this painting but we’re off to look after grandson Parker [21 months] for the evening so his folks [daughter Kim and SIL Kyle] can take in a Christmas Party.  Should be fun!

Falls [acrylic, 11"x14"]

I'm in beautiful British Columbia, more specifically, Fairmont Hot Springs.  I brought this along to putter on and I finally had the right palette to do that today so I took a rest from collage and began fiddling with the bottom right where I had added some texture with plastic wrap.  I started to paint into that area and immediately began to see water trickling between the "rocks".  Never argue with a painting when it's trying to tell you what it wants to be when it grows up!  Consequently, I added a waterfall to the top of the piece.  It's too early to tell whether it will even be a painting when and if it grows up but...  it was fun.  Hopefully by tomorrow I'll know where to go from here.  We're off to the springs for a therapeutic soak.....  enjoy!

Talisman Roses [16”x20”, acrylic]

This painting has evolved from the chaos created by random stamping, painting into that surface and then, after the focal point declares itself, exploiting it.  I have absolutely no idea whether or not I’m done with this one…  it’s been a challenge to work with this complementary pair – Golden’s Pyrrole Orange & Ultramarine Blue.  I also used just a touch of carbon black in some areas. 

Here are a few of the early photos… 

 

On the right photo I’ve just played around with the two main colors and the beginnings of some stamping.  The second photo [on the right above] I’m arbitrarily  imposing some light areas based on a viewfinder design.  The painting sat like that for some time because I lost all emotional connection to it.  Then I carved myself an abstracted rose/spiral stamp and grabbed this start to play around with it.  Originally, I simply stamped over some of these circular shapes with my rose stamp and started to play with a grid pattern in places.  Eventually, one of those geometric shapes morphed into the vase and I continued to adapt the grid…  primarily I toned down some of the orange with neutral lights and darks…  it was just everywhere!!! 

Below left I’m working back and forth on the grid and then on the floral shapes…  on the right I’m adding darks in the focal area and further developing the grid. 

   

In this latest stage, I lightened some areas in the background grid, straightening some lines, breaking some areas of the darks and evening the flat neutral areas.  I’m at the stage where I will live with it for a while before moving on….  any and all suggestions and/or critiques are welcome.  Cheers!