Mmmmm, Kumquats!

Long time, no post.  Oh well, it's actually been somewhat of a relief not to be thinking that I really should be posting.  In fact, I haven't done much painting lately either.  But this is another mixed media piece.  Can't remember if it's 16 x 20 or 20 x 24, but I think it's the latter.  The left bird definitely needs some grounding so he doesn't appear to be floating.  That's easily enough done, I just need to do it!  Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I love Kumquats!  We used to pick them from my  grandparents' tree when we were young.  Or maybe it was their neighbor's tree - oops.

Painted Prints

If you've not subscribed yet to Interweave's daily emails, think about doing so.  They are full of inspiration and ideas for painters, drawers, stitchers, those who keep journals - actually anyone who pursues visual creativity. 

One of the ideas that showed up in the inbox a week or so ago was to use fun foam (or funky foam) as stamps.  So for this playful exercise, I first drew out on tracing paper what I wanted to print/paint.  Then the image was transferred to the fun foam, which is just a thin sheet of foam with an adhesive backing (got it at Walmart in the craft section).  Next, I cut the shapes and placed the sticky backside on a piece of clear plastic.  I should have used a bit larger margins when cutting the clear plastic around the foam shapes, because it would have allowed more finger space to pick up and remove the pieces.  

I had five different colored backgrounds I wanted to experiment with.  Some of the foam pieces were 'carved' into (pressed into was really more like it) in varying shapes from lines to flowers, leaves, circles, etc.  I painted one piece at a time with acrylic paint, then turned it over and pressed it into the backgrounds, working from the edges inward.  It was somewhat like fitting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together.  Finally, I added a few stampings I had cut from wine corks.  Then a little touchup with a small brush where needed, and that's it.  The whole process was very interesting, but a little tedious.  Next time I would only do one, although the extras might make good gifts.

Hippie Bird

I made this little fella of paper mache when making the pomegranites and bowl a while back.  He was just an afterthought to use up the last bit of paper mush and glue.  

Well, I finally finished him.  He's got a cute little personality.  Kinda reminds me of a hippie or flower child.  

Untitled - Progressive Post

A few weeks ago, I got the itch to try some mixed media pieces.  This is the second effort.    The first step was to tear some papers and glue them onto the canvas board with a medium body gel (Golden).  It serves as a great glue, as well as a protective coat on the surface of the paper. I just put the paper wherever I darn well pleased, without a thought as to what I was doing.  Even overlapped some pieces. I used gift wrapping paper, printed tissue paper, old sheet music and wallpaper.  Then I stenciled in green acrylic paint (Dreamcoat) and printed the blue 'stripes' with string that I had wrapped around a small wood block.  

Next I dripped some Adirondack alcohol ink (from Michael's) and let it run (do this outside or you'll never get it off the counter / it is permanent!)  I just did it in the grass.  It dries in about 30 seconds.  Then with a thin layer of acrylic, I just filled in all the remaining white on the canvas.  This was the first coat.  At this point, I had absolutely NO IDEA where I was going with this.  But that was really the fun part... to just see where things lead.

Now.  This was by far the most difficult part.  Once I had decided what I wanted to paint, I drew it on with charcoal, and fixed it with a workable fixative.  What made it difficult was trying to draw something straight from my head (without using reference materials) on top of all that squiggly, very distracting first layer.

Whew!  Glad that's done. Below is a few of the first areas I painted, switching to oil paints.  

Then more, and slowly the painting starts to develop.  The first layer really lent texture to the piece.  

Lastly, I decided I didn't like the color of the table surface (or whatever it is), and changed it.  Finished the light and dark highlights and Voila!

Dream Cat

A few weeks ago, I woke up to this mental image and jumped out of bed to scribble a quick sketch on paper before it left my mind.  Good thing - my mind seems to empty much faster these days!

Within the Frame

This is the first mixed media work in a long time.  And this is the only photo I took along the way (but the next one will have more process photos).  Anyway, I glued down papers (music sheets, gift wrap, tissue paper), stenciled around and on top, dripped alcohol ink in a few places, then painted a thin layer of acrylic paint on all of the canvas surface that was still white.  I used a potato masher and a colander for some of the stenciling (that was fun!).

This is the final piece.  She really doesn't look this grumpy up close.  I used oils over the acrylics and let some of the charcoal show through from the drawing.  Without a doubt, the toughest part was drawing on the acrylic layer.  It was very hard to concentrate with all that busy background happening.  But as a first go at what I was wanting to try, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Won't be posting for a week or so.  I'm off to visit Santa Fe, and hope to come back with lots of ideas.

On the Farm

A photo of this chunky boy holding the pig just grabbed my attention.

Indoor Cat

This is one of the few paintings I've done lately.  It just seems hard to find enough time to do what I want, and I'm not always sure what that is.  So rather than force myself to do something that I don't have the vision or enthusiasm for, I've just been letting my muse sleep for a while.  There is a balance between diving in anyway, and letting things ride as they are.  Anyway, I figure to paint when the time is right and all gears are engaged.  Thanks to those who've missed me... it's nice to know I wasn't forgotten.

More Flowers

I made a few more paper flowers and was looking for something to put them in, but all I had was a glass vase from the grocery store hidden away in the utility room.  So I painted it and gave it a couple coats of Mod Podge.  Hopefully it will keep the paint from flaking off, since it's just acrylic and didn't really want to stick to the glass.  Makes me want to go get some glass paint and try a few projects, but I've had almost no time to paint lately.  It's getting very frustrating to have to do other things that are actually more important.  Grumble, grumble.  OK, I'm finished grumbling.  I guess I'll get to paint when there's time.

Fishing

This was a really fun painting to work on, and it took about 4 days to complete.  I kind of let my imagination go without concern for anything other than shapes.  Patterns come naturally for me because painting them feels like doodling.  Values are still my biggest weak spot, so I just ignored them as best I could!  I think I get an A for attitude on this one, but I'm quite sure it wouldn't pass muster with the pros.

'A Foggy Day'

This painting does not have as wide a range of values as I normally use, but it was a foggy day, and there were really no highlighted or very bright areas.  So c'est la vie!

Last night I finally finished a really fun painting of a little boy with his dog and some fish he caught.  It took a lot of patience (which was running thin for numerous reasons), but it's a painting I'm happy with, and can't wait to post.

Jordan and the Masai

A few years ago, we took our daughter to Kenya.  The airlines lost our luggage so we spent the entire first week of the safari in borrowed clothes.  It sure was nice to finally get our own!  One night, the local Masai came over to the camp to meet us and show us some of their wares and traditional dances.  They are such a colorful and engaging people.  Here Jordan is following instructions on how to make the beaded necklace 'bounce' off her chest by bringing her shoulders in and up.  It was funny, but she did a pretty good job getting the hang of it.

There was zero attempt on my part to make any of the subjects look like themselves.  I was just shooting for the feel and the cultural contrast.  

Jordan and her dad are going back this summer.  I'm sure there will be more photographs that will make good subjects.  She and he are both quite 'into' photography and take some great pictures.  

A Boy and His Dog

Jordan's 2nd and 3rd grade teacher gave me some of her deceased mother's paintbrushes, and this was the first chance I had to really try them out.  I love how the dog's hair turned out!  The brushes are flats with just enough spring in them, and they hold just enough paint, that they performed like I wanted them to.  Felt great!  

'Mexican Bowl'

My friend, Debra, has this fabulous Mexican bowl.  It was just sitting on the floor at the studio, so I borrowed it as a subject.  I've never seen a bowl like this oval one.  It's so cool!

I did try to paint the other day, and it was a total bust!  So yesterday I spent the whole afternoon redrawing my subject very slowly.  So far so good... hoping I can paint tomorrow.

'Wild Flowers'

Wild week around here!  Jordan turned 19 yesterday, and I'm trying to wrap up Christmas loose ends.  It's cold and cloudy (I LOVE this weather!), and we've got a perfect fire in the fireplace.  I thought some summer wildflowers would be a nice complement to the cold.

Merry Christmas!

'Before the Storm'

I loved how the light rays splayed out from behind the clouds in the photo my husband took.  He's really a quite good photographer.  I'd like to get him to just go spend one day with me doing nothing but taking photos for me to paint.  Plein Aire is the ultimate for so many painters, but I have to admit I hate bugs and cannot tolerate much heat, so that pretty much eliminates Plein Aire for me.  Plus, I doubt I'd be fast enough to capture anything before the light changed too much.  But I am impressed by people who can go spend hours outside without A/C and a proper WC.  Guess I just missed the 'outdoorsman' gene in my family!

Cutest Costume Ever!

My sister emailed me a photo of her husband's nephew's wife and their 8 month old son, Dawson, dressed up for Halloween.  I've never met them, but couldn't resist painting them.  This absolutely has to be the cutest costume ever.  Apparently, the parents toted the shrimp in the stock pot up and down the street trick-or-treating and he had a blast.  Dad was dressed in a chef's outfit as well, but he wasn't in this photo.  I did send the painting home to them.

Teapot

Something a little different today.  I've had absolutely no time to paint lately, and really miss it.  This is a practice/play piece I did about a year ago.  It's too blue for me, but it is what it is, and it really was just an experiment.

Shadow Study

This was painted from a photo I found on the web (which I hope is ok, since I don't sell those particular paintings).  The little cutie just captured my attention, and I loved the simplicity the shot offered.

I am really struggling with values.  Seeing things in terms of their tonal values is an absolutely unnatural thing for me.  It takes great concentration and lots of squinting (which I don't like to do, for some reason).  Peggi Kroll Roberts has a great instructional DVD set that includes one specifically on doing a value study before you paint.  My initial reaction was, "Oh that's not fun!"  But having done 4 or 5 now, I can really say that it is a huge help.  Disciplining myself to paint in just black, white and grays is the tough part.  Once done, then matching the tones of the study is actually quite easy AND FUN.  

Pomegranates - Instructions

There were some very nice comments on the pomegranates, both on the blog and otherwise. And several folks mentioned they'd like to make some.  So here are the two references I used, both found on the internet, of course!  Have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!  And thank YOU for the kind comments and encouragement!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmFRkxftJq0

http://ultimatepapermache.com/cheap-art/easy-paper-mache-clay-recipe

The Ultimate Paper Mache site has loads of neat projects and suggestions.

Jeanette's Grandmother

A few months ago, my husband and I visited his brother and our sister-in-law in Ft. Collins, CO.  Our sister-in-law had an old sepia or black & white photograph of her grandmother that had been taken when she was a young woman.  This painting was done from that photograph.  I had to guess at the colors, or more accurately, just make them up.  But the painting did turn out looking quite like the photo, and I hope it is close to what my sister-in-law was wanting.  They were very gracious hosts to us.  It was a pleasure to do something for them in return.

Paper Mache Pomegranates

I started this paper mache project a few weeks ago when there was just so much going on in the house that I could not find a solid block of time in which to paint.  After searching the internet for paper mache recipes and ideas, I settled on trying to make some pomegranates and a bowl.  It was a glorious mess... a sticky, doughy, pasty, papery, floury mess all over the kitchen.  I started with packing newsprint and wadded it into balls, then taped the paper together with masking tape.  Then I cut toilet paper tubes for the crowns and taped them on the balls.  The paper mache recipe includes toilet paper, joint compound, flour, water, glue and salt.  It had the texture and look of a crab dip.  And it stuck to my hands and fingers like a crab dip would.  But it was really fun to make such a mess.  For the bowl and the bird (which I haven't finished yet), I used paper strips first, then the joint compound mixture on top of that.  When everything was thoroughly dry, I gessoed and painted the bowl and the fruit, then finished it all with a couple coats of Mod Podge.  My friend, Katie, saw the project before anything was painted, and made two suggestions.  One was to use a little bit of gold paint to add a glint, and I could not for the life of me remember the second suggestion.  But I'm sure it was good!  Anyhow, I did edge some of the crowns with gold and the 'seeds' are edged as well.  Hard to see in the photos, but it was a great suggestion, Katie... thank you!

I'm very happy with how it all turned out.