"Fiber Preparation" (draft 1)

Today's posting is a "process piece" in preparation for a 16" x 20" canvas. I know from my own experience that it is instructive to see some of the very first steps in a process. It doesn't look like much today, but by tomorrow it will have full blown color. Never despise small beginnings...just keep going. 

My desire at this point is to move away from too much uniformity with horizontal bands. So in this piece I am shaking it up a bit by having random patterning and color. This is also a tight weave and lightweight muslim. I brushed black gesso on one side followed by drying it with a hair dryer and then sanding. To give it more stability, I repeated the process on the back side.

And then I began to ask the "What if..." question which led me to swiping some Super Heavy Gesso on a portion of the fiber. If you look closely, you will see a chevron pattern stamped into the gesso. The gesso is receiving the stamping in different ways depending on the thickness of the gesso. By tomorrow morning all of this will be "bone dry" and ready to paint. There will be a marked contrast in the way the fiber without the gesso and the fiber with the gesso receives the paint. 

In the meantime, I am continuing work on two other large works. It takes many days for layers of paint to dry and prepare the fiber. And that is the beauty of working on more than one piece at once. While one thing is drying, you simply go to one of the other pieces. 

My large journal will now have another addition (with notes) after I finish the piece of fiber you see today. And then I will switch to the actual piece, select the text, allow for drying time, and post the process as it goes along. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gestural Painting"

(Abstract Study with Palette Knife and Water Soluble Oils on Cradled Gessobord)

There is no quote for this piece, but I do have several recognizable words such as dynamic...serendipity...and energy. They all describe where I am trying to go now with my palette knife work. This is just the starting point and will end up looking more like an abstract landscape in much larger sizes.

I began this piece with the light blue covering the entire surface of a 16" x 20" cradled gessobord. Working in water soluble oils, I painted in some rectangular shapes of the different colors you see in the painting. After those were in place, I wrote into the paint with a pointed shaper tool since the paint was very thick.

The next part is exciting. I took a palette knife that looks very much like a spatula for spreading icing on a cake and swiped horizontally through all of the layers of paint. There was more writing created with an extremely sharp pointed palette knife followed by more swipes with the larger knife.

In addition to removing paint, I also added some of the same colors back in to make sure the light blue was dominant and the orange created some alternating effects. This type of painting is a rather chaotic process, but there are several things that make it work.

The most important is the use of a limited palette. All of these colors are appearing in various tints, shades, and intensities. If colors are used in all of their intensity throughout the painting, a "garish" look is the result.

The other important factor is the design principle of dominance. One color must dominate a piece in order to have unity. There is also a wide range of values as seen on the gray scale. That too is important. If the darks are not dark enough or the lights are not light enough, the piece lacks the contrast of value that is so critical in creating depth. And values are the most subtle of the design elements and can sneak up on any artist.

This piece may or may not ever be exhibited, but it does take me back into palette knife painting with a renewed energy. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Rejoice" (Preliminary Textures 3)

(Preliminary Textures 3)

Today's posting is the first cut and reassembled piece and ready to go in the kiln. Since I added amber powder in some of the first textures, I have included amber tint glass to complement the blue. There are (16) separate pieces of cut glass in this 5" x 7" piece.

If you now look back at some of the watercolor pieces...it becomes clear that glass is the inspiration for me. Of course, this is only one way to do it. It is interesting to see the similarities between mediums. There really isn't much to say about today's process except to emphasize how important it is to create several pieces with the same textures in order to have enough at the end. This is especially important when working on a collection. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Rejoice" (Preliminary Textures 2)

(Preliminary Glass Texture for "Rejoice")

Glass is still flying out of the kiln at a fast clip....but no faster than (12) hours. For that reason, every kiln load has to be carefully considered when creating a three layer glass collage. You can see the addition of readable lettering today.

Tomorrow, I will have some that will be even more readable on the top layer of at least one of the three separate sections making up this collaboration. In the final presentation, these pieces will be in a steel wall sculpture with three different sized openings.

Unlike yesterday's posting, the image today is the beginning of cutting and layering glass in such a way as to have texture and lettering in different depths of the collage. And this is the advantage of layering in glass. As hard as I've tried to achieve this in mixed media, it simply cannot compare to the richness of glass.  Having said that, there are also some things that can be done with papers and mixed media techniques that cannot be done in glass. It's all a great journey and ever so much fun to experiment with.

So today...instead of having three pieces of glass laying on top of each other in the same size...I have cut glass and inserted textures from other pieces and also used the white opaque as the bottom piece. Tomorrow, I hope to have some smaller areas that have clear glass on the bottom layer with slight texture on the other two layers to create a contrast between pure transparency and opacity. There will also be some areas that are quite translucent. For this reason it is wise to have a multitude of choices before you.

Since I already have a lot of textured pieces, I am presently firing some pieces with very simple additions of glass line paint mixed with powders and thinned to a translucent mixture. This is then brushed on to the glass, but not over the entire glass. It is very important to keep some areas as clear glass so that the layering effect has the potential of creating more depth.

You can now see why my brain is tired from thinking. Hopefully, this will encourage my glass loving friends to carry on with the knowledge that you are not the only one turning yourself into a pretzel by this type of thought process. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Rejoice" (Preliminary Textures)

(Preliminary Textures)

The image today is three layers of glass. I am working on a collaboration with another artist who works in steel. What you see today may end up as only a portion of the piece with different layers of transparency and opacity. The key word will be "rejoice", which will appear throughout the piece.

Today you can see only a semblance of letters in the background. Even if you are not a glass artist, I am sure you can see the strong similarities between mixed media and three layer glass collage work. The advantage of glass is the transparent and reflective qualities that make it so seductive.

The layer of texture you see on the top of the image was created with glass line paint applied with a palette knife right out of the jar. Parts of it were thick which created the crackle. After drying this with a hair dryer, I flipped the glass over and applied the same paint diluted with water and driftwood powder mixed in. A bamboo pen was used to write into the paint. This piece was then fired at a full fuse.

In the next fuse, I flipped this same piece of glass so that the thicker "crackle" area was on the top and added some opaque white powder followed by crystal clear powder over the whole piece. It was then refired at a full fuse and that is what you see today.

Of course, what makes the lettering show up is the transparent blue tint glass underneath which is laying on the third piece of glass which is opaque white. What this selection of glass will do is allow me to have some places that are totally transparent with perhaps a bit of texture in one of the layers in contrast to completely opaque.

If it sounds confusing, it is. The thought process of thinking in layers is exhausting, but also rewarding. Experimentation is the key. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Erratic Lines"

(unavailable....4" x 6"....on 300 lb. HP.....mounted on masonite)

"Erratic lines have their own poetry." This is true especially when they are showcased against a very vibrant color. It is quite fun to see how many erratic lines you can spot in your everyday surroundings. Look at tree limbs...cracks in the concrete...the movement in an electrical cord reaching to the socket, etc. They have energy and that's why we like them!

This piece was inspired by my desire to experiment with Super Heavy Gesso (Liquitex). I applied it with a palette knife on 300 lb. HP. A texture tool was used to create the vertical lines and then I swiped through some of those lines with a palette knife and also made some gestural marks with the corner of a palette knife. This was left to dry overnight. (It is very thick and cannot be dried with a hair dryer.)

The following morning, I painted the yellow/green over the entire piece with a sponge brush (3x) using Fluid Acrylics and drying in between. The erratic black lines were also Fluid Acrylic and diluted slightly and applied with a palette knife and also pouring a bit from the bottle. The texture created by the gesso helped create the shape and direction of the black paint. Notice that the lines go from top to bottom and also create a few shapes in several different sizes. Creating shapes informed my choice of where the paint was applied. And this application of black paint also had to dry overnight.

The line of lettering was kept straight and written expressively with a pointed pen, Moon Palace Ink, with a very small x-height. Erratic lines and mark making are wonderful for mixed media work of all kinds. Mark making can be created with an infinite variety of odd things you probably have lying around your house or yard. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Creative Spirit"

(unavailable.....4" x 6".....on 300 lb. HP......mounted on masonite)

The windows of time open for the creative spirit." So many times there is a misconception that creativity is only for artists. Actually, anyone can be creative in any endeavor, especially if there is a willingness to embrace the unknown.

This is a totally experimental piece created with heavy body acrylics. Yellow Titanate was applied first with a palette knife, followed quickly by Burnt Sienna and Cobalt Turquoise plus Titan Buff. Most of the "smudgy" effect was created by moving the paint around with my fingers (wearing gloves)and making some gestural marks.

The sgraffito effect was very much in play. The erratic lines and lettering were scratched into the wet paint with the corner of a credit card and a Speedball C5 nib. At this point there were a lot of stark edges so I brayered over most of the piece while spraying alcohol. That technique will soften some edges and tone down any areas that are too bright.

My goal was to play around with low intensity color and pops of more intense color. It was fun and gave me a feel for the type of abstract work I am leaning towards. Shapes and edges were still a priority as they should be whether it's abstract or realistic work. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gracias" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

Today's posting represents the underneath layer of a new color block piece. You can see that all of the colors are muted except for one large strip of bright green.  (It's much brighter in the original.)  The quote has not been written, but will appear in the final.

After creating several color block pieces, I have learned to paint the underneath layer to all of the pieces in one "fell swoop". It saves time. It also helps me to choose my colors and see how they work together. I am pleased with the color choices and this is an experiment in using all diluted colors except for one. And that one color is a WN acrylic called Green Middle. It was on sale. I cannot possibly imagine me buying such a peculiar color at this point, but it will be the star of the show in this piece.

These painted papers will need to dry all day and tomorrow morning I will apply the top coat and reveal part of the undercoat by using a sgraffito technique. I haven't determined the size yet, but an 11" x 14" is coming to mind. That decision will need to be made today so I can paint the cradled board with dark green. (It almost looks black, but it is actually a mixture of the bright green color plus black.) You cannot see the bronze effect on the computer, but the strip that is second from the end on the right is a Daniel Smith acrylic called Duochrome Desert Bronze. It has a green and bronze look and will add an iridescence to the piece.

Most of the decisions at this stage of the game are minimal, but that will step up dramatically by tomorrow. Some other directions for this type of grid design could also apply to photography or old book elements (especially the covers).

It is an inspiring way to work and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes experimentation. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. (Clicking onto the label called "color blocks" will bring up other pieces I've already completed.)

"Color Poetry" (draft 3)

(draft 3)

This piece now has a title which will definitely narrow down the multitude of directions it could have taken. And that is the beauty of decision making. With each decision the lens of the visual artist gets more and more focused.

My most important decision today was choosing a color to go with the red/orange color of the first two postings. After posting yesterday, I did go back in and beef up the color of the red with a few passes of dilute fluid acrylic (burnt sienna). Most of my time this morning was spent creating the purple color. The purple I chose was Dioxazine (Golden) which is very intense. I did mix in a lot of Burnt Sienna to gray it down a bit and create a common denominator with the color from the first sheet.

The technique of creating the second sheet was the same as the first which created another common denominator of texture. It was then just a matter of selecting a cradled board (2") which is a 12" x 12". I began the process of cutting these two sheets into smaller pieces by using two "L's" as a cropping tool. The lower left hand corner piece was selected first. And then I made the decision to have the burnt sienna pieces be the dominating color and you can also see that those pieces touch all four sides of the design space.

My plan today is to paint a small still life on the piece (with a palette knife). This means I will be switching to heavy body acrylics. But before I do that, there is a possibility I might brayer on some more gesso. I will not make that decision until this afternoon. This gives me time to look at my posting today on my iphone which gives me a different perspective than looking at the actual piece in the studio.

All of the pieces are adhered to the board except for the one that will contain the small still life. And then I will need to come up with an original quote. To this day I still cannot believe that for one year I wrote the quote first followed by the visual. It is so much better to create the visual first. This also holds true for concepts and writing an interpretation for your piece. Trust me.....and do the visual first. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"New Leaf" (final)

($50.00......6" x 6".....mixed media on 140 lb HP....mounted on a flat panel gessobord)

"A new leaf is a fresh start." Most of us have made declarations about turning over a new leaf. It is a fresh start if the goal is reached. It's a known fact that it takes 21 days to break an old habit. It has worked for me, but not in every situation. So this piece is about associating a fresh start with breaking an old habit.

Color wise I like this piece a lot, but it is very risky to include stamped designs of very particular images in a piece of fine art. Even though this is a hand cut stamp based on a real leaf, it can become a bit cliched. Actually, it is much better to paint an actual image that requires skill level than become too "cute" with these kind of devices.

When dealing with techniques that deal with texture, I prefer to stick with geometric forms which have a long history in the arts because all images (painted, stamped, or drawn) are made up of shapes. And the more an artist goes towards the pure geometry of a shape, the more abstract it becomes.

Pure color blocks with no texture, however, can become quite sterile and boring. So one of my purposes right now is to fine the happy place where I feel totally satisfied with my divisions of space and the shapes formed within shapes that are indicative of this type of work.

So instead of beating up myself too badly about using such a purely decorative device as a leaf stamped on and into the paint, I simply consider it something I will probably not do again. And there is the other reason for blogging and working on my work every day.

It is a disconnect in learning how to do art, if the creative process is interrupted for too long a period of time. It makes much more sense to do a daily analysis of your work and identify the weak and strong points so as to redirect the course of the work. It has and always will be about process. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this work.

"New Leaf" (Part 1 of 2)

(Part 1 of 2)

The quote will come tomorrow, but what you are viewing today is a few pieces of watercolor paper with texture created with heavy body acrylics, a palette knife, commercial texture stamps, a handmade leaf stamp, and the sharp corner of an old credit card. What I will be posting tomorrow will be a finished 6" x 6". I obviously have way too many pieces, but the idea is to have a multitude of options. 

The piece I completed yesterday ("The Coast") is now being displayed at Solas Gallery in Salado. There is a range of my work being displayed there with Photographic Portraiture, since it is a Photography Gallery. What the owners of the gallery and I have discovered is that abstract work with very realistic photography is a wonderful mix.

Today I want to share a few things I've learned about the "color block" pieces I've been creating. One of the primary decisions that will help to feature the blocks with more detail or strong color is to surround those particular ones with neutral colors or blocks with minimal detail. For instance, "The Coast" had a featured block that was actually a small painting that could have stood on its own. What I did was surround that particular block with colors and texture that complemented the featured block but did not compete with the fact that it was the feature.

Since many of you have experimented with pouring medium, you would not want to place blocks of pouring medium together that all had swirling color. Some of those blocks might need to be solid colors that complement the one or two blocks that had several colors.

Another example would be the large piece I created for "The Psalms". All of the old text pages, and rice paper, as well as the hand lettering of the first verse of Psalm 91 were all placed within the gray/black or neutral blocks. The yellow/green and blue/green blocks had no text...no rice paper...and minimal texture.

So it is these kind of decisions that will help to create a successful "color block"....should you want to give it a try. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Coast" (final)

(unavailable......6" x 24"......acrylics.....mounted on a 2" cradled gessobord)

"Childhood memories take me back to the color, sounds, and smell of the coast." Yes, I did change the title since yesterday. And that's how it goes with the creative process. It's like playing musical chairs until everybody is in the right chair.

This is a very unusual size, but I quite like it. (6" x 24") Since yesterday, I completely finished the piece and totally enjoyed the process of bringing texture to all of these color blocks. The section I posted yesterday is like a painting within a painting. You can see how the jagged line of the coastal rocks represented by the brown in that one section creates a totally contrasting shape from all of the the straight edges.

Of course, there are lots of contrasting lines within each block, but that one section pulls it all together. So in essence what I have done is actually fragmented the image of the first block by enlarging parts of the seascape to show more detail. For instance, the white and blue blocks represent the sky while the brown areas represent the "jetties" and detail that is not present in the abstract seascape.

In one of the blocks, I added a third layer of paint after the first two layers were dried and then brayered that color and sprayed alcohol alternately until the desired texture was achieved. You can see that block positioned directly above the burnt sienna color. The third color I added to that block was white, but you can see that as the alcohol broke up the paint underneath, that the white turned gray and created a very weathered look.

It is also helpful to have a variety of your favorite cradled clayboards on hand so you can go ahead and mount the piece. This morning, I have painted the sides of the clayboard white which gives a very fresh look and complements the coastal mood. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Coast" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

There is no quote for this piece yet, but there will be after all of the other color blocks are added and arranged into a larger piece. Hang on for the ride!

Technique is defined in the dictionary as a manner of artistic execution in music, painting, etc. And yet it is so much more. It is even more than simply practicing a skill, because any skill practiced wrong will not yield the desired result.

For me, piano and art have come together in my journey. There are so many similarities. For instance, the speed at which the piano keys are struck has everything to do with the beauty as well as the loudness and softness of the tone. The same is true in palette knife painting. It's the lightness of the touch as the knife skims over another layer of wet paint that determines the quality of the edge or the revealed color underneath.

So it is instructive to practice on a scrap bit of paper or canvas and watch what happens when you press down harder while applying wet paint on top of wet paint and then compare that to doing the same thing with the lightest touch you can manage. It is the degree of attention to the touch that makes a hugh difference in both art and music.

Those lettering friends of mine will know this to be absolutely true in hand lettering as well. The graduated stroke with a pointed pen can be one of the most exasperating things to learn, but oh how lovely it is when it is done well. So part of our studio time must be spent on perfecting some of these skills by isolating them one by one. When learning a new hand, it is better to begin with pencil so you can isolate and perfect the form of the letter. Trying to add in the press/release technique and loading a pen, maintaining a consistent pen angle will drive you insane if you're not familiar with the form of the letter first.

And the same is true for the palette knife. It's all about which color is laid down first, the touch involved with the next layer, and how much paint to apply as well as the viscosity of the paint. And then trying this over and over again....every day. It is also helpful to remind ourselves that visual art means to observe with the eyes what is happening as the work is done. And then analyzing how others have accomplished similar techniques.

All that I have said today is precisely why I blog every single day. It's the act of doing it everyday before distractions pop up that speeds up the progress. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Old Shack" (final)

(final)

(unavailable at this time.....finished size is 8" x 16")

"Collections of memories often reside in places like an old shack." I am not quite sure where we lived when I was around age six or seven, but I do know that there was an old shack out back that seemed like the perfect place to set up my table and chairs, along with dishes, and serve mud pies to my dolls and stuffed animals. You probably have a similar story of an old shack with tools or other paraphernalia that captured your imagination.

So forget everything I said yesterday about setting this piece aside for awhile. I kept looking at it last evening and this morning I knew that it would be better to change up the sizes of the color blocks a bit by making another cut or two and then create a larger color block on the right hand side by having the low intensity red color touch three sides of the design space. That is also true of the blue areas and by cutting a bit off of one of the other blocks, I now have some alternation going on.

I also came up with a quote that happened to fit perfectly at the top of the small painting of the shack. However, this surface (because of the heavy acrylic) was a bit "bumpy" to write on so I did not spray it this morning and if I feel the need tomorrow, I will rewrite the quote by washing it off and doing it again. (The brown lettering was written with WN VanDyke Brown.)

It's all about leaving open as many options as possible. And that's why I did adhere the pieces to a 300 lb. HP paper rather than a clayboard....just in case I have the urge to crop it up and do something else. Whatever is decided will be what the piece is telling me to do, but this morning I am satisfied with the outcome and it will probably be mounted to a clayboard on down the line. I could also opt to place it in a frame. Once again, it's all about options. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Old Shack" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

Today is the birth of a very different kind of color block piece. All of the colors were mixed on a limited palette which gives a completely different flavor to the presentation. The jury is still out on this one.

The final size of this piece is an 8" x 16". I have painted the support a medium gray color mixed from the same colors in the piece. So that means there will not be any black in the piece, but several areas of a dark brown.

This one may grow on me, but I will not be adhering it to the support until I know for sure that it's a keeper. What I've decided to do today is adhere all of the pieces to a 300 lb HP section cut to the size of the board. That allows me to study it for a while before committing. I might even tape the pieces down first so that I can keep my options open about changing any color blocks or simply moving them around. And that is the way it goes with all experimental works. To not try different designs and techniques is to stay the same and that is simply not an option for me.

I have gone on and on about the benefits of color blocking and here are some more. If any of you are like me and like a variety of techniques such as simple printmaking, sgraffito, collage, palette knife painting, sanding, etc.....then you would like doing this because all of these looks can be incorporated in the blocks. And the variety of space division possibilities is infinite.

So what I will likely do today is suspend this piece for a few days or forever and move on to a new piece while I let this one simmer on the back burner. And there your have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Old Shack" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

As always, one idea leads to another and then another...etc. I love the color blocking using heavy body acrylics with a palette knife, but if you remember, I also have done quite a few palette knife paintings in oils. So what you see today is the beginning of another color block piece...with a twist.

Before beginning today's painting, I hunted down my small glass palette and large cake pan with a cover. Instead of using heavy body acrylics straight from the tube, I set up a double palette of a warm and cool of each primary and a lot of white. So the colors in this piece will be much less intense and have subtle transitions of color throughout.

If my instincts are correct, I believe this will be far more interesting than the painting by itself. Only time will tell since I haven't tried this before. I haven't even decided on the final size.

What I have been wanting to do is go more abstract landscapes by eliminating all of the minute details that appear in most landscapes. This type of painting yields a more "poetic" feel to the piece, especially when "graying" down the colors. Already, I have determined to have a lot of whitish/ gray colors throughout the piece and keep the whole thing fairly neutral.

The highlight of the completed work will remain the red/orange of the shack. I hesitate to say that I may never leave color blocking since my mind is in a whirl with all of the possibilities. Every time I make strong declarations, I live to eat my words. But for now, it has captured my heart. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Bravo" (Final)

(unavailable.....8" x 8" .....mixed media....mounted on a 2" depth clayboard)


"Bravo is a word for verbal applause!" It's a magnificent word and describes a job well done with only five letters. Everyone likes to hear it and this piece is actually created for someone who truly deserves it!

A lot has taken place in this piece since yesterday. One of the most obvious things is the value change, and a slight reconfiguration of several pieces. I cut one section into three pieces to add more color and create a large block of color that touches all four sides. The grays were also changed to have a predominance of white and the dark grays went to black. There is also a sliver of black amidst the colors which I really like.

In all three black sections, I added some form of lettering. It was light gray when I wrote it, but when placed into the piece it was still a bit stark. The problem was resolved by spraying the lettering with spray acrylic coating...drying with a hair dryer...and then brushing on (sparingly) some black charcoal powder. (Just a side note about a surface freshly sprayed with acrylic coating...pastels or charcoal powder stick to them much better.)

All in all, I like the piece, especially incorporating a more methodical strategy which speeded up the process. So there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Bravo" (Part 1 of 2)

(image 1)

(image 2)

There will be an original one line quote tomorrow. Today, you are looking at a detailed version of the process that has been streamlined since working on the very large piece.

This new way of accomplishing this type of color blocking has made it much easier. This whole process began last night. I delivered heavy body acrylic paint to the support and several larger pieces of the undercoat colors that I wanted to be revealed with the sgraffito technique of mark making or scratching into the top coat. The light gray pieces were remnants from the large piece I just finished yesterday. It takes about 20-30 minutes to apply paint to the pieces and support the night before. It greatly speeds up the process by having these pieces bone dry the next morning.

So this morning I began to cut and place the papers. I had a general idea that I wanted the bright colors from top to bottom with grays and black on the sides. After cutting each section, I used painter's tape to secure it to the support. After all the blocks were cut and taped down, I used a light and dark charcoal pencil to number all of them. I then took a photo which served as my map when determining how to reassemble after painting the top coat.

As I took each piece off of the support, I wrote the number and color of the topcoat on the back. This enables you to know where everything goes at the end. So what you see today in the second image is all of the pieces laid on the support, but not yet adhered.

I will allow it to dry all day and then determine if any color changes need to be made. And I can already tell you that the darker gray areas will need to go darker and probably to a black with the dark gray showing through. I left them as is so you can compare the image today with the final tomorrow. Values do make a hugh difference! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Secret Place" (final)

(final)

($400.00.....24" x 36".......Mixed Media.......Mounted on a 2" Depth Clayboard)

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty...whose power no foe can withstand." (Psalm 91:1...Amplified) And here it is....totally finished!

Most of the changes from yesterday you cannot see because they involved finishing off the edges and spraying with spray acrylic coating. You will see the quote in one of the rectangles. And that's another thing I learned since doing my first piece like this. It is better to keep the final lettering in one of the geometric shapes. It is more integrated that way.

The lettering was written with a Leonardt Principal Nib and Moon Palace Ink....after preparing the surface for lettering. (2 parts water to 1 part gel matte medium brushed on with a sponge brush) The lettering style is definitely influenced by Spencerian Script, but done in a "choppy" and expressive fashion and weighted differently than normal scripts.

I must say that after trying many, many techniques and approaches to mixed media this one is my favorite. Even though I want to throw in some smaller works now with no drafts, they will be mixed in with more of this type of mixed media pieces.

So for now, I have concluded that I love heavy applications of paint with the palette knife being the method of delivery to the surface. And that's what happens when you work on your work everyday. You will eventually have a large body of work and notice what it is that you like well enough to pursue it for the remainder of your life. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"The Secret Place" (draft 8)

(draft 8)

All of the color blocks are now in their places. The entire text of Psalm 91 appears in various places three times and all text was cut from old bible pages. Tomorrow you will see the first verse written in one or two color blocks.

So much has been learned through this process. When I do another one, I will paint the undercoat on larger sections of paper (enough for the entire piece) and allow those to dry overnight. It will then be a matter of cutting up all or most of those sections and placing them on the support.

To prevent the dilemma of where to place the sections again after taking them off to paint the topcoat...I will number them on the top and back side and take a picture of the section or whole piece (depending on the size) and this will create a faster process.

Another thing that I did on this piece was change the value of a few of the blocks after they were adhered. I did this by taping off the surrounding areas and applying black with a palette knife. The brayer and alcohol were used alternately to lift the paint and create a texture that reveals part of the previous layer. In my case, I needed darker color notes sprinkled throughout the piece, but the reverse could also be true. This technique is good for any color change that's needed at the end.  And very often, it is impossible to tell until everything is adhered to the support.

I would encourage anyone to try this at least once. It is much fun and infinitely engaging. If a large size is way too intimidating and you prefer immediate results....try working on a 6" x 6" size or even smaller. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.