"Paz" (draft 4)

(draft 4)

"The Lord will give unyielding and impenetrable strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace." (Psalm 29:11..Amplified) As you can see, I am still working on lettering. I thought about waiting until I was completely done, but decided it might be instructive to see the white charcoal pencil layout before it was all inked in.

Because of the value of the background, I chose white bleedproof gouache for the lettering. It echoes the value of the silver leaf and provides a readable, ethereal look to the text.

In order to write with a charcoal pencil on this type of surface, it is necessary to sharpen frequently...sharpen even more on a sandpaper block...and hold the pencil completely vertical. The nice thing about charcoal is the fact that it is easy to erase after all is finished.

The process has slowed down tremendously with the lettering so it will probably take me another day or two. It always pay off in the end because the scripture that speaks to the scribe will more than likely speak to many others.

I am actually writing the First Century Versals with a pointed pen (in case my lettering friends want to know) and then I plan to write the verse in Spanish and Spencerian Script. And there you have it, just a few more things to think about.

"Bird of Paradise"

($60.00......6" x 6".....Water Soluble Oils on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)

Leftover paint is put to good use by creating small abstracts. It offers more practice with how to lay down paint with gestural marks, doing some writing with a bamboo pen, and then deconstructing part of the lettering by swiping through it.

So as you might guess, this piece was created with leftover paint from "Autumn Red". It has the colors of a "Bird of Paradise" without the bird. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I am beginning work on a 30" x 40" canvas.....a 12" x 12" canvas....and finishing up a 24" x 30" canvas. I will be showing the process on the 12 x 12 beginning tomorrow, and cropped areas of the larger ones will come in November.

Those of you who are lettering artists know that the process always slows down when you get to the lettering. And that's the case with the 24 x 30. To make the best use of my time, I have decided to begin the other two pieces so that the heavy gesso and fluid acrylic paint can be drying while I letter. Trying to dry these types of applications with a hair dryer is like watching water boil. It drives me crazy!

Some of the other recent decisions I've made are to eliminate quotes on all of the abstracts created with a palette knife. But I'm stepping up the lettering quite a bit on all of the canvas pieces. There will be 2" versals, gestural writing, and script on all of these with some of the lettering readable from across the room. It's all very exciting and I will share bits and pieces of those works as I go along.

Another good bit of process information is to have smaller canvases and gessobords on hand for prototypes for the larger ones. Working on a range of sizes stretches the creative process and gives yourself more versatility as an artist. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"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.

"Orad Sin Cesar" (draft 4)

(draft 4)

Today I have changed the title of the piece. This is just one of the many things that can happen when working.  All of the fragments I have included from my old bible are scriptures about crying out to God. This title just seems to be more appropriate to the piece.

A little over half of the piece is now adhered to the support with gel matte medium. I also laid wax paper, a book, and a large rock on it overnight. This definitely insures that nothing comes up as I move into the final stretch. You can now see how the white toned pieces also create their own shape as well as the yellow at the bottom. I do love the idea of staggering the separate pieces in such a way that everything seems to be interlocking. And it's much more interesting than having each color be in a straight line.

So what I have learned about when to adhere the separate pieces is to get one color section adhered at a time. It is not doable to try to keep pieces where they go and having to constantly put them back in their places. However, it is important to wait until all of the pieces in a particular color range are placed before adhering to the support.

Another point to note is that it is not necessary to lay out a double palette of colors to create this kind of piece. (Even though that is the way to achieve color harmony when creating a painting.) This technique affords you the opportunity to use up some of those odd colors you may have purchased when you didn't know better.

The yellows, for instance, are raw sienna right out of the tube. I then mixed raw sienna with some cad. yellow light. Liquitex Parchment color plus cad yellow light created a nice chartreuse. But you can see that they are interspersed throughout the yellow section to create some interesting echoes. And I am doing the same thing with the blue area. I like mixing cobalt blue with cobalt turquoise and then throwing ultramarine blue in the mix. It makes for a very interesting color arrangement.

So if you want to work larger, you might want to give this approach some serious consideration. It allows you to work section by section to create a very dynamic surface treatment. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Nature"

($100.00......6" x 6" Kiln Formed Glass Collage.....presented on a pedastal)

"Nature is fully alive." The piece today is a three layer kiln formed glass collage. It is for an upcoming Easter Exhibit called "Fully Alive". You can see part of the word nature written in the glass paint and powders at the bottom and the quote is written with a pumpkin nib using tracing black powder and clove oil.

I admit it. I am totally obsessed with glass right now, along with oil paints, gestural writing, and mixed media with glass. My studio is never a boring place especially when I have an Open Studio day with other artists joining me in a creating frenzy! Those who follow this blog may not know that I am the curator for two galleries at Hill Country Bible Church NW. You can get a glimpse of the main gallery and find many interesting articles along with our calendar of events by checking out our website. (http://www.pactofaustin.com) 

Because of my leadership in this ministry, I have had several Open Studio Events for the artists on that team. We are all in a creating frenzy trying to get our work done before the last week of March.....which is Easter. So many of the things I address in my blog are directly related to what is going on with this group.

In this piece and in all glass pieces formed into a collage, the first step is to prepare Tekta (clear glass) by texturizing it with glassline paint, frits/powders. So what you are looking at in the highly textured lime green areas first began by painting black glassline paint on one side of the glass and letting it dry. Flip it over and paint white glassline paint on the other side, but also allowing some of the black to show through around the edges. Spring Green glass powders were then sifted into the paint and then the word nature was written in this wet paint which also revealed the black underneath. All of these separate glass pieces were fired and then cut and reassembled with other glass to create the three layer collage.

I call glass the original "bling" and raise my glass (pun intended) to give a toast to all of the obsessed glass artists on my team. You're all great!! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.  

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Trust"

(unavailable.....6" x 6".....Mixed Media on 300 lb HP.....presented in a 4" width custom frame)

"Trust emerges out of faithfulness." It is easy to trust someone who has been faithful to you. This has secular and spiritual applications. In a spiritual sense, it could have said, "Trusting God emerges out of His faithfulness."

This mixed media piece involves several disciplines. There is collage with text pages, design, kiln formed glass, and lettering. Each of these requires a tremendous amount of time, but it's a beautiful thing when they come together in one piece. 

It has long been my desire to combine the transparent and reflective qualities of glass with paper. No easy task. Finally, it has emerged in the way I have envisioned. Those who have been in my mixed media classes will recognize the old text pages, rice paper and slivers of black gesso peeping through. All of this was mounted on 300 lb. HP Watercolor Paper. After completing the collage part, cropping and mounting on a Gessobord....the piece was weighted under wax paper, followed by a book, and then a rock and left to dry overnight.

I did select my piece of glass last night after rummaging through my leftovers of other kiln formed projects. This one was perfect because of the colors, gestural writing and areas that were clear so some of the lettering could show through. I did select particular words and phrases and adhered them in the areas where the clear glass would land. 

The next step was to cut leftovers of my text pieces and cut two sections for the top and two for the bottom to bring the background up to the level of the glass. These sections were adhered with Gel Matte Med. for the text pages and Durobond for the galss. All of this was then weighted down while I practiced my lettering. After (45) min....I sprayed the text page parts of the piece (covering the glass with masking tape) and then prepared those portions for lettering with (2) parts water and (1) part gel matte med. 

The lettering was done with a Speedball C-5 nib and Moon Palace Ink. I then took it outside and photographed the piece and downloaded it on the computer and posted on this blog. And that's how it's done! And there you have it...just a few more things to try or think about.

"Hidden Dreams"

($50.00......6" x 6"....Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"Dreams are often hidden behind urgent things." The tyranny of the urgent can obliterate the best of dreams. God clears the path for dreams to be fulfilled...especially when those dreams were placed in our hearts by Him.

This photo reference really does visually describe something that is hidden. Before I began painting landscapes in oils, I thought it would be very difficult to come up with a quote everyday that would actually go with the painting. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, I have been very surprised by the way that our created world mimics life in so many ways.

The division of space in this space is quite interesting and is one of the reasons I like choosing scenes where the focal point is more in the foreground than in the background. The trees provide the diagonals and unequal divisions of space that make a piece much more interesting than the standard horizon line.

Noticing what you gravitate to goes to the heart of why it is so important to create pieces on a consistent basis so that you can personally observe and analyze the particular point of view, techniques, and personal mark making that makes a piece identifiable as your piece. If you select small pieces to work on, you will get a lot more practice at making the many decisions that must be made in every piece of artwork.

After a period of time and many pieces under your belt, the process will become much more fluid and that is the point at which you will really begin to soar. Another key ingredient, though, is actually learning how to critique or analyze your own artwork and be able to verbally describe why something works or doesn't work. It's quite like being the student and the teacher simultaneously. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Seen or Unseen"

(unavailable.....12" x 18".....Acrylics on 300 lb. HP Watercolor Paper....mounted on a 2" depth Clayboard)

"We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV) This piece is a more abstracted version of my 6" x 6" posting on Dec. 3, 2012. The message of the verse is inscribed into the paint which makes it invisible from a distance, but can be read up close. That is perfect to illustrate the meaning. (Created for an upcomiing exhibit at Hill Country Bible Church NW.)

This was a great exercise in yet another way to arrive at abstracting an image. By viewing the piece from December 3, 2012, in its first abstracted state, I was able to take it a step further. (I may even decide to do it one more time as I view this latest effort.)  It is such a joy to discover these types of processes as I work along.  (Another reason to work on your work every single day.)  Even 15-30 min. is better than not doing anything. At least the design and process thoughts would keep coming.

Another decision I had to make for this piece was to leave the oil paints behind and switch to acrylics, since there would not be enough time for the paint to dry for this exhibition.  It was very "dicey", since the paint dries so fast (even with retarders) and I could not inscribe into the paint without working fast. 

I set up my palette with the same paints I used for the small oil painting. I made the choice to paint on 300 lb HP because I like the "drag" caused by the paper and it has a more subtle look created by the textures. (Cropping options also came into play which is always a good thing.)

The first layer was a very "grayed down" orange mixed with a lot of white to create a tint. I mixed up all the paint for the boulders / bluff in the background and painted that second and then inscribed the lettering before moving on to the bottom half of the piece. 

The advantage of working in acrylic is that I have the option of writing the quote again (in a darker green) at the bottom if I choose after mounting the piece on a 12" x 18" Ampersand Panel (2" deep).

Experimentation with an "abbreviated" image is always scary and exciting all in the same breath. It's a great path to travel if you're courageous and bold! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

"Knowing God"

($200.00......12" x 12".....Water Soluble Oils on a 1.50" depth Gessobord)

"Be still and know that I am God." This Bible verse is from Psalm 46:10. The piece is a 12" x 12" and created for an upcoming exhibit at Hill Country Bible Church NW. There is nothing quite like snow to indicate "stillness".  And being still is a prerequisite for knowing God.  (Look closely to see the quote inscribed in the snow.)

Those of you who follow this blog might remember that I did this same painting with a different quote as a 6" x 6". Doing it smaller first helped me to work out my values and techniques. Some things will change as the work goes larger. For one thing, it takes a lot more paint since this piece would be the equivalent of (4) 6" x 6"'s.

I used a larger glass palette which I think is the perfect surface for mixing up paint since the paint is much easier to remove than using a wooden palette. The hard surface is very important to me, but there are other artists who don't mind disposable palettes or stay wet palettes. I've tried them all and so if you have a desire to work with palette knife...I highly recommend a glass palette that is painted white on the flip side. You can also use regular glass and tape it to white foam core. (Just be sure to tape all of the edges since it will be very sharp.)

The dominant color in my photo reference of this piece was a "charcoal" looking gray in all of its tints and shades. However, I chose to lean my grays towards purple. The tree trunks are a deep purple and "grayed down" tints of purple were used for the sky and snow. Even the dark green trees were grayed down with purple. To me, it just gave the piece a bit more vibrancy than matching the colors of the photo precisely.

Another thing I learned about working larger, using a "wet into wet" technique, is to complete the painting all in the same day. Even coming back to it the next day will make a big difference. When that paint begins to set up, it is very difficult to paint over it using the same techniques as in the smaller versions. Fortunately, it did work out, but it would have made things much simpler to do it in one day.

If this is not possible, then paint enough of one area where you are not having to go back into that area. And those of you who are doing mixed media can greatly rejoice, because you can "string out" that process for days without consequence. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Jubilant Praise"

($40.00.....6" x 6"......Water Soluble Oils on Gessobord)

"Jubilant praise from the Texas landscape." We have our share of colorful surprises in the Central Texas landscape. I have even seen Christmas wreaths made from prickly pear cactus. What a great way to have a Texas Christmas!

There was a deliberate attempt on my part to create this "jazz painting" by imposing a time limit of one hour. It was a bit difficult for me to stop fussing, but I did manage to finally stop within my time frame. 

And this is an excellent way to keep yourself from over thinking the process. You will surely see things you might want to change, but by changing the speed of the painting by sometimes speeding up and sometimes slowing down, the happy accidents will surely come. 

This is also a concept that is used to practice difficult pieces of music. By practicing slower than is really necessary, the fingers master muscle memory. And then there are times to set the metronome a bit faster to see where you need to go back, slow down, and try again.

Another thing that really helps with all of this is to make sure you keep your supplies and your palette arranged in the same place. It will be the surest way of getting to your easel every day. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"According to History"

(unavailable)

"The truth always survives the history of past failures." This piece was painted from a photo I took of a steeple on a church in North Carolina. The image inspired the quote and the truth is...that in spite of past failures...God loves you. He always has and He always will.

Of course, images like this are a bit difficult to execute with a palette knife in wet paint. It is charming, though, to have unexpected shapes and textures appear where you didn't expect them and not exactly like they were in the photo. And that is exactly the point. I have done images like this and painstakingly painted them with a brush, but there is something a bit "quirky" and very textural about painting this way. The unexpected shape or texture or part of the blue background getting mixed into the white paint helps to land everything on the spontaneous side of things rather than looking contrived.

But I believe it is all a matter of preference. I do have friends who work in ultra realism and even have some of those pieces in my collection. The joy of creating a lot of artwork is simply finding out what does it for you. 

And it is also interesting to note that many artists I have read about have eventually given up realism altogether and started working in total abstraction. So I am just letting you peek into the inner workings of me going through that journey and it's a journey every artist has to take by themselves. You will definitely know when you find the right medium, the right tool, and the techniques that help you to express what only you can express. This entire process is called "finding your artistic voice". And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

"In Between"

(unavailable)

"In between is leaving something behind and moving to the new." The quote has everything to do with the fact that today is my 600th posting! And I really do feel as though I am moving very quickly in a new direction. Life is often like that for all of us.

While I was away, I did a lot of thinking about the things I typically gravitate to in art. And because I've seen so much art and also created a variety of things in different media...my conclusion was that my heart belongs to the "gesture". I often shied away from it because it can be very intimidating to do, but after this many postings, I am now inclined to throw caution to the wind and just do it.

The only reason I share these things is because I know (for a fact) that many of you are grappling with these same issues. You see something or you've created something that just makes you want to run to your studio everyday, but for many reasons, you simply don't think you can or you've stumbled over the next step to take. So I hope you will be encouraged by the fact that you really should just do it and get over yourself and what anyone else might think. 

For instance, I know that I still have a lot to learn about the palette knife, about gestural writing, about abstraction, but I had to tell my internal critic to go away in order to create a piece of art everyday. You will need to do the same thing. It all begins with jotting down some thoughts about what you really would like to create if there were no restrictions and see where you are by studying your own work. And then practice or find the person who can help you take the next step. That's my advice for today. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Hay and Stubble"

($40.00.....6" x 6"......Oils on Gessobord)

"Hay and stubble is contrasted by pumpkins and gourds." All across the "Smokies", there is a prominent display of pumpkins, gourds, hay, and corn stubble. So this is a "Happy Fall" piece.

As those of you know who have followed my blog for a long time, I am trying to hone my techniques and try new things all the time. In this piece, you are at a slight disadvantage because it is overcast here in Gatlinburg and my photograph is not showing the true color of the hay. And even apart from the photography issues, hay is a difficult thing to portray. 

I began with a very dark background so that the dark areas in the hay would show through when the lighter color was applied on top. The quote was written into that area of the painting to add even more texture. I have no doubt it would have been a bit easier with a brush, but I am quite determined to use only a palette knife. Never the less, it looks convincing from across the room. 

So the lesson in this piece is to keep pressing on, even when there are issues. And it always helps to take and break and set the piece on an easel across the room. It is always advisable to stand back from the painting during various points. What I can't see a foot in front of the piece seems to always be seen from across the room. 

One compositional decision I did make early on was to have the pumpkins and gourds form an overlapping shape from edge to edge. This is generally a better option than making them really small and placing them in the middle. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Outdoor Cathedral"

(unavailable)

"Trees can form an outdoor cathedral." I have often heard people say that they feel the presence of God even more when they are outdoors. Trees, especially large ones can definitely feel like an outdoor cathedral. It's a comforting thought.

In this piece, the stately evergreens stand in stark contrast to trees that have fully turned. Capturing that with a palette knife in a 6" x 6" space was a challenge. This is a "wet into wet" technique so it is very important to have a good strategy on which color to lay down first. My plan generally begins by thinking of the piece in layers.

Whatever appears to have the most distance from my view is what I lay down first. In addition to that strategy, I also lay down a color that will reappear if I remove some of the paint. In the case of these trees, I laid down the color of the tree trunk so that this color would reappear when I scraped back some of the additional layers. It's all very risky, but well worth the effort.

One other very important factor is realizing that only one stroke can be made before wiping off the palette knife and making another stroke. The wonderful part of this is that palette knives are much easier to clean than brushes.

Last, but definitely not least is the amount of passion brought to this process. It is well worth the effort to take care in choosing what to paint because the passion will help you bring your best effort to the painting of the piece. And if you get off to a bad start, then scrape off the panel and begin again. I guarantee you will learn something with every single piece. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

"Life Story"

($40.00....6" x 6".....300 lb HP mounted on a 1/8" depth clayboard panel)

"Our life story is written by our habits." What we do in a day writes one page in the story of our life. And it takes many days to write the book. We each have the power to write our own story by the habits we form.

Process is always a fascination to all artists and even to those who wonder how art is created. The one thing I have learned is that it is best learned by doing... and doing a lot of it on a continual basis. It is the doing of a lot of art that helps the artist see their habitual marks, textures, design tendencies, etc. For instance, I am very much interested in the gestural mark, spontaneous techniques, texture, edges, unusual divisions of space, etc. This is also by (582) posting so I have a lot of pieces to study to determine what I habitually do. 

Your own artwork will tell you what direction you might want to go. My encouragement is to write down the particular things that keep reoccurring in your work and really think about where you want to go. The evolution of your own work is controlled by these kinds of choices. In this piece I have included a print of one of my pen and ink interpretative drawings of a pine cone. So I can clearly see that sketching and drawing will begin to enter the mix of my process.

I have also discovered that pushing one particular technique or way of working to its limit will give you a new direction. And it will actually happen quite automatically if you just continue to follow your passion...that one thing that is holding your interest right now.

My trend right now is to go back and forth between a grid format and covering most of the supporting surface with subtle overlays and varying textures and values. Your own work will be the most important "feedback" for your ongoing direction. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Poetry"

(unavailable)

"Poetry dresses thoughts with words of rich emotion." The reason poetry can reach the deeper levels of the soul is due to the poet's ability to bring the emotion of the thought by careful selection of the words. The background text pages from this week's postings have come from an antique book of Elizabeth Brownings's poetry.

In today's posting, I dropped down the percentage of space that the complementary colors of green, yellow/green, and a red/orange tint occupy. Each of the colors occupies approximately the same percentages with green being slightly dominant. There is also the contrast of the strong color areas to the light color shapes and the black. The light areas are the most dominant in the piece. 

Contrast of size and shape is also important. If everything is the same shape or just one shape, there will be too much harmony and the viewer will lose interest because nothing is standing out as being more important than something else. It is referred to as hierarchy in each of the elements of design. So one color, one line, one shape, one type of texture, one value, and one direction needs to dominate to create harmony. 

However, contrasts need to be present as well. That's why I included straight and ragged edges, very light and very dark areas (values will sneak up on you!), very intense and strong color contrasted with aged and old book pages, surface contrast between opacity, transparency, and translucency. Design is the visual vocabulary of art so it really is important to continue adding more knowledge in this area to your process. And that is precisely why I am experimenting with color percentages. Each small piece teaches me something else about design. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Hallmark"

(unavailable)

"The hallmark of our lives is framed by our desires." A hallmark is a distinctive mark generally associated with excellence. The only way this can ever happen is to pay attention and act upon our desires. Desires tell us how we're wired and fuel the passion to do what we need to do.

Ever so often, I like to talk about process and what I have learned in 560 postings. The only way this can be done on a daily basis is to have a good schedule and have your studio well organized. To complete a small piece like this 4" x 6"...it takes approximately (3) hours. In the very beginning, it took about (4) hours so I am making process.  Whether or not people view my blog is not as important to me as having this daily warm up.  It keeps me thinking and acting on my design thoughts and lettering every single day.

The background is completed or almost completed the night before. I prefer to have an overnight drying time for most things and it is absolutely essential for pouring medium pieces. My quotes are not selected in advance. I respond to whatever imagery I've felt passionate enough to create. For instance, in this piece, I selected an ornate capital "H" without knowing that the quote today would be called "Hallmark". In the beginning, I came up with the quote first and the pieces took me a lot longer and didn't always come together as well as they do now.

My day begins at 5:00 or 5:30 and my posting is almost always done by 8:00. That gives me a bit of time for coffee, reading and thinking for about 30 min. before adding in other last minute details and writing the quote. If I leave town, I work ahead and have everything on my desk top before I leave. It is then just a matter of writing the commentary and posting each day.

Hope this helps you better understand what is involved with blogging. It is not for everyone, but working everyday on your artwork is the only way to grow. So whatever you decide to do, maintain a consistent schedule and keep everything in the same place. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Eyes of Poetry"

(unavailable)

"Color and image are the eyes of poetry." Enjoy all of the visual poetry before you today.


Process in mixed media can be simple or complex, but simply varying the layers in your work can offer up some brand new visuals.  Don't be afraid to experiment and answer the question...What if?

And even though the elements and principles of design are important, it is best not to focus on them too much when creating spontaneously. For instance, in this piece I wanted to place a fragment from an old book page on a blank sheet of 140 lb.HP. I dried it thoroughly with a hair dryer and then thought about the colors I wanted to use in the pour. After selecting and mixing my colors, I thought about the percentages or amount of each color I wanted to use. From that point on, I forgot about design and decision making and focused completely on the pour and what was happening with the color, remembering that the color spreads considerably when poured on a wet surface. And because I knew in advance that I would be cropping a 4" x 6", I needed to allow for the spreading of that color on the wet paper so that my cropping would include all three colors.  It was then left overnight to dry.

The next step was to finish drying the piece with a hair dryer (can only be done after allowing the pour to dry overnight.) My cropping mat was the next step and at this point, I am thinking about design again, making sure that most of the black shapes were cropped out so the black would not over power the piece and that I included enough of the Green Gold to have a spot where the lettering could be seen. What lands in the corners is also a very important consideration.

You can also notice that the collage element follows the existing black shape of the pour and then acts as an arrow pointing upward to the collage under the pour and the quote. The exciting thing about silk tissue paper and its transparency is that the color peering through looks like it's backlit when surrounded by the line engraving of the collage element.

The bottom line is that creating mixed media pieces is a back and forth between being loose and spontaneous and then making design decisions along the way. It's fascinating and provides endless hours of creative decision making. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Renewal"

($60.00......6" x 6".....mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard)

"Renewal can be a continual feast for the hungry mind." Growth does not happen unless there is a strong desire to renew the mind and stay out of comfort zones. Easier said than done, but a great way to begin the week.

This piece is a contemporary "nod" to the book arts. I placed text (printed on silk tissue paper) behind the butterfly to create that connection. The baroque line engraved border also harkens back to a "flourished" time in history. What makes line engravings so compelling is the way the movement and color of the pouring medium comes through, highlighting certain areas and the illusion of light passing through. In addition to copyright free books that contain line engravings, they can also be found in old books or you could create similar looks with pen and ink drawings.

I have discovered that "chewing" on a technique by staying with it day after day, continues to yield new discoveries. So if you think for one minute that pouring medium techniques are learned in one workshop and there's not much to it...you might want to rethink your position. Every time I think I've tried everything, something else happens that changes my opinion. So whatever technique you're learning, stay with it day after day and you will discover far more than you ever dreamed you would. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Love, Truth, and Innocence"

(unavailable)
"Nostalgia is a longing for the return of love, truth, and innocence." Events can go very wrong in life, but there is always the nostalgia of praying and longing for redemption. Love, truth, and innocence can return by using the same power of choice that caused them to leave.

This piece contains colors (especially the rose color) that create a feeling of nostalgia. Like I've been saying again and again, the process of creating artwork with fluid acrylics and pouring medium gets a bit wild! Learning how to bring order and stability to the drama of all of that moving color is a challenge. (And you might choose to simply enjoy the end product with no additions whatsoever.) I have opted to stabilize this piece by stamping with a grid like pattern on blank 140lb. HP before adding the pouring medium mixture. And because of the nostalgic look, I also added some Baroque images of leaves created with line engraving. They can be found in the art section of many bookstores. This one is a Dover publication entitled Baroque Ornament and Design. The images are copyright free and because the designs have a lot of open areas...you have the advantage of seeing the background color through the drawing. Silk Tissue Paper (Gampi) will give the desired transparency. Your own personal drawings printed on this transparent paper would also be a nice touch.

There are other ways to control this process of moving color. For instance, if you have a tendency to pour too much of this mixture on the paper at once, try storing your different colors in a bottle with a pointed tip. This will automatically assist you in controlling how much color is being used.  (It will keep for months in these bottles.)  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.