"Bienvenidos (draft 2)

Things have calmed down since yesterday with a few less stripes and dominant color. A line of "scripty" lettering will take the eye right to the fiber. I am also planning to change the title to "Bienvenidos". The quote will be on the piece by tomorrow.

As you can see, I added another piece of fiber and painted out a few stripes with black gesso followed by black fluid acrylic. It is important to paint over the black gesso with acrylic to have the high gloss contrasting with the fiber.

The existing stripes were taped off with painter's tape and painted with two coats of fluid acrylic. When that dried thoroughly, I hand sanded (with very rough sand paper) those stripes to reveal some of the texture from the first layer that was inscribed into the Super Heavy Gesso. This particular gesso is a Liquitex product. It is expensive, but I found some at Hobby Lobby. I like the feel, the texture, and the way it receives the paint. It is also very sandable without the "rubbery" texture of some texture mediums.

The fiber has yet to be adhered until I finish the lettering. I will be preparing the surface the same way I do for paper by brushing on (2 parts water) to (1 part gel matte medium). And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Bienvenidos" (draft 1)

Today's posting is in a very rough state, but I thought it would be good to show it anyway and see how I resolve some of the chaos. I also plan to have a one line Texas quote harkening back to my roots.

I began with Super Heavy Gesso which I applied last night so it would be dry by morning. It was texturized by placing a strip of a mesh grid into the gesso and then lifting it out. After that, I wrote into the gesso with a bamboo pen really fast and not caring whether it was readable. It is simply there for texture. (It is important to apply the gesso with a palette knife as thin as possible to do this type of texturing.)

The small stripes might be gone by tomorrow or at least two rows at top and bottom close to the fiber. I would like to keep a few rows because of the texture created by the writing. And if you like that effect, it is important to paint the dried gesso with black gesso. After it dries, use fluid acrylic, but with very little paint on the brush and held at a low angle so that the paint skims over the sgraffito type lettering.

There will also be a bit more sanding after the paint dries on the fiber piece. This is an important piece because I am using this technique on my 30" x 40" canvas. I already know that I will need to have a hugh contrast of size between the bands of color based on what I've done so far. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Underbrush"

($60.00.....6" x 6"......Mixed Media on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)

This piece may or may not have a quote. It is acrylic paint so I could take that option tomorrow.....but probably not. Sometimes words are not needed. After taking a walk this morning and noticing a lot of underbrush around the fence line, I decided to come back to the studio and do a small abstract. Unbeknown to my conscious mind, the piece which was created very intuitively, ended up looking like the tangled "stuff" that was very impassable....just a different color. The solid yellow green that has no texture is a direct contrast to the underbrush. In case you want to go deeper in your thinking, this piece also represents the way our thoughts get tangled until we walk into a clearing where there is nothing to obstruct our path. Just chalk this soliloquy up to the meanderings of my mind today.

I began this piece by brushing on some gel matte medium over a 6" x 6" cradled gessobord, followed by the laying down of silver leaf. After I brayered over the leaf and dried it with a hair dryer, I mixed up my paint. Because it is acrylic I liberally added some retarder to the paint with a palette knife to have an open window of time before the paint dried.

After doing my first pass with all three colors of paint, I decided to start over, so swiped through the entire arrangement, knowing I wanted the yellow green to touch four sides of the design space to create a cruciform format. So I laid down the dark green first, follow by the yellow green and white. (only one pass of the knife with that untextured color.)    I then started laying in some line work with a bamboo pen to reveal the silver...swiping it out a few times before I was satisfied.

What is interesting is that I changed the orientation of the piece which revealed what looked like an open wire fence and the brush behind. It proves that we often end up with a piece that directly reflects what we are grappling with internally. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Color Poetry"

(unavailable.....4" x 6"....Color Block on Masonite)

"Color has its own poetry." It also has the power to create a mood better than any other design element. It's a vast subject and the more I know...the more I realize how much more I need to learn.

That's why "color blocking" has an endless fascination for me. It's quite like adhering paint chips on a board. The piece you see today is comprised of remnants from a "color block" piece I did a week or so ago. The idea was to use very neutral colors with one bright color being the star of the show. I had two rules going into the process. One rule was to have the bright green form a shape from top to bottom. The other rule was to have a variety of different sized blocks.

By including several pieces with erratic lines and a circular blob of color on one block, I was able to offset all of the straight lines created by the blocks. The straight lines can also be countered by arranging colors side by side that are close in value. This type of work is also a good study in edges. It is absolutely necessary to have edges and erratic lines in some of the blocks to contrast with the hard edges created by the perimeter of the blocks.

For those who have created mono printed rice papers, there is yet another wonderful option. By covering some or all of the blocks with rice papers, the texture and line work of the print will create a very dynamic piece. And that's my plan for tomorrow's posting. I will create a another 4" x 6" using rice papers instead of heavy body acrylics. In fact, my postings this week will be a series of 4" x 6" blocks created with different materials.

It's all very exciting and I would encourage you to jump on in. The water's warm!! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Gracias" (final)

($180.00......6" x 12".....color block......mounted on a 2" depth cradled board)

"Gracias is the fertile soil of gratitude." Along with the title, many changes have taken place and here is the final. This piece will be in an exhibition sponsored by Capital City Scribes this coming October.

This piece shows the drama created by implementing a hugh contrast of size. Contrasts are so important and the drama created will vary depending on the amount of contrast. If there is a slight contrast of size, that will certainly give the piece some energy, but a large contrast will deliver the drama in spades.

My main contrast in this piece was size, but the same principle holds true for a hugh contrast of line and its direction, color, value, and texture. There is also a hugh contrast of light and dark (1 and 10 on the gray scale and values in between). Another contrast of color that I used was the contrast of extension. This contrast has to do with the percentage of space a color occupies. In this piece, the dark green juxtaposed with the desert bronze color is almost equal with the darker values, but taking a slight edge. If one of these colors had some real dominance, there would have been less drama and more unity.

You can also see that the principle of repetition (echoes) is one of the power drivers of color block pieces. The same holds true in mosaics. Repetition creates rhythm and pattern in a piece.

One other thing to note is the "cowhide" type of spots on a few of the pieces which helps to break up some of the straight lines. The gestural writing in the paint does the same thing.

It's really all about design which can take a piece in any number of directions. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Gracias" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

Last evening I decided on a finished size of 6" x 12" in a vertical format. A few blocks have been completed and laid on the support. Nothing will be adhered until everything has been decided.

What I decided this morning was to have a larger contrast of size, so I will be cropping some of the pieces you see, making new ones, and including a variety of small sizes mixed in with the larger ones.

Contrast of size adds a lot of drama to a composition and brings the viewer in to a particular area, especially if the contrast is quite significant. So my plan is to have some smaller blocks that are less than an inch in size to create a focal point and a lot more repetition of all of the colors. This does take more time, but is well worth the effort.

It is always a good idea to notice the size of shapes in other artists' artwork. By analyzing and comparing how you respond to contrast of size, you will fully comprehend the power of this important contrast. When everything is too much the same size, the piece may be unified, but lack energy. In fact, contrast is the number one most important design principle....especially in a day and age when we are all bombarded by visuals.

So it might be a good idea to analyze as much artwork as possible to take note of all of the contrasts you see. Be looking for contrast of line (including edges and direction), color, texture, shapes (size), and values.

Analyzing a particular piece of artwork is more valuable than simply reading about design and trying to include the principles in your work. If you can see it in a finished piece of art, it will make a lot more sense and be more easily understood. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Lavender Blues" (final)

($200.00.....11" x 14".....Gesso Work on 140 lb. HP........Presented on a 2" Depth Cradled Board)


"Improvisational art has a syncopated rhythm." By the erratic placement of color shapes and a close division of space between the positive and the negative...syncopated rhythm occurs.

Drama can be created in a piece by allowing the positive and negative to occupy almost equal amounts of space. it also helps if those two space divisions are odd shapes with some of them appearing in a back and forth fashion. For instance, the light colored windows in the dark area and the dark windows in the light area add to the drama and rhythm of the piece.

In making the final decisions about this piece, I tried to preserve textures that were pleasing and made sure that a portion of all the previous layers remained in tact. Other decisions had to do with the treatment of the edges. I didn't want all of the edges to be solid and severe so I broke up some of those by "inching" my brayer into those shapes a bit and creating a transitional value between the extreme dark and extreme light edges.

I also used a break off knife to scratch into the dark shapes and some of the light shapes to reveal the color underneath. In the dark area, the underneath color was mostly white so I painted on a glaze of Quinacridone Burnt Sienna (fluid acrylic) to tie in with the brighter burnt sienna in the center portion of the piece.

You can also see a tinge of lavendar and burnt sienna in the white gesso areas as a result of spraying alcohol and brayering over the surface. The brayer automatically picks up some of those colors and carries them to the white.

My lettering is a mixture of italic and spencerian script written with a Mitchell #6 nib. Of course, the surface had to be prepared for lettering. It is quite impossible to write with pen and ink over this surface unless it is prepared with (2) parts water + (1) part gel matte medium. 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.

"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.

"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.

"The Secret Place" (draft 7)

(draft 7)

Today a familiar phrase comes to mind that all parents have heard..."Are we there yet?" And this is the challenge when working on large pieces. It is a long process. By tomorrow all of the pieces will be in their places.

It is very important as you work through the process of creating a piece of art to keep an open mind about letting the piece evolve naturally. Don't feel compelled to include an element just because you like it. If it's not the right thing for the piece, it really is best to leave it out. Forcing something to be included will cause the piece to look contrived.

The reason I know that is because I've created my share of contrived work and it is not a pleasant experience to realize it after the fact. Having said all of that, I wanted desperately to include a piece of kiln formed glass, but it really isn't going to work for this piece. Fortunately, I have the good sense to realize that. It's a good thing!

You can see that I have inched my way upwards with some more pieces. So far, I am pleased. Not all of the pieces are adhered yet, so I still might do some moving around. I really didn't notice until I saw the image on the computer. So taking photos of your work in process is a very effective way of seeing what you might not see while you're working. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Secret Place" (draft 6)

(draft 6)

I have already concluded that this piece will have (2) more drafts and then the final. So you can see that this is not a super fast way of applying paint to paper. My hope is that you find it as interesting as I do.

There is not a whole lot to add to the notes I've already posted about the techniques used in this piece. You are seeing the full palette in play at this point. For the greens, I am using Green Gold, Cad. Yellow Light,Cobalt Turquoise, and Viridian, plus the addition of white or raw umber to change values.

As far as process goes, I have discovered it is best to cut up a lot of papers at a time. And then it is good to decide what the undercoat is going to be on each one and apply that with a palette knife in the evening. That way, you are ready to go the next morning with the top coat. Otherwise, you will be standing a long time with a hair dryer in your hand.

Another key point is the way the papers and colors are arranged. I like to have some of them as long verticals and others as horizontals, plus a few squares. This really adds the drama to the piece after all is said and done.

It is also a good idea to save all of the scraps. I have changed my mind a few times and had to cut pieces to a different size after they were already painted. Those little scraps will make a nice 4"x 6". And there you have it...just a few more things to think about!

"The Secret Place" (draft 5)

(detail of draft 5)

(draft 5)

Today, I am posting a detail of the lower right hand corner. This is a large piece and the detail gets lost on the blog. It may also look like nothing has changed since yesterday, but indeed there are some changes. The additions you see today are plain rice papers, old book pages and soft pastels added to some of the existing pages.

Since posting yesterday, all of the pieces touching the left hand side have been adhered to the support. This will make it much easier to place the center pieces. So it is not feasible to wait to the end to adhere everything, but the placement of everything needs to be a done deal in your mind before adhering.

In today's posting I have included a detail which shows what happens when plain rice papers are overlapped and some of the gel matte medium seeps out around the edges. Now I always wipe the excess off, but there is still a residue. That residue will show up as a very intriguing shape once you brush on some soft pastels or charcoal powder. Be sure to dry the rice papers after adhering....spray with acrylic coating...dry again....and then brush on the pastels. You will then need to spray again before adhering to the support. 

Another decision I've made since yesterday is which pieces will have text and rice papers and which ones will not. None of the green areas will have text or rice paper. I have reserved most of the gray areas for text. By placing some boundaries on where elements will be or not be is essential to good design. It simply creates chaos to include everything you know in one piece.

In regards to the green color blocks, they will be creating a shape from top to bottom in between the neutral color blocks. That introduces a bit of alternation. If I chose to simply divide the piece into two major areas, I have eliminated a design principle that will actually make the piece stronger. Alternation always creates rhythm. 

I hope this is not moving too slow for all of you, but there are many decisions that must be made in creating a piece of art and it is my desire to clearly show that. In fact, I strongly believe that creating a piece of art will teach more than anyone can possibly learn in a workshop. Workshops are good to learn very specific techniques, but the real learning comes into play when actually making all of the design decisions associated with every single piece. In my mind, mixed media teaches this like no other medium can. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Secret Place" (draft 4)

(draft 4)

The piece is now inching its way over and up. Today I will begin to adhere a few of the pieces to the support. It is so much like putting a puzzle together which is probably why this technique appeals to me. The abstract representation of boulders reminds me today of the importance of fathers as the "rock" of the home. So a huge Happy Father's Day to all of you men who happen to be fathers.

Another name for this entire process is color blocking. It is much like putting a quilt together. Instead of selecting fabric, you paint and texturize paper. This could also be done with mono printed papers by adhering them to watercolor paper first and then reassembling them into a piece. You could also use found papers, a variety of different sized text pages, sheet music, or any other subject matter where you are assembling imagery or textured papers that feature a particular subject, texture, or color. It's an addictive and "user friendly way to work.

The entire process teaches the principle of repetition (also called "echoes"), how to arrange color according to percentages (how much space it will occupy), practice a particular technique over and over again, and the effectiveness of contrast of size and little detail vs. a lot of detail.

My particular focus in this piece was to play around with the sgraffito technique by using different colors of undercoating with different topcoats. This is a technique worth learning for any type of mixed media or a painting in oils or acrylics. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Secret Place" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

You are viewing the step-by-step process of Psalm 91:1. It is an abstract of boulders on a hillside and being interpreted with color and texture rather than the actual image of a boulder, grass, and trees. Today's posting represents a little less than half of the total piece. I will begin introducing yellow-green tomorrow.

One of the things that I truly believe will help any artist who is confused about the enormous selection of techniques, colors, and materials is to make a firm decision about what you want to include from the outset. For instance, I have only chosen (4) neutral colors for the representation of boulders. Even with a limited selection there is a hugh range of values to choose from. You can use any of the combinations of these colors to create the undercoat and the same for the topcoat.

These initial choices will keep the piece unified and get rid of visual overload. Nothing creates visual overload like too many disparate shapes and colors. It's similar to the person who cannot choose what to wear, so they pick out separate items with no concern for any common denominators and then wear every piece of jewelry they own. It's simply too much! And the same is true for art. It will also keep you sane as you work through your process. It's called boundaries.

You can see that I have added (4) more pieces to this collage. Nothing is adhered because I do not yet know where everything looks best...value wise. It always becomes apparent as the piece progresses and the good news about these puzzle pieces are the fact you can trim them to fit where they need to fit.

I have added some old bible text and plain rice papers to the left hand corner piece along with some charcoal powder and soft pastels. However, as I am typing this commentary, that one piece will probably end up at the the top left corner because of the text placement. (It contains the first few verses of the psalm.)

And today I will be picking up the pace a bit and adding a lot more and taking pictures intermittently so that I will have a few days of posting even after finishing the piece. (Next week is the exhibit installation.) So I hope this has helped you understand the meanderings of my thought processes. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Secret Place" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

This is a very special piece to me because it will contain passages from one of my favorite psalms....and that would be Psalm 91. The title of the piece comes from verse one. I am using the Amplified which reads....."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."

You can see from draft one that this is the same technique as my previous series of postings. The biggest difference here is that the smaller piece I just finished was an 8" x 10" and this piece is a 24" x 36". I have decided on a vertical format. By nature of the quote (and this one will not change), this piece will be an abstract representation of a "craggy" wall of boulders dominating the left hand side with yellow/greens (and perhaps some other greens) interspersed and interlocking the grays/whites on the right hand side.

Instead of painting actual rocks, I will be representing the rocks by their color and texture. I have chosen to do this with a combination of neutral colors in various intensities, undercoating, and topcoat. The colors I am using are titanium white, ivory black, unbleached titanium, and raw umber. You can see all of those colors in the three represented in today's posting.

The undercoating was completed while working on the last piece, so it was very dry when I applied the topcoat this morning. All of the heavy body acrylics are being applied with a palette knife. And because I am representing rocks or boulders, my textural marks will be much the same throughout.

After laying in the topcoat, I used the pointed corner of a metal palette knife to inscribe a lot of erratic lines as well as some gestural marks that look like words. After drying these sections, (dry to the touch only....it will take all day to thoroughly dry), I chose one area in each section to leave as is and then sprayed rubbing alcohol on the remainder and brayered that area repeatedly. Just to give you an idea, I probably sprayed and brayered each area at least (20x).

These pieces will be drying today while I complete more sections. Tomorrow morning, I will be able to add some old bible text and plain rice paper to areas of the pieces you see today. You can see that this is a wonderful technique if you want to work large and still remain apprehensive about the process.  If you don't like something, save it for another piece and do something else. It's that degree of flexibility that makes this so appealing.

If you get a chance to see the original of the last piece or this one when it's finished, you will be amazed how much it looks like metal. And that's the freedom of knowing what different paint and applications will do for you. I will even be able to take a sharp knife and scratch into this surface well after it is dried. It's all about heavy body acrylics and the sgraffito technique. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Peace"

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

"Let the snow fall in your heart with peace." Snow falling makes no sound. A peaceful heart allows the silence to come and listens to the still, quiet voice of God.  Merry Christmas!

In the scene from yesterday, the near blizzard conditions were at their peak. In the piece today, the snow was still falling, but the trees were more visible and the sky had a bit of a glow. Both photos came from Flagstaff, Az.

The sgraffito technique was very much in play in both of these pieces. In fact, I think about it everyday since my quote is inscribed into the paint. This same technique can easily be applied to mixed media. When painting with acrylic paint or laying down Speedball Printing Ink, a pen or anything else with a rigid point can be used to scratch into the surface. If I am scratching into an acrylic painted surface (almost dry), I dip my pen in alcohol to reveal the previous layer. If I am writing or scratching into Printing Ink, I use water or alcohol.

You could actually create an entire line drawing with this technique and a pointed or broad edged pen. The thinner the paint or printing ink, the easier it will be. These techniques will be reappearing in my mixed media work very soon. My desire is to continue with oil painting, but also keep the mixed media pieces going as well. I have now painted (68) small palette knife paintings, so it won't be too long before I hit the (100) mark.

So my encouragement is to do something with your art everyday in the coming year. Do it intentionally and it will soon become intuitive. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about. 

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.