"Eyes of Poetry"

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"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.