"A Hymn"

(unavailable....4" x 6".....Mixed Media on 140lb. HP.....mounted on Masonite)

"The church bells rang and the voices sang a hymn to thee." I must be feeling nostalgic today because I remember the days when hymns were sung in church. I still remember most of the words to my personal favorites. In fact, a very special memory I have is my friend, Paula, taking me and a few other friends to a small church in Kennebunkport, Maine, where hymns were sung every Sunday with great vigor. A truly inspiring event for me.

This is a pouring medium piece done in a different way. Instead of pouring the medium onto the wet paper, the paint was applied with a palette knife. There was still some spontaneous movement of the paint, but not as much. It has a more painterly effect. The remainder of the piece is simply old book pages, rice paper, and one bit of a line engraving printed on silk tissue paper. There is also a lot of deconstruction going on to create some of those textures.

Even the colors in this piece reminded me of the Northeast Coast. It's only a 4" x 6" size so it's extremely easy to complete. The important thing to remember when doing these types of mixed media pieces, is to have as many selections in your "stash" as possible.

For instance, you could have a whole day of doing nothing but mono printing rice papers. It makes it so much easier when you already have that part done and all you need to do is go look through your papers to find just the right one.

I do use Speedball Printing Ink (water soluble) for this type of printing because you get a better print than you would if you used acrylic paint. Of course, you then need to spray it with Spray Acrylic Coating before it's ready to adhere to your support. 

You will not interrupt the flow of your creative process if you have these done in advance with all of the typical colors you use. I store mine in large plastic baggies and throw them into a plastic storage container. It's easier to dig through your plastic container of baggies than to rummage through a drawer and you will soon have too many of these to fit in a drawer anyway. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.