"The Right Word"

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


"The right word at the right time helps everyone have a beautiful day." Saying something that lifts another person's spirit is a wonderful feeling for you and for them. I want to do more of that and I hope you do as well.

For those of you who have been captivated by pouring medium techniques, I have new things to share today. Quite by accident, I picked up Black Fluid Acrylic (with no pouring medium) instead of the bottle that was already mixed with pouring medium. You can see what happened in this piece. All of the other colors have a generous amount of pouring medium, but the black has a very hard edge and breaks away from the other colors in places to create a crackling effect.

So now that you know that, you can deliberately drop Fluid Acrylic right out of the bottle into the moving colors of pouring medium and the color will not mingle quite so freely and you will have a hard edge that may be desirable. It will also be possible to transfer some Fluid Acrylic to a smaller bottle with a smaller tip and create more intricate designs.

One of the other inspiring techniques in this piece is the stamped image underneath the red violet color on the right hand edge. So placing gestural writing or stamped imagery on the paper first yields another whole dimension to this process.

Also take note that I have combined more intense colors with diluted and "grayed down" colors. There are actually two sets of complements in this piece... orange and blue....red violet and lime green. The amount of space that each color occupies is also very important. And there you have it...a few more things to think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Deep Thinking" ($40.00)

($40.00.......mounted on a 1/8"depth clayboard panel)

"Deep thinking simmers in an atmosphere of peace and quiet." A state of peace and quiet needs to be pursued with intentionality in an age of continuous audio input. It is worth the effort and actually enables the deep thinker to make wiser decisions.

This kind of quote is best illustrated with colors that are less intense and "in your face". The Cobalt Turquoise (Golden) was diluted or grayed down with a bit of Raw Umber and White. The yellow is Raw Sienna plus White. (Raw Sienna is already a grayed down yellow.)  The dark, black looking color is both Turquoise and Raw Sienna plus Raw Umber mixed together with no white added. This is a Pouring Medium technique which gives a dense application of the paint with no brush strokes or interference of any other tools in the paint. That's why it's called a Pouring Medium.  (It is added to the paint in a paper plate.)

I added no water to the medium and color, but did soak the paper by submerging in a pan of water. If the pouring medium is not moving enough when you do the pour, spray with water. Manipulate the pour by picking up the paper in the corners and letting the color run. When you are satisfied, lay the paper flat on wax paper and allow to dry overnight. The only time you will be able to use a hair dryer is at the very end of the process if there are wet areas.  I have experimented with placing the medium + color into plastic bottles with a tip.  Paper plates (foam type) are still the best method in my opinion.

The reason I am recounting this process again is the teacher in me. None of us retains all of the details of a process without repetition. You will also notice that I left part of the paper untouched by the pouring medium. There was of course, a little "bleed" from the dark color, but that not only provides contrast, but gives an easier surface to letter on. Just something to try or think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Surroundings" ($40.00)

(adjusted price....$40.00)


"Color and people are both affected by their surroundings." Placing intense color next to a gray color or next to its complement (or split complement) can vastly affect the way it looks. Likewise, the way people respond to their environment can make them feel peaceful or agitated. Hopefully, you have surrounded yourself with colors and items that make you peaceful.

Orange and Ultramarine Blue were used to achieve this "grayish purple" color. But then I decided not to use the Ultramarine Blue by itself but selected Viridian Green which is a split complement of orange. The darker green color blended with a very dark mixture of the Orange and Ultramarine Blue which caused it to look illuminated where the green was more diluted by water.

So the color moral of this story is to use those complementary colors to produce some wonderful grays that will provide the perfect setting for the more intense color. What is remarkable about the Cadmium Orange is that I really did add some Blue to knock down the intensity, but it still seems quite intense.

Observing color effects in different surroundings is a life time pursuit. Have fun as you try out more combinations. Just something to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.