"Inscription"

(unavailable)


"Inscribe great thoughts on the vellum of your mind." This is a wonderful thought to begin the week. Thinking great thoughts precedes doing great things.

Black and white plus silver and grays will always have appeal. Black is a fabulous grounding color and gives weight and presence to any room. And if you must have color, just the addition of one other color will work with this combination every time it's tried.

The underpinnings of this piece begin with white gesso and then texture is added by creating gestural marks or writing with the corner of an old credit card, stylus, or any other pointed object. After the gesso dries and the black printing ink is applied with a brayer (over the entire surface), you will be able to see where the best textures are and then crop accordingly. It is extremely wise to not place the image in the center. If you divide the piece into thirds both horizontally and vertically, you can have an idea of where to place your focal point. Any place where the imaginary division lines intersect would be a good option.

You can clearly see that the black, white, and silver shapes do form other shapes which give the piece cohesion. Remember that paintings are made up of shapes. A piece can fall apart when this concept is not clearly understood. Just a few more things to think about.

"Empty Ink Bottle" (unavailable)

(unavailablel)


"An empty ink bottle could mean that nothing more needs to be written or said." We have all been in situations where we tried everything to get a person or circumstance to change. At that point, reality is the task master. Facing reality is difficult, especially when the ink bottle is empty. It's a metaphor with an implied conclusion that reality is a friend.

Yesterday's quote was "Wishing will not create growth". Today's quote is just another nail in the coffin of "wishful thinking". For instance, we have all taken workshops that we paid lots of money for and then life gets in the way while that information gathers dust. A happy day is around the corner when the reality of that sinks in. The bottom line is that if practicing a skill is not part of your daily life, then don't be surprised if your ink bottle runs dry.

Last week I took a workshop which is why I am probably thinking about growth, skill levels, etc. It was an oil painting workshop and my skill level in that medium is at square one. But one of the things we did was paint still lifes with a strong light on the set up. The last thing we painted in each of those little "treasures" (tongue in cheek) was to add the highlights on the objects with the strong light. I was amazed at how such a little stroke of the brush could add so much. We referred to it as "bling" in the class. My point is that when working in mixed media with a dark background, white lettering and lines become the bling. Anything you do that creates that stark contrast could be considered the "bling" in mixed media. Be bold and step up the contrasts. Just something to think about.

"Ink Stains" (sold)

($40.00......6" x 6"......mounted on a gessobord)


"Some of the ink stains on my heart need gesso." Gesso covers up things. It is to the fine artist what "Kilz" is to the house painter. Comparing negative things that have happened to ink stains of the heart is a powerful image, but the good news is that positive, life giving thoughts of faith and hope are like the gesso that enable us to be free.

This piece, as you can see, began with a photograph printed on Arches Text Wove of two ink bottles in a window. This is a terribly addicting and creative process because it did not stop with the photo. But it did create a beautiful way to allow the piece to evolve into the inclusion of other mixed media techniques. Let me reiterate that the photo needs to be mounted on the gesso panel (Ampersand product) and sprayed (3x) with Spray Acrylic Coating. This will prepare the surface to receive gesso.

I diluted the gesso a bit with water and brushed it over the entire image with a sponge brush. It then needs to be sprayed immediately with water to remove as much of the gesso as you wish. It is then ready to be dried with a hair dryer. All of the black lines and lettering were then applied followed by brushing on some Charcoal Powder with a Hake brush. Collage elements were also added. I might add that collage works well if you only add enough of it to make the piece convincing. If too much is added, then it looks contrived.

Finally, I sprayed the piece again with Acrylic Spray Coating followed by an application of gel matte medium diluted with water. (Use hair dryer on the piece as you apply the medium...otherwise it will not attach.)

White lettering and lines were added and the piece was finished. Note that I used the lines to casually frame both ink bottles. And that gives you a few more things to try or think about.