"He Heard My Cry" (final)

($250.00.......11" x 14".....Mixed Media....Kiln Formed Glass...Presented in a Custom Frame)

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry." (Psalm 40:1....NIV) After (5) drafts, the piece is now done. Hope you have enjoyed watching the process. I will be doing one more psalm and it will be the largest.

The only thing I added to the piece since yesterday was the white lettering. I alternated between ruling pen and a Speedball C-5 using WN Bleedproof White Gouache. I then touched up with a Leonardt Principal Nib. My goal was to create some expressive lettering with a lot of line variation.

Just to recap some of my thought processes...I did keep everything in the realm of the book arts. All of the materials used would be elements that one might see in a book. Even the glass inclusion has some non verbal lettering. What brings it into the realm of fine art is the design, the materials used (all archival) and the presentation. It will be presented in a very historical looking frame, under glass, with a balsa wood spacer in between the glass and artwork. (This creates a shallow shadow box and is a very elegant way of presenting this type of work.)

My total focus in combining all of the elements was to integrate a wide variety of shapes and values, as well as the three focal points of all of my artwork which is opacity, transparency, and translucency. Integration was achieved by having echoes of all of the elements throughout the piece.

As I said earlier in the process, any artist could have stopped just by laying down the marbled paper....followed by the one text page and handmade paper....ending with the glass element. There is nothing inherently wrong with doing that, but it is infinitely more interesting to have many layers of papers. And by choosing what to reveal and conceal, the shapes are arranged in an interlocking fashion with a lot of variation in value which creates depth.

So if you haven't tried this type of layering, you might want to give it a try. Shapes can also be created with paint...followed by the inclusion of papers in select areas. There are some artists who collect old pieces of paper off of the ground for heaven's sake!

The sky is the limit. Just keep the main thing, the main thing and keep it simple. It will get complicated enough with the selection of just (3 or 4) elements. Remember that all I selected in the first draft was a sheet of marbled paper, a fragment of handmade paper, and a piece of kiln fired glass. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"He Heard My Cry" (draft 4)

(image 1)

(image 2)

The draft from yesterday bothered me a lot so I have spent one more day adjusting values by removing some of the darker values with a stiff brush and rubbing alcohol in addition to adding more rice paper. Today I am satisfied that I can now deal with the lettering. Notice that the shapes are much more identifiable and you can see the range of values from light to dark.

As I expected, looking at draft (3) on my iphone led to an immediate conclusion that the values were still wrong. At first I thought it would just be a matter of removing some of the darker values with rubbing alcohol, but that was not enough.

So this morning I made the decision to add more rice papers to lighten up several of the shapes that connected to the focal point and went to the edge. I also knew that placing rice paper over a semi medium value would not be light enough so I painted those shapes with (2) coats of white gesso. I dried them and then did some writing in pencil over the gesso. That's what you see in (image 1).

The next step was to place some plain rice paper over each of those areas and cut around them with a break off knife right on the piece.  Those areas were slightly smaller than the previous layer so the edge of the underneath layer would show. After adhering the papers and drying them, I sprayed the piece with acrylic spray coating and brushed on (2) coats of dilute gel matte medium.

I integrated those areas into the piece by brushing over them with a light gray. There was one more area on the left edge where I laid down two more pieces of rice paper...followed by drying and brushing with soft pastels again. All of this was then sprayed again with acrylic coating and the handmade paper set into place. I then placed the piece on the floor...added the frame to check the values one last time. 

The new areas were still a bit too dark so I removed some of the color with a stiff brush and rubbing alcohol. The piece was sprayed again followed by preparing the surface for lettering. I did some pointed brush lettering at the bottom, but didn't care for it, so I washed it off with a brush dipped in water followed by blotting. What you see in image (2) is the end of the background.

The lettering will be the final touch. I hope you see how the shapes are much more defined and you can actually see a range of shapes and values now. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"He Heard My Cry" (draft 3)

(draft 3)

Today's image is the third draft of "He Heard My Cry". I have done a considerable amount of adjusting the values with additional rice papers and a lot of pastel work. Today I will be viewing the piece on my iPhone which allows me to see it in a whole new perspective. There is something about viewing your work as a flat image and simply getting away from it physically that will show you what else needs to be done. So if you don't blog, at least take a photo of it and study it during the day.

At this point, everything is adhered to the support except the handmade paper and glass inclusion. Today I will adhere it to the 11" x 14" flat gessobord panel and weight it down to dry. I also will be considering any other adjustments. I have already set the stage for white lettering at the bottom and because I have subdued the background considerably, I will probably opt for gestural writing and white bleedproof white. I am also considering a bit of pencil lettering in that area before the white lettering is written.

Since yesterday, I have cropped the piece to its finished size and then positioned and repositioned the large bible page, handmade paper, and glass inclusion about a million times. I was very careful not to adhere anything until I determined where I needed some more marbled paper and plain rice paper. But even before all of that, I brushed on a lot of soft pastels to create some darker areas and integrate the piece with my frame. The frame has a brownish red and black color with a gold trim around the opening. The gold looks very good with all of the aged yellowish tones in the piece. So when you are creating a piece that will be framed, I strongly encourage you to select your frame before finishing the piece so you can adjust any of the values and colors for a better integration.

My frame also has a historical look to it which lends itself to this type of presentation. (In the past, I have referred to these type of pieces as my library pieces.) And if you think about it, all of the elements give a nod to the book arts and books are found in libraries. As time goes on, books may become obsolete so I definitely want to do my part in preserving the written word.

In this third draft, my entire focus was on shapes, edges, and values. And you do need some kind of focus and a goal as to what you are trying to achieve when creating layers. If you simply place paint or elements wherever you feel like it, you might succeed part of the time, but eventually it is important to have a focus on what you're doing.

One of the most important things I've learned to focus on is the fact that artwork is made up of shapes. All over backgrounds created with sponges and a dab here and there does not create shapes. That is precisely why the "edge to edge " concept is important. The minute you extend a line, shape, or connecting shapes from edge to edge, you have created several shapes by dividing the design space into two or more parts. That's exactly why the cruciform format (vertical and horizontal from edge to edge) is so effective.

In this piece, that thought of extending shapes from edge to edge played a role in deciding where to add my additional marbled papers. The placement of those papers connecting the handmade paper and old bible page to the top and bottom edge keep the focal point from floating in space. It's not that vignettes are wrong....they just cannot compete with the dynamic pieces that have well designed shapes and depth. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"He Heard My Cry" (draft 2)

(image 1)

(image 2)

The title of my piece is now settled. It comes from Psalm 40: 1 .   I have yet to decide on the translation so I will post the verse in the final. There will be one more draft before the final, but you can see that I have added some old bible pages and plain rice paper. The handmade paper and old introductory page (1911) are simply laying on the top and their placement will be decided today.

If you like this process of laying down one sheet of marbled paper and then laying down text and rice paper overlays, be sure to have extra of this paper for some final touches. Fortunately, I bought (5) sheets of this particular pattern and colors. I may be adding some pieces of that on top of some of the rice papers at the end.

So what I am trying to do with this process is create an interesting pattern with the text, rice papers, and marbled paper. And just a side note about marbled papers...even when they are mass produced, each one is different and has to be hand pulled from the floating colors in the vat. So they are essentially handmade and created on archival papers which makes them a superior paper to use unless you want to use your own handmade mono prints or other papers.

This particular pattern and colors integrates extremely well with old text pages and handmade papers. I will be adjusting the values of the plain rice papers today by brushing on some soft pastels. This will create the darks that are needed and also reveal more of the overlapping edges.

Since yesterday, I adhered the full sheet of marbled paper to 300 lb. HP. I did this so that I have cropping options. You can adhere things directly to a gessobord, but you will live with your beginning layout. I then added one layer of text pages and plain rice papers....some of them overlapping. I then took a photograph before spraying with acrylic coating so you could see how opaque those rice papers are before they are sprayed. That's what you see in (image 1).

The next step was to add more rice papers...overlapping some of the first ones, but always revealing the edge of the first one laid down. I then found the introductory page to my bible and want to include it with my handmade paper, but they are not adhered yet. I want to add my soft pastels first and adjust some of the values.

So I have more decisions to make today (including cropping the image to an 11" x 14"). I am confident it will be a well designed piece because of my initial choices of materials. It will dramatically change before tomorrow. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Untitled" (draft 1)

(draft 1)

A new day and the beginning of a new piece. It really isn't necessary to use all of your techniques in one piece. Visual overload is generally caused by including too much and not having the design elements well integrated. So stay tuned and watch the selection of (3) elements and how they will "morph" and change over the next few days.

All I am showing you today is the selection of three materials that please me, but more importantly, they all have common denominators and yet they contrast with each other texturally. The most common denominator in selecting materials to use in a piece is the design element of color. My first thought as I was considering a new piece was to do one more that included handmade papers, but do it in such as way that artists who might still be struggling with laying down colors and textures would find "user friendly".

So after deciding on a piece of handmade paper, I looked through my "stash" of marbled papers and found this beautiful antique paper which has a lot of white (common denominator with the handmade paper), but also has some beautiful passages of grays and a tint of red/orange.

I also like to keep true to my vision of having transparency in my work so I looked through my "stash" of kiln formed glass pieces and found some with a darker value of the red/orange, plus a bit of black. So I have contained in the glass elements some darker values of the same colors in the marbled paper. And even though I will not use all three pieces of glass...I at least have some size and shape options by pulling out all three.

And so it goes in deciding the elements to combine in creating a mixed media piece. There will be more inclusions of other elements such as some possible old text pages, as well as some plain rice papers and perhaps some pastels.

Today, I will decided whether or not to leave the marbled paper as a whole sheet cropped to fit a particular size gessobord panel or to tear it in strips and alternate between text pages and rice paper. Alternating horizontal bands of papers might give a more integrated look and also introduces the design elements of alternation and repetition which create rhythm in a piece of artwork.

The other option is to leave it in tact and cover up portions of the marbled paper with rice papers which will create different sized shapes, edges, and values which can also be adjusted with soft pastels. In either case, the next step will determine the support upon which the handmade paper will lay upon.

What I hope you can see through this commentary is that I am avoiding the most obvious choice which would be to adhere the marbled paper to the panel...followed by the handmade paper on top of that and then adhering the glass to the handmade paper.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this choice, but the piece can be infinitely more integrated and interesting by considering other choices. Keep reminding yourself that paintings and all types of artwork are make up of shapes. The way the space is divided to create those shapes is an eternal and exciting exploration and is part of the reason we do what we do. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.