"Heart Walls I" (final)

($200.00.....11" x 14"......Mixed Media Wall Series.....Presented on a 2" Cradled Board)

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." (Proverbs 3:3) This is it! The first in this series is done. But I am taking a break from this type for a few days.

This was a very experimental piece for me, and there were a few challenges. I almost threw in the towel the day before I started the lettering. But wisdom prevailed and I decided to wait until the following morning to make the final decision. Once I saw it again with fresh eyes and some sleep, I decided to press on until the lettering was done.

The brush lettering in the top right hand corner stabilized everything for me, along with the decision to do white lettering. So the point in sharing this is to give encouragement to those who love to experiment and feel like they've landed in the weeds. The truth of the matter is that every single piece is like that unless you've worked through the issues with a particular style with all of the techniques and materials.

After all of the struggling, I have made some decisions concerning this series. I will be leaving a portion of all of the pieces completely untouched. In watercolor in particular, that does give the final piece a freshness that cannot be achieved any other way. I have also decided to do white lettering in all three pieces. The same techniques for creating the texture will also remain the same.

So just by making those decisions, I can feel assured that there are enough common denominators to keep the series coherent. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Heart Walls I" (draft 5)

(draft 5)

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." (Proverbs 3:3...NIV) Not quite there yet, but the lettering is coming along. The process really slows down when it's time to add lettering.

Nothing has changed about the background today, but the informal versals can take a while. And rather than trying to speed up and try to get it all done this morning, I thought it might be instructive to let my lettering friends see a bit more of my process.

I generally begin laying in these types of versals by laying tracing paper over the piece so that I can see the shapes in the background. I then begin to write the letters with pencil first so I can erase and change things as I go along. The beauty of these letters is the fact that there are no descenders or ascenders to deal with and they can be expanded and compressed to fit into any shape.

After feeling satisfied with the spacing and slant, I then transfer the letters to the actual piece by scribbling on a plain sheet of tracing paper with a graphite pencil. I then slip that underneath the tracing paper with the lettering and go over it again with a pencil, checking to make sure it is transferring.

After this step, I go over all of the letters with a pointed pen loaded with the color gouache of the final lettering and simply fill them in with no pressure on the pen. And that is what you see on the part of the quote I still need to finish. I then erase the initial graphite.

And this next step is the most important. I check the slant and spacing one more time. In this case, I did remove several words and rewrite them in white gouache right on the original. Because the surface has been prepared for lettering, I can simply take a brush dipped in water and remove anything I like. After all of the adjustments were made, I began to build up the versals with a pointed pen and Bleedproof White gouache.

I may also need to go back and beef up all of the letters one more time. The best way to do that is to spray the entire surface (2x) with spray acrylic coating and then prepare the surface for lettering again. This keeps the pen from digging into the previous layer of gouache which can be very frustrating. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Walls I" (draft 2)

(draft 2)

Hopefully, you can see the peeling paint effect today. It requires more than just a few layers to create this look. It is an "edgy" look and will not appeal to everyone, but it is something I am compelled to create.

After yesterday's posting, the next step was to add more masking fluid over the original white of the paper, but much less than before, and to also cover some of the first (3) glazes. After allowing the masking fluid to dry overnight, I painted a darker glaze over the entire surface. I added Sepia (Daniel Smith Brand) to the redi/orange mixture from the previous glazes.

After drying this, I removed the masking fluid with a hard eraser designed for this purpose. And to add some more shapes, I applied some watercolor ground in an erratic fashion along the right side and the bottom. The same dark glaze was applied to this area only and painted (3x)....drying in between.

Of course, it wasn't integrated into the piece like I wanted so I used rubbing alcohol, brayer, and Viva paper towels to remove a great portion of what I just laid down. And I'm talking about spraying the paper and brayering and then scrubbing it off with a paper towel for about (30 min.). I then beefed up the values with a dull purple and light violet soft pastel by scraping it on a paper plate and brushing on with a soft brush. All of this was sprayed with spray acrylic coating and that is what you see today.

You might wonder why anyone would bother to paint something and then remove most of it, but I guarantee you cannot get an aged texture without doing that. It will look contrived every single time. If you think about it, this process follows the natural aging process. You paint something, and then it rains, the wind blows, the Texas heat kicks in, and very soon you will see the removal of portions of your paint.

After studying the piece today, I will more than likely adjust the values a bit with either soft pastels or more glazing. I will then add my quote for the final. And there you have it....just a few more things to think about.

"Old Wall" (experimental piece)

(unavailable....4" x 6"....experimental watercolor work)

"Generosity is a state of mind that is always giving." My main focus today was experimentation rather than a finished piece. However, I felt compelled to include some lettering and an original quote.

Old walls, peeling paint, along with discoloration and patina have long been a passion. I can stand in front of an old wall and have the same passion that I feel in front of an exceptional work of art. So I have some new materials and needed to play around with them and this small 4" x 6" is the result.

It is a watercolor incorporating masking fluid and watercolor ground in between layers. This is my jumping off point for a series of "old wall" pieces that will be shown in an upcoming exhibit called "Poetic Collections".

I began with pale washes of watercolor, but after the first layer (with the paper bone dry), I brushed on a band of masking fluid with a sponge brush. After that dried, I glazed over the entire piece with another dilute wash....dried with hair dryer....removed masking fluid. These steps were repeated several times and then I created a new shape on the right hand side and bottom by brushing on a dilute portion of the watercolor ground, followed by drying and painting again.

Of course, lettering was adding along the way along with some erratic lines. So the creation of this look is similar to the gesso works, but with different materials. I do like the watercolor because it adds a great deal more luminosity than acrylics.  (Better seen in the original)  This piece will stay in my notes and I will continue experimenting until the "old wall" series is completed. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.