"Orad Sin Cesar" (draft 5)

(draft 5)

The piece is now finished all but the handwritten text. It will be Psalm 55:1. You can see that the largest letters in the piece are an "A" and an "O". It's a reminder that God is the Alpha and Omega....the beginning and the end. All of the bits of gestural mark making and writing are symbolic of the cacophony of voices vying for our attention. But right beside these pieces are selections from the Psalms that give comfort to the soul.

As I recap the techniques used in this piece, I want to throw out some tips for making it successful. The first and most obvious thing is to have a variety of sizes. And if you happen to be using some old artwork cut up and reassembled, you might also want to use some solid colors with bits of texture to break up the monotony and look of contrivance that can result from simply cutting up a piece and reassembling it.  Try to look at one or more of the smaller pieces as a work of art unto itself and yet fitting in with the whole.

In this piece, I made a deliberate choice to group the yellows together, the blues together, and the whites together. By making that decision, a more solid foundation for the piece is laid by having shapes within shapes. Color is a shape maker for sure, so that is an excellent place to begin your concept and shape arranging.

There will also need to be a lot of common denominators throughout the piece that create echoes. For instance, I have used a wide range of blues in different intensities and values, but it works altogether because I have echoes (or repeats) of every single one of those colors interspersed throughout the blue section.

Also notice that the undercoat is not the same in all of the pieces...although the mark making is similar. It's all of these kind of thoughts that lead to a dramatic conclusion. The sky is the limit here, so don't be afraid to try your own version of this and I think you will enjoy the process. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Orad Sin Cesar" (draft 3)

(draft 3)

Slowly but surely the small and the large piece are coming together. The focus is on portraying Psalm 119: 130 visually and include this verse from The Message.

The collage technique I am using is an exciting way to use color and texture in a different way. Each piece is being prepared separately which can be time consuming, but I have speeded up the process by cutting many different squares and rectangles from 140 lb. HP.

The undercoat is painted on many of them at once and left to dry. I then come back later and apply the top coat with a palette knife. If I want my marks to reveal the undercoat a great deal than I use the corner of a credit card or metal palette knife to make gestural marks in the wet paint which in turn, reveals the color underneath.  If I want sharper and more subtle marks, I dry the paint first and then spray it with rubbing alcohol and brayer over and over.  I can then stop and scratch into the paint with the sharp corner of a palette knife.  On some of the pieces,  I then sprayed with alcohol and brayered over the surface again until satisfied with the texture.  All of this is then dried and sprayed with acrylic coating before placing it on the support.

In a few pieces today, I did use a stamp into the wet topcoat and also stamped half of a handcut "O" with Speedball Printing Ink after the topcoat was dry.   I also plan to create a small arched doorway with a palette knife, painting wet-into-wet for one of the pieces.

This technique offers a glorious opportunity to use fragments of old paintings, try new techniques, add text and rice paper, etc. Where you see large black spaces in today's posting is the support and will eventually be totally covered with my separate pieces. Some of the pieces have been moved around, but nothing has been adhered to the support just yet.

Today, I may adhere the white toned areas since most of them have been decided upon. It is very difficult to keep everything in place when nothing is secure. Part of the experimentation process is learning what works and doesn't work as you go along. If one section of color seems satisfying, then it just makes sense to go ahead and glue that down with gel matte medium to make it easier to fit the other colors in their places.

The key to success in this type of work is having enough common denominators throughout the piece and also having specific shapes by grouping a particular color together to form a larger shape. Having specific shapes helps to ground a collage that might otherwise look like a "hodge podge". And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"The Quiet"

(unavailable....6" x 6".....mixed media on a 1/8" depth clayboard panel)

"I feel the quiet in the presence of my books." Invariably, my art and quotes emerge from whatever is going on in my life. And as it happens, I have transformed my upstairs studio in the house to a library. I feel quite pleased and very peaceful surrounded by my books. (All my work is now done in the Buck Hill Studio.)

Today's piece is a compilation of techniques that I have been demonstrating over the past few days. This is a finished piece (6"x 6") using those techniques. 

The text went down first on a black gesso board. I then added papers that including a stamped image over mono printed rice paper. The black and white papers were scraps from the demo posted on Monday. The black and white papers with various lines going from edge to edge set the stage for a horizontal bands type of format.

You can see that rhythm in the piece, but I also broke it up by including papers of both types in the opposite areas...creating a conversation between the two types of papers and also some very interesting shapes.

The ecclesiastical looking stamp works well and established the tone and feel of a "library" piece. The collaged text areas are from a bit of prose by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. My quote emerged from the mood of the piece and the content from "The Wandering Traveler".

So often students will ask how do you know where to place all of those bits of paper. Besides experience and lots of failures...it really, really helps to begin with some type of format (division of space). Just by virtue of the fact that I had decided on horizontal bands really helped to lay papers in a way to emphasize that point. I also paid attention to the lines that were already there and tried to line up additional papers to look like a continuation of the lines already there.  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Reveal and Conceal" (Mono Printing Demo)

Today's posting is yet another Mono Printing Demo to show another way of using mono printed rice papers and texture stamps. The rest of the week I will be posting actual pieces (with a quote) using mono printed papers.

Printing techniques of any kind eventually end up with an inclusion of the oldest form of printing....rubber stamps. There are a myriad of different kinds of stamps on the market, but I suggest extreme caution about how they are used and what kinds are included. For fine art pieces, cute little stamps with hearts, flowers, little birds, etc. are not in the same category as fine art. Please save them for your scrap booking projects. 

The kind which will serve you well are the kind with all over texture or patterns. The one I included in today's demo looks like gauze with erratic tiny lines crisscrossing in both directions.

However, the mono printing was done first by placing app. 1/2 tsp of printing ink on the plate (a sheet of glass) and brayering that out in all directions until it sounds "squishy". I then sprayed that ink with  water and brayered over that again to create an erratic "pooling" of the color. Place the rice paper down in this mixture and smooth over it with your hand (wearing latex gloves) Lift it off and leave it on wax paper to dry.

I speeded up my drying time with a hair dryer and then brayered out some more color. I pressed the stamp into the color and began printing. Many areas were printed one on top of the other until the value was as dark as I wanted and yet you can still see a vague image of the mono print. It is also obvious that I left one rectangular area free of the stamping. That gives you an area for text underneath that will be vaguely visible or the inclusion of hand lettering or other elements. 

After drying all of this, I sprayed it 2x with spray acrylic coating and dried in between. One spraying is not enough for this amount of paint. The next step was to adhere a page of text on an 8" x 10" flat gesso board. I then adhered the mono print on top of that and then an ornate "D" printed on silk tissue paper.

The entire piece was dried thoroughly and then sprayed again with spray acrylic coating. Just an FYI....you will get a few bubbles with large areas of mono printed papers after they are adhered. I've created lots of pieces with this paper and this is quite normal. Just let it dry for several days...spray again....and then brush on a varnish 2x....drying in between. It will probably have a few more bubbles until it dries thoroughly. Over time it becomes very hard and I've had no issues. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Interval" (Draft 1)

(unavailable.....11" x 14".....Mixed Media.....Mounted on a 2" depth Clayboard)

"Interval is an expression of time or space." The word interval is not often used in everyday conversation, but it definitely is experienced by everyone on the planet. The amount of time it takes to get up and get to work is a time interval. The space between elements of design in an art piece is a space interval.

Today's piece is another experiment with mono printed rice papers and tomorrow you will see the addition of bass wood covered in mono printed rice papers, plain rice paper, and a bit of text.

My first step began by painting black gesso on a half sheet of 140 lb. HP Watercolor Paper. I then adhered one piece of mono printed rice paper to the black support with Gel Matte Medium. Wax Paper was placed on top and brayered from the center to the edges and left to dry for several hours or overnight.

I selected an 11" x 14" Clayboard (2" depth) and layed it on the selected part of the image. With a cutting mat underneath and a break off knife, I cut around the board so that my mono print was the same size as the board. I then adhered it to the board with Gel Matte Medium...followed by laying it on the board (lining up the corners) and laying wax paper on top and brayering from the center to the edge. Wipe off excess medium. Lay board on the floor...followed by wax paper....followed by a book....and then a rock. Leave to dry overnight. 

You will notice that there is a stamped zigzag image stamped in intervals and fragments over the mono print. You can use any stamp, but I personally think it is best to stick with either geometric or textured stamps or cut your own. I cut this one myself so I could have the length I needed. The one thing I would caution against is using hearts, flowers, bunnies, or any other "craftsy- cutesy" stamps. It will automatically cause your piece to deteriorate into a craft project rather than a piece of fine art.

The last edition for this first draft was thinking up my quote and then writing the word "interval" in pencil and white versals. As you can see, I am already thinking about the interval of space between letters and words. The same is true for the stamp. I also sanded (by hand) the edges and to reveal the black underneath. This included sanded on top of the piece around the edge. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Unexpected Spontaneity"

(unavailable.....6" x 6" collage)

"Design is preplanned order with unexpected interruptions of spontaneity." Design is a wonderful thing, but even well ordered and preplanned things can look static.  So it is good to use techniques that also allow for spontaneity. And it is also common that whatever is true in art can also be true in life. Sometimes the most fun times are planned in advance, but the unexpected provides the dearest memory.

  

Today I went back to my old book pages and a line drawing I did of a Bromeliad to create a collage piece with the emphasis on transparency and opacity. Rice paper adhered over the text pages creates a lovely setting for a line drawing. Being able to see through the drawing is an important part of achieving depth. I did print the drawing on silk tissue paper to have the transparency carry right on through. It's simply not as effective to print images on the silk tissue paper that are solid. It doesn't integrate as well with the previous layer. 

The other technique I exploited "to the hilt" in this piece is deconstruction. (Adhering something to the surface and after a few minutes...ripping it off) This technique helps to have a back and forth conversation between the shapes. Look at the bottom left corner to see that I adhered some text to the red/orange color and then when it was ripped off, it lifted some of the color and left fragments of the text. This was also done on the ledger paper to integrate it with the other areas. 

If you look in the center of the bromeliad, I adhered some of the red/orange rice paper (which had been mono printed) with the color side down. When it is ripped off it creates bits of color and very random texture. There are several other areas where this same technique was used until I was satisfied that there was a conversation going on between all of the color blocks or shapes. 

Last, but not least, I did beef up some of the negative black areas with black ink. The brownish areas you see are splotches of walnut ink which really makes things look old and creates a very rich brown patina.   And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Edges and Boundaries"

(unavailable....Water Soluble Oils)

"Edges and boundaries define everything." This is not only true in art, but also in life. Without edges in art, nothing would be distinguishable. Without boundaries in life, priorities are meaningless and nothing gets done.

For those of you who faithfully follow, thank you for your patience as I continue to experiment. Today's piece was painted using water soluble oils. The most prominent brand out there is Winsor Newton which is readily available and a bit cheaper than the prominent brands of regular oil paints. The paint has more body than regular oils and feels better using palette knife techniques. (In case you are wondering, the large white image is either a pumpkin or gourd and very prominent in North Carolina.)

For those who are into mixed media, if you have the patience to endure the drying time, the images created with printing techniques using water soluble oils is wonderful. And the important point with this paint is the fact that you can wash off your stamps, brushes, and palette knives with water. Travel by air is also easier,especially when traveling overseas, since Gamsol and other oderless turpentines are prohibited. 

I did use a stamp to create a contrast with my edges since most of the edges in this piece were soft. By changing the value slightly, the stamped lines show up without overpowering the piece. The Gessobord was also primed with black gesso before painting so that I could have the black revealed when writing with a mechanical pencil into the paint. Pointed pens can also be used, but I could not find my pen this morning! (Imagine that) And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Fragrance of Heaven"

(unavailable)

"The fragrance of heaven is found in prayer." When any kind of stress overwhelms us, it is prayer that transports us to a quiet place of peace and power. It calms the storm.

This visual, along with others I've posted, has a strong repeated design element. The steady drumbeat of a repeated element will always bring calm into a piece and firmly ground it and get rid of the sense of floating elements that are vague and ambiguous. It is similar to the steady beat of a drum in musical presentations. Repetition creates rhythm.

Every artist can make their work stronger by understanding this design principle. In all of life we look for repeated patterns (similar to counting telephone poles) because it has a calming effect on our psyche. And the good news is that there are many different ways to incorporate repetition in any piece of art. It can be a repeated line, color, shape, value, or texture. Because of the strength and boldness of moving color, I have chosen to use a repeat pattern that is bold and strong as a counterpoint to the moving color.

One good way to understand the power of repetition is to look at other artist's work and see how they handle repetition. By narrowing your focus as you study another artist's work, you will be able to observe this particular design principle without the distraction of trying to notice everything at once. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"In Living Color"

(unavailable)

"Bring it on in living color." Color is always a good thing, but especially good on Monday mornings and holidays!

Horizontal bands are one of the best stabilizers in any composition. After working with moving color for many, many postings, I have come to some conclusions that might help you, especially if you are adding any kind of collage element to the piece.

If you have a very nice directional flow of color in your pour, it is best not to interrupt that flow by placing a collage element in any area that interrupts that flow, especially if it has a lot of interest.

The best way to calm down all of that moving color and bring good design and stability to the piece is to make use of horizontal bands...especially at the bottom of the piece. That will weight it visually at the bottom, which is always a good move.

However, it will have more power if the collage element is a strong grounding color...like black. Black is a fabulous counterpoint in a pouring medium piece as long as you don't let it overtake the piece. So you need to be very careful when doing the pour to keep the black occupying less space than the other colors. It is also a great idea to keep a bit of white pouring medium from the first layer showing, like you see at the bottom of this piece.

Another thing to consider is open line work such as the lettering and flourishing you see here be the horizontal band. It still allows the viewer to enjoy all of the nuances of color in the pour.

By stamping (with acrylic paint) on the blank 140 lb HP before the pour, you are also creating more depth and a bit of mystery. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Letters"

($40.00......5" x 5".....mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard)


"Letters provide layers of comfort to my soul." Letters make words and words come together to express thought and feelings. Even technology must rely on letters to convey thought and meaning. Of course, the most personal way to express thought is through the handwritten word.

This piece represents layers of texture. The first layer is Patching Plaster (DAP brand) that can be purchased in the paint department of a home building store. The "key word" is patching plaster. If the container does not contain those two words, it is not the right thing. The reason I chose to use this material is because it does not contain a polymer emulsion like all of the Golden and Liquitex mediums do. Quite often, a medium with polymer emulsion will create a resist unless applied with a concentrated amount of acrylic and a brush.

The Patching Plaster was applied to blank 140 lb. HP with a palette knife and texturized by writing into it with the corner of a credit card. It was then left to dry overnight. The following day, I lightly sanded the surface (outside) and ran it under a faucet on both sides to prepare it for Pouring Medium. (all my colors were already mixed.) I then laid it aside to dry overnight.

This morning I was able to make my final design decisions. The large color block of green was a bit overpowering so I knew I needed to break up the surface tension. By stamping with white Speedball Printing Ink, I was able to bring another color in the piece into this green color block to create a "back and forth" between two areas of color. White also provides a contrast to the warm colors since pure white is generally considered to be cool.

For those who do lettering, pointed pen will work better on this surface since you will most likely be writing over a textured surface. And there you have it...a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"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.

"Refresh"

(unavailable)


"Refresh your mind with creative thought." The power of creative thought cannot be overestimated. It takes your mind to a place of rest and frees you from everyday stress and entanglements. What a perfect day to enter into the creative process.

This piece is a bit smaller (5" x 5") than I normally do, and a wonderful way to use up extra pieces of leftover pouring medium. Cropping just the perfect spot is much easier and there are ampersand panels and 1.50" depth clayboards available in this size for mounting the work.

I am in Houston teaching the technique of pouring medium using Golden Fluid Acrylics and this piece represents one of the techniques we will be doing today. The first thing to know about doing a pour is that the "pour" itself doesn't take very long, but setting up your color and actually "thinking" about your color selection is the key to success. In this piece, I mixed up a substantial amount of Titanium White and Pouring Medium (ratio of 1 tsp. .....no need to measure...and 1/3 cup of medium) on a foam paper plate. It is very important to mix and use things that can be tossed. You will be hard pressed to get this sticky stuff off of anything. And it is also critical to wear latex gloves (the kind found in the pharmacy section and I have found that Curad fits most people better than other brands.)

Once the colors are mixed, you can thoroughly wet your paper under the faucet or dip it into a pan of water. Do not use thin paper such as Arches Text Wove. I have found that 140 lb. HP is a good choice for small work and move to 300lb. HP for large works.

The veiled effect in this piece was created by covering your wet paper with a base coat of the Titanium White, holding it over a shallow baking pan and allowing it to run while spraying with more water if it fails to move. Once the entire sheet is covered with white...lay it down and pour the other colors edge to edge. Leave a bit of space between the colors so that the white can seep through and create the effect you see here. Another choice you will have is how much of one color to pour. It can be a thin line or you can go more slowly as you pour allowing more of the color to create a wider band. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Warm and Fuzzy"

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


"Warm and fuzzy feelings do not create art; knowledge, skill, and actions do." This is the occasion of my 500th posting, so I feel like it is entirely appropriate to talk about what it takes to create art every single day. One thing I have learned...warm and fuzzy feelings and waiting for the spirit to move me do not get it done. Some of my best work has been created on the mornings when I just wanted to drink my coffee and go back to bed. And that's the secret...you must show up in your studio every day.

I am making every effort in my pouring medium pieces to learn how to fine tune them by knowing when to manipulate the color...when to leave it alone...and what to add to bring the design to a solid conclusion.

In this piece, I chose colors that remind me of South Texas and the Mexican culture I grew up in. Color plays a hugh role in the Mexican culture and so I spend a lot of time looking at visuals of haciendas, patios, decorated pots, painted tiles, etc. so that I can absorb the color.

In this piece, the strong color contrast is not between dark and light, or direct complementary colors...it's between warm and cool. The light aqua color is a strong contrast with the raw sienna and Hansa Yellow Medium. The bright yellow in the bottom portion is actually Green Gold (Golden), but it looks totally yellow due to its surroundings.

There are actually (7) color contrasts and it is wise to know what they are and include at least (4) of them in every piece of artwork. The most definitive book on color contrasts is The Elements of Color by Johannes Itten. This is among my top five picks that should be in every artist's library. I refer to it often and I owe my study and introduction to this fine book to Hazel Dolby who used it as a building block for a workshop where we learned to paint and letter on primed and gessoed surfaces.

Looking through decorating magazines is also another way to hone your color matching skills. Try to use the same percentages of color that are used in a well decorated room with colors you like. Remember, that it is the percentages that draw you in...not just the colors.

The last thing that needs to be said about this piece is the fact that I only manipulated two bands of color at the bottom where you see the detail. The other colors were poured and left completely alone. You can see how that gives areas of rest where the color is subdued with very little detail. I did add the silver leaf and stamped color block to give a contrast to the moving lines of color. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.


Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Silver Lining"

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


"Every design issue has a silver lining." As you might guess, this quote is a "take off" on another familiar quote..."Behind every cloud is a silver lining." Silver leaf has an amazing ability to change a shape that may not be attractive. So look for the silver when faced with a design issue.

This pouring medium piece was poured over a base of raw sienna, white, and pouring medium. (The pencil lettering was written on the blank paper first.) I did not manipulate the color in any way with a plastic fork or other tool that creates a marbling effect. The brown shape was a bit odd and took over the piece so I resolved the problem by laying down silver leaf over an area brushed with gel matte med. Leave it to dry for a few minutes before removing the backing paper. Go do something else for about 20 min. and then brush over the silver with a stenciling brush to remove parts of the silver and reveal the layer underneath.

Of course, you cannot stamp over metal leaf because it is slick so prepare the surface as for lettering (2 parts water to 1 part gel matte med.) and then stamp using Speedball Printing Ink. In this case I had to mix black and brown to create a raw umber. This is the first time I've used metal leaf with pouring medium and I am satisfied with the results. It's a great way to alter an undesirable shape as well as to introduce another texture that will directly contrast with the smooth look of pouring medium.

And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Brainstorming"

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


"A conversation with a friend is the root or essence of brainstorming." I can truthfully say that I can sort out my thoughts much better when discussing them with another person. Everyone is advised to get an attorney when facing legal issues and not to be their own counsel. There is a reason for that. The same is true in life situations. It is wise to seek counsel and that friend needs to have wisdom.

This is a rather bright pouring medium piece, but I was experimenting with transparent colors and layers. Pyrrole Orange and Green Gold are very transparent colors. (This information is on every bottle of Golden Fluid Acrylics.)  I did actually pour a base coat of very pale orange mixed with a lot of white and a higher ratio of pouring medium. However, the brighter undiluted orange rather overtook everything.

The transparent colors moving over the stamped lettering was interesting to me, but I needed to calm down the intensity of that orange. I did add two collage elements with neutral colors and a different texture that helped a lot. It also helped to write the quote in white. (White is always a calming color.)  The lettering is still a bit light, but the decision to do heavier lettering with such an active background was not an option to me. And I always like the idea of keeping the lettering more integrated into the background so it is barely discernible from a distance, but readable up close. And this will be the dilemma every time you step into the fine arts side of things with a desire to create a painting that also includes lettering. A straight line of lettering will have a calming effect without overtaking the piece. Save the gestural, more expressive lettering for a piece where the colors are more neutral and there is very little detail going on.

These are just some of the things I think about on a regular basis. And I can tell you that it took me over an hour to decide where to place my collage elements to help offset the strong color blocks of orange. It did not work until I printed my texture on silk tissue paper so the background could be seen through the paper. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Love, Truth, and Innocence"

(unavailable)
"Nostalgia is a longing for the return of love, truth, and innocence." Events can go very wrong in life, but there is always the nostalgia of praying and longing for redemption. Love, truth, and innocence can return by using the same power of choice that caused them to leave.

This piece contains colors (especially the rose color) that create a feeling of nostalgia. Like I've been saying again and again, the process of creating artwork with fluid acrylics and pouring medium gets a bit wild! Learning how to bring order and stability to the drama of all of that moving color is a challenge. (And you might choose to simply enjoy the end product with no additions whatsoever.) I have opted to stabilize this piece by stamping with a grid like pattern on blank 140lb. HP before adding the pouring medium mixture. And because of the nostalgic look, I also added some Baroque images of leaves created with line engraving. They can be found in the art section of many bookstores. This one is a Dover publication entitled Baroque Ornament and Design. The images are copyright free and because the designs have a lot of open areas...you have the advantage of seeing the background color through the drawing. Silk Tissue Paper (Gampi) will give the desired transparency. Your own personal drawings printed on this transparent paper would also be a nice touch.

There are other ways to control this process of moving color. For instance, if you have a tendency to pour too much of this mixture on the paper at once, try storing your different colors in a bottle with a pointed tip. This will automatically assist you in controlling how much color is being used.  (It will keep for months in these bottles.)  And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Into the Soul" (sold)

(sold)


"Write it down and the words will seep into your soul." To be a lettering artist in this day and age, you must be thoroughly convinced that writing something down is infinitely better than selecting a font and typing the letters in the correct sequence. Writing, to me, is the equivalent of inscribing the words deep within my heart. It simply is not the same as typing on a keyboard.

This is a pouring medium piece with a different twist. Yesterday and today I have stamped repetitive imagery on the page to create an underlying rhythm to the piece. In this case I simply mixed up some acrylic paint, adding a touch of water and sat a glass bottle into the paint and then onto damp paper. The bottle was wiped and the image repeated across the larger sheet I was working on. My theory is that a mass of moving color that happens with pouring medium can become much stronger and more dramatic if there is a repetitive "motif" such as a repeated shape. It's a stabilizer to the work. And by doing the stamping first, you can achieve some interesting color effects as the moving color glides over the image and settles more heavily in one place or the other.

It visually works well with my quote since the color appears to be "seeping" into the stamped imagery. The approach is worth a try and works best if you use a very simple repeat. If you use a very detailed stamp more than once, it might look very contrived which will defeat the purpose of the repeat.

I will be creating pouring medium pieces all week and varying the sequence of layers and techniques. Stay tuned! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Ethereal"

($60.00......6" x 6".....mounted on a 1.50" depth clayboard panel)

"White awakens the ethereal more than any other color." Ethereal is a big word with several meanings. It means light; airy; highly delicate; heavenly or celestial. It is a favorite word of mine and describes many of the looks or moods I like to create visually. The word itself evokes a more spiritual state of mind and being and nothing conveys it better the white.

The white in this piece was my very first consideration, so I mixed up a great deal of Titanium White with Liquitex Pouring Medium. The purple lines of stamping that you see underneath the color were done prior to the first pour.

On very wet 140 lb. HP watercolor paper, I covered the paper with the white mixture, spreading it around with my gloves (you must wear the latex, surgical type gloves to do this) and then held it up and sprayed a bit more water to keep the color moving. Keep rotating the paper until it has a good even coat of white.  (Hold it over a shallow baking sheet to keep it from running off of the table.)

The other colors were poured over the white base in thin bands going from edge to edge and leaving a slight space in between. The base coat of white seeped up into the other colors creating the white hazy lines that look almost like smoke. I did tilt the paper a small bit by holding it at diagonal corners. However, if you do this too much, it will cause "over blending" and ruin the effect completely. I then laid it down on wax paper over a glass covered table and left it to dry overnight.

It is important to emphasize (since I haven't been posting pouring medium pieces in a while) that you must lay it on wax paper and allow it to dry naturally. If you try drying with a hair dryer while it's still very wet, you will ruin the pour completely. (And don't keep manipulating it or you will also ruin the effect.) It's best to occupy yourself doing something else, like going to bed and leaving it alone for the night. I've noticed that there is an overwhelming tendency to keep fussing with it! And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Enjoy"

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


"Linger awhile and enjoy the process." It is often difficult to "linger" over anything because of the schedules we all keep. To really make progress in any area, it is essential to make time and space to linger over the process. My definition of "linger" is to stay in the process as though time were standing still. Enjoy!

The piece today is texture to the extreme. I began with molding paste and texturizing with gestural marks and glass beads dropped into the paste. This was left to dry overnight. This morning, I applied black Speedball printing ink with a brayer. After drying it with a hair dryer, I rewet it and blotted it in areas to create some grays.

The silver leaf was applied over a base of gel matte medium. As I pressed it into the paste, I began to remove small areas with my fingers to break up the surface. After applying the ornate capital, I realized I wanted some color. I used Venetian Red gouache which is brighter than burnt sienna, but not quite a red. It was applied with my finger and water applied to soften the edges and also to break up the surface a bit. Breaking up the surface is important to keep it integrated with the rest of the piece. Also, by placing the color in four corners, it gives the illusion that there is another piece of paper underneath the black.  (Gouache is not permanent when dry and is also opaque, so it is the perfect choice for this type of application.)

This may be too much texture for you, but it is always good to experiment. I learned that the glass beads really do best when painted a dark color and then applying another color skimmed over the top of them such as the upper left hand corner. And there you have it....just a few more things to think about.

Contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Music and Art"

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


"Music and art pierce the heart." When words will not comfort and the storms of life rage on, it is music and art that pierce the heart and heal the wound.

As you can see, I have departed from pouring medium and gesso (temporarily) and picked up the palette knife. The beige background was applied with a brayer. It is acrylic so I was able to paint right over it with a palette knife.

Much of my intrigue with this tool is the edge it creates. It also forces me to let go of details and paint the essence of a thing rather than "fussing" over all the details. It is not a total and accurate representation, but the appeal is the texture and the edges. My interest in this look is its erratic characteristics which look so good with expressive writing. So there will probably be more experiments of this nature.

The right hand side was stamped with a commercial stamp using Speedball Printing Ink. It was also helpful to add a retarder to the acrylic paint to make it more pliable and extend the drying time. All in all, I highly recommend giving it a try and stay with it long enough to learn how to manipulate it and actually place the paint in the right place. So there you have it. Just a few more things to try or think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.