"Look and Listen"

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"Look and then listen with your heart." I love analogies that apply to art and life. This quote has meaning for both. So often we can get "frozen in fear" with the thought of making a decision. So look at the circumstance or look at the image and then listen with your heart.

After the last three days of color and then more color, I am now doing a series of experiments with color percentages. In today's posting, I deliberately decided to use very little intense color and went almost totally neutral. I also made things more interesting by mixing up a "sloshy" bit of Titan Buff Fluid Acrylic with lots of water on a glass surface and then dipped portions of the rice paper into this mixture. (Lay it on wax paper to keep from sticking while drying.) 

I love green and orange together, but instead of using a brighter orange for this piece, I opted to use accents of Gold Orange....a nice metallic acryl gouache made by Holbein. The old book spine inclusion was painted with the gold orange on the back side since it was falling apart and the paint simply seeped through the deteriorating spine cloth. Another interesting thing here is the addition of papers with no rice paper overlay adhered to the top of the other book pages hidden under the tinted rice paper.

Also, the addition of text printed on silk tissue paper and crossing over several color blocks (including the book spine) adds a tremendous amount of depth. So the center of interest was created in the darkest areas of the piece where the most layering has taken place and the contrast of opaque, translucent, and transparent layering is prevalent. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

"Much Ado"

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"Much ado about writing gives voice to my passion." My theory is that words are so important, they need to be written down. This is the last piece of a Black, White, Gray and Silver Quartet of pieces to be hung in my studio.

If you don't yet understand the power of black, white, gray, and silver...my hope is that you will very soon. Old silver is all the rage now and then to also include it in artwork is truly special.

This technique using gesso, silver leaf, photography on transparent tissue paper, Speedball printing ink applied with a brayer has the potential of being a chaotic mess. It is an excellent way to study shapes and organize your design space. The "golden rule" in the visual arts is that paintings are created with shapes...even in super realistic paintings. The values in this piece make up most of the shapes and you can see that there are horizontal bands of black, of white, and of silver. There is also a lot of texture, but it is the organization of the shapes that holds it together. It is a stunning technique and will be one of the pieces created in the upcoming "Symphony of Layers" Workshop. So if you're signed up for that workshop, this would be a good time to begin noticing shapes and how important they are in creating a work of art in any medium. Just a few more things to think about.