Summer of Colour - Wk 1

The colours for this week are two blues and a green.  I was afraid this was a bit unexciting for me, but by mixing my own blues and by making a nice bright green, I felt the colour addict within me was satisfied.

I mixed ultramarine blue with a little paynes grey for the darker blue, then I  mixed cerulean blue with a little white for a contrasting blue.  For the green, I used pthalo turquoise with lemon yellow.

Sketchbook - Finished

I decided to work in my sketchbook and on a small canvas (10" x 15"), the sketchbook is finished, but the canvas has more work to be done on it.

The Canvas - Work in Progress

Boundaries Series - Push it

During my mindfulness sketchbook sessions, I find I spend more time drawing with charcoal on top of previously painted pages.

Liking the results in the sketchbook, I decided to try it out on a prepared canvas (the one in the last post, that looked like a snow scene).

First I painted over the lovely burnt paper effect (it is OK, I now know how to replicate it if or when I need to), with a few layers of acrylic paint.  I always start with darker colours and work towards lighter as I progress.  Well, when I say always, I mean mostly (sometimes I deviate from this).

Now, I rather liked what I had so far and I really didn't want to change it that much, but, you know and I know, that to progress with art, we have to push it - we have to push it real good!

So I pushed it and I am not entirely happy with the result, I overworked it and lost the translucency that I a wanted in the negative space, I was battling with the texture, it was making the drawn and calligraphic lines that I wanted broken and untidy, the tonal contrast is a bit too harsh to my eyes.

But I am happy that I tried and I have pinned this up on the wall, where it will stay with many other experiments until I AM happy with the results!

Serendipity in Art

It is great to let go of the control-freak inside (well, sometimes).  I was prepping some paper ready for painting and just love what happened here. 

What I am trying to achieve is a sense of perspective in this painting.  You have to imagine it upside down for this, I wanted texture of cracks and creases, with finer ones in the distance (top of the painting) and I wanted harder, larger ones in the foreground (bottom of the painting), so I used tissue for the finer ones and dug out an old fax roll for the harder creases.

Pleased with that aspect of the work, I then applied some lettering through a stencil using texture paste.  Now, texture paste takes ages to dry and I am impatient, I wanted to get started asap, so I blasted it with the hairdryer.  (sidenote here, I have managed to blow out one hairdryer in six months by using it in the studio, but it was an old one).

As I moved the hairdryer over the lettering, I noticed that the fax paper was beginning to darken, even after I stopped.

I thought it looked rather interesting like this, but even so, I will be painting over it.  At least I know how to achieve this effect if I ever want to!

New Goddess Shapes

When I first started making the goddesses, I filled a few sketchbook pages with ideas.  I started with the simpler ones at first and they have been very successful, but I felt like trying out a new shape.

I had initially intended to make them flat, almost two dimensional because I wanted to stamp and stencil on them, but I felt they are much better with some form.  It just makes the stamping and stenciling a wee bit harder, but it is worth the extra effort.

After much persuasion by friends, I have finally set up a Facebook Page, specifically for my art.  It was simpler to do than I expected and I hope I can keep up with it.  Oh, I even managed to put a link on the right, here.

Cailleach Bheur

I hope I am not overdoing my talisman chatter.  I have worked very hard these past several days on a number of art projects. I am experimenting with a new idea for goddess brooches, but need to take some decent photos of those before showing you and I have worked on my larger boundaries painting, which still isn't resolved yet.  But I do have new talismans to show!  This one is called Cailleach Bheur, named after the Celtic goddess of winter..

 

Talisman Experiments

I seem to have more ideas for talisman variations than time to make them!  I had an idea that I wanted to do a black one, initially intending for the background and beads to be all black (or variations), but, somehow, colour has crept in.  I have started to name them, this one is named after the Welsh goddess, Cerridwyn.

I have been experimenting with arty photos of the talismans.  I am gradually getting them listed in my Etsy shop at last and I thought the different angles would add a bit of pizzazz to the listings.  Although I have had this Etsy shop for a couple of years now, I have never used it properly, partly because my stock tends to sell before I get the chance to list anything.

A Few Sketchbook Pages

I posted about my sketchbooks a couple of months ago and how I like to call them Carnets de Travail after Elisabeth Couloigner's workbooks.  I feel a bit wrong calling them sketchbooks, when very little actual sketching gets done in them, I just paint, experiment and try out ideas.

Anyway, I have been working in them some more and here are a few pages that I have finished recently.

 

 

Zooming in with the Camera

I recently posted this large (24" x 36") completed canvas as part of my boundaries series and I think I mentioned that it has texture that wasn't clearly visible in the photo, so I took the time to get up close and personal with the camera and capture some of those textures.  It helps to get raking light from the side and at certain times of the day, this is possible.

Firstly, this is a shot from the upper central area, and here you can see the raised lettering, raised paint and the surface application of hand-scribing.

Here, from the top right, you can see the detail of the raised handwritten text, layers of paint (including buried raised text) as well as loosely woven fabric (scrim) at the bottom.

A photo taken just below the last one, shows some interesting edges of the fabric and complex colour layering.  The orange shows up beautifully here!

Large Mixed Media Canvas Completed

Photographing this piece has been a challenge, the blue has a more turquoise tinge to it, but if I adjust that, the red colour goes too orangey.  Oh the fun of photographing artwork properly!

This canvas is over 2 feet wide and exactly 3 feet tall.  I used scaled up versions of some of my favourite stencils, including text for texture and I thoroughly enjoyed working larger.

One of my artistic influences is Mark English, in particular, his landscapes.  The tree stencils I use really do remind me of his work and I get a little buzz every time I use them in my own work.

I revisited his website yesterday and began to wonder if I could make my abstracts look more like landscapes and I noodled around with Photoshop, trying out some digital ideas.  This is the result of layering some other paintings in places on this larger canvas.  Now I need to experiment to figure out how to do this for real!

More Juggling

I am still working on the larger abstract and I need to get it further along before I can photograph it properly.  It is stapled to the wall in a recess and a large shadow falls down one side of the painting.  I will be able to remove it when it is very near completion and photograph it then.

On my last post, I talked about the projects I have on the go, but I had managed to "forget" about a commission piece I am working on for a yoga studio.  That also is in progress and the deadline is fast approaching!  What is it Terry Pratchett said about deadlines?  "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."  Well I don't, I am terrible at working under pressure.  Fortunately, most of the work is done and it is just the final layer that needs to be done, but of course, that is the hardest one.

Anyway, because I don't like to post without including a picture (we artists like a visual, don't we?), here is another completed talisman.

Juggling Projects

The Liminal Project

I think I have art ADHD, I have so many projects on the go at once - at least there is no time to get bored!

I have more talismans in the works and I started the larger 2' x 3' painting over the weekend and it is coming along great, but needs some more layers.  You can also see in the background of the above photo, there is a board (60 x 80cm, roughly 2'x3') being prepped with texture, ready for another boundaries painting.

As well as the talismans and the large boundaries piece, I sketched out my design for the embroidery piece for the Liminal Project (which is part of a larger work, Embroidered Digital Commons, a long-term collaborative project started in 2002), now I have the fun task of choosing colours.

I rather like the variety of all these projects - they are all different, yet tie in to each other in some way, so although my output may seem scattered, it is, in fact, quite focused.

Finally! A Talisman or Two

After weeks of work, planning, experimenting, testing and learning new things, I have finally finished some of the little 4"x4" talismans that I have been working on.

I have had to learn how to use polymer clay, I have designed my own goddesses and learn how to make moulds of them, I have had to learn how to solder the metal findings and how to attach the figures to the panels securely, without using glue at all.

So here are two, I have more in the making:

EDIT:  They are both now SOLD.

Little Talismans

Yet more works in progress, these are the starts of a series of 4 inch talisman pieces that shall incorporate a lot of mixed media surface work before they are completed.

 

They are good fun to work on, I hope to get at least one finished by the end of the weekend.

Sneak Previews

I have some small pieces that are going to be more elaborate with more 3D elements, but I shall not say too much, just leave this picture here as a hint of things to come.

Sketchbooks

Can you call them sketchbooks if very little actual sketching gets done in them?  One of my favourite artists, Elisabeth Couloigner, calls them Carnets de Travail - workbooks.  I like the sound of that.

Anyway, I have pages and pages in my Carnets of mainly paint, texture and some scribing, here are a few.

Scribble Sunday

10"x10" on Canvas

I love the scribble on this painting, it was my handwriting, gone over the top several times, within a masked area, which forced it to be confined within specific boundaries.

Fearless Friday

Sometimes, the idea you have in your head of how a piece should look, is not what you necessarily end up with!

The triptych that I envisioned for the gym was to have three running figures - one on each panel and this is what it looked like.

 

But then I photographed them and looked at them on my computer and a chance image appeared on my screen - this:

The Finished Paintings

And I really, really liked it!  So now I had a dilemma, keep all three figures or remove the first two.  Luckily I had used Golden Open acrylics and I had a bit of time to scrub the first two images off, keeping that final figure.  

The client was delighted, phew!

Triplicate Tuesday

I have worked these three together, so all their colours are uniform.  Each has it's own voice, though, so they could stand alone.

Usually, I begin my paintings with the darks first and then move to the lighter ones in subsequent layers (of which there are many), but I decided to experiment with the light, transparent colours first and move towards the darker, more opaque colours as the painting progressed.  It has resulted in quite vibrant lights, requiring less paint to get them to shine. There also are subtle colour gradations as transparent colour on transparent colour merges to form another colour.  It means that there is less of a need to mix colours prior to application, they mix on the canvas.  This was how I used to paint in watercolours and makes for some lovely, bright mixes.

My paintings have been rather difficult to photograph, but I decided to get the Canon SLR out and I am pleased to see that it picks up the texture much better.  You can just see on the first one, the top left corner has crumpled leaves as well as modeling paste text (from Rumi's Meditations).

I intend to use them together as they are to occupy a large wall space in a gym.  There will be more done to them before they are completed, so watch this space.  Will I be able to post another Fearless Friday or will it be a Failure Friday?

Stencil Sunday

One of my favourite ways to include mark-making is to use my own home-made stencils.  They remind me of screen-printing and I love how I can reuse them again and again.

I use a hot stylus to burn the design and as it is held like a pen or pencil, my own hand is evident in the finished stencil.

Today's new stencil is on the top left of this painting, the interlocking squares.  This is a negative image, the stencil blocks out the paint, whereas other stencils, like the chevron to the right of it, uses the positive image.

I am still working on the theme of boundaries, so all my stencils reflect that subject in some way and this design is based on field shapes.

Fearless Friday

Well, I really liked my sewn painting from earlier this week, but I knew in my heart it wasn't finished.

It needed something to unify all the jumble of paint colours and to give the texture the opportunity to shine.

I nearly didn't do it, I was really rather scared of spoiling a piece of work that I was very fond of, but the idea of brushing paint all the way down it wouldn't leave me.

So here is the result.  Sometimes it is worth messing something up in order to make it even better.