Changing Gears

In my last post , I mentioned that I had taken an online painting class offered by Carla Sonheim. Here are some of the results of my explorations following the class (IOW art I made for show/sale, not as part of the classwork, but incorporating techniques I learned in the class).

Underwater Fantasy I  12” x 12” on birch plywood panel.  Watercolor, gesso, charcoal and acrylic ink.  Currently on display at Arts West in Athens Ohio through September 2. 

Lotus Dreams  12” x 12” on birch plywood panel.  Watercolor, gesso, charcoal and acrylic ink.  Private collection.

Crown of Thorns, 12” x 12” on birch plywood panel.  Rice paper, gesso, watercolor, charcoal and acrylic ink.  Currently on display at Arts West in Athens Ohio through September 2.

Who Needs Fronds, 12” x 12” on birch plywood.  Watercolor, gesso, charcoal and acrylic ink.  Private collection.

Spiral Dance, 12” x 12” on birch plywood.  Watercolor, gesso, charcoal, India ink and acrylic ink.  Private collection.

Reaching for the Sun, 12” x 12” on birch plywood.  Watercolor, gesso, charcoal, acrylic ink and collage.  Currently on display at Arts West in Athens, Ohio.

Tropical Treat, 12” x 12” on birch plywood.  Collage, gesso, watercolor, charcoal and acrylic ink.  Currently on display at Arts West in Athens, Ohio.

I really enjoy working on the small panels of wood and letting myself see what images take form instead of forcing them to come.  Currently I’m working a bit larger, on canvas with acrylics, but I am maintaining the same spirit of exploration and fun that I found in creating these works.

My show of new work, The Mermaid’s Tale, is on exhibit at Arts West, in Athens, Ohio, through September 2.  If you are in the area, I invite you to check it out.  Most pieces are for sale, contact me for more information, and check out my Etsy shop.

Keeping Cool in the Studio

We lost power for almost five days due to the big storm that ripped through Ohio and on to the east coast last Friday.  The hardest part for me was not being able to wake up and head into the studio as I’d been doing since my son finished school at the beginning of June.  I was really enjoying getting in there every day and making progress on things.

I have been painting a lot since taking the class with Carla Sonheim in April.

Today I finally got back upstairs.  And I was lost as to where to begin.

So I cut circles.

Of course I left my little Fiskars in the bag I packed to take with us to the church where we had shelter during the power outage, so I had to use these scissors.  That meant I couldn’t cut out the centers yet.

I kind of like how they look piled up here waiting for me to finish the cutting.  Nothing like cool blues and greens on a hot hot summer day (we’re looking at temps near 100F for the next several days).  It helps that the air conditioner blows at my art table too.

I’ve been taking every July for the past several years to work on personal projects.  This year July has sure gotten off to a weird start.

What have y’all been doing to stay cool?

Challah Collaboration

 

I am working in collaboration with our local Hillel and PassionWorks artists, on some Challah covers for show and sale May 5th.  Students worked with PassionWorks artists to create colorful, unique challah covers, and then they were turned over to me to enhance with stitching and to finish up.  Each piece is one of a kind.  They all measure approximately 22” x 22”, so they can cover a lot of challah.

Here is the first one that I’ve finished.

You can see how pretty the colors are.  Each piece is different, but all are colorful and fun.  I stitched the outlines using Kreinik gold machine embroidery thread.

You can see the detail here.  Once this was done, I had to figure out how to finish the edges of the burlap.

Here is a picture of  basting stitches I put in as a sewing guide for the stay stitch and decorative cording.

I zigzagged over the basting stitch to keep the burlap from unravelling.

Then I zigzagged some Kreinik #16 braid over the zigzags, to add extra sparkle.  You can see where I also did that on the edge of the painting.

Here’s the finished piece.  I’m really happy with how it turned out.

Now to do this at least 28 more times!

Red Bird in the Morning

Redbird in the Morning 2004  Hand embroidery on twill, patchwork, machine quilted.

Birds are some of my favorite subjects.  Here’s one I made inspired by the techniques in the book  Painting with Stitches by Sue Dove.  You can see more of my birds at my website.

Welcome to everyone clicking from The Brave Girls’ Club newsletter!

Now for Something Completely Different

I have been working on a few different things, mostly involving painted paper or paint on canvas or sometimes a little of both.  Ironically some of these experiments were to get away from the fiddliness of working with patchwork.  Gluing is still a lot faster than sewing. :) 

Summer Carnival, painted paper on canvas.  I use Golden gel medium to attach the paper cutouts to the canvas.

Detail.  Here you can see the different mark making tools I use to make the painted paper.  These include Print Gocco (the fish), linoleum prints (the red dots in the upper left area are a frog), and carved stamps (the white star-like forms and the white stars).

Autumn Lotus

This is one of those things where I got a crazy idea to cut a bunch of lotus stencils out of a sheet of painted paper.  I am unsure whether this is in process or it is complete.

Koi Spring

This technique was so cool that I decided to try it on a larger scale.  My fingers weren’t too happy with me, but it was worth the effort.

Detail, you can see the dots from the sequin waste I used as a stencil and the detail of the red koi shapes I painted onto the original paper.   This piece is definitely still in process.  Stay tuned for updates.

Into the Void  Acrylic on canvas with graphite drawings added.  I am unsure whether this is complete or whether I want to go back into it with some india ink or liquid acrylic to emphasize the lines.

A detail showing the graphite drawing in more detail.  I like the way the paint washes blur the lines of the drawing.

The texture in this piece comes from some rice paper that I had initially adhered to the canvas, again using the Golden gel medium.

And today, after a several week hiatus due to mom duties (hockey and school), I was able to get back into the studio and begin a new painting.

In the Between, acrylic on canvas, and still very much in process, though it was nice to get back into the studio and just play with paint and color.

30 Days of Drawing; Days 3-5

Now with more cowbell.  If I had a cowbell to draw.

Saturday was a lazy drawing day, as my son had two hockey games and we had to run errands in between.  So I did this quick gestural sketch of the game.  Not every drawing has to be finished.

I drew this pendant from one of my necklaces before heading out on Sunday morning.  The background is inspired by the many layers of paint on my drawing table.

I’m still working on how to render the bone beads in my piece.  I’m much happier with how the bone turned out on this drawing than I was with the bone in yesterday’s pendant.  Having the right tools makes all the difference.  This piece mixes Prismacolor, Supracolor, and Neocolor II crayons.

I had so much fun with the light colors on the first drawing that I decided to do another rendering of a different necklace.  The button in the lower left is kind of muddled, and next time I would leave it out of the picture.  I also went with a different color scheme.  The original necklace is dusty pale blue. 

Yesterday I picked up a roll of drawing paper, 36” wide, and a few graphite pencils and sticks.   The next few days of drawing may be process photos of a larger piece.

Free Falling

I have gone from working in the studio with no idea of where the work is going to hanging three shows during the month of June into July.  For the first time in years I can see space in my studio because so many pieces are hanging somewhere else.  It’s exciting to revisit the old work when I am picking it for the shows and I am loving the extra room on the art table.

The third show hangs on June 19th, and I am working on some new pieces for it.  Here’s what I have so far:

Painting supplies.  Some of my favorites are the stamping materials to add texture and shape.  I’m also really liking the use of the pure pigments to help in mixing specific colors.

I am painting on 22” x 30” Fabriano 300lb Cold Press watercolor paper.  I am making a series of larger collages based on the idea of a summer carnival.

One of the most exciting discoveries of this series so far is the use of foam pipe insulation as a stamping tool.  It  makes wonderful circles.

The pipe insulation also can be squished to make these great ovals.  That was an accidental discovery, which happened when I was on the phone with my daughter and gripped the tube a little too tightly.  The frog is a linoleum carving I made in undergraduate school.  I have used him for many things now.   This is painted in contractor’s paper which has been treated with gesso first.

Another take on the frog motif, this time on a recycled cereal box.  You can also see the fish silkscreen I made in the background of this one.  I just love the contrast of turquoise with the warm orange and red.

This piece is waiting for some yellow dots made using sequin waste as a stencil. 

I am really excited to see how these pieces come together. 

Tutorial : Our (Green)House

Last year I made a set of house collages using materials at hand rather than going out and buying new supplies.  Granted, I spent many of the years between 2000-2006 making many “Mr. Toad” (wild ride) trips to Columbus to acquire supplies, so my studio is as well stocked as a small art supply store, but I didn’t look any further than the recycling bin for the base of this project.  (One admission: the frames and spray adhesive needed to be purchased new, and I had to make color copies of my family photos to do this project).

To make your own house collage, you will need:

1 cereal box, emptied and flattened

Gesso and acrylic paint (the $0.89 bottles work just as well as the fancy art store brands for this project)

Paint brushes, water cups, rags for cleanup, putty knife

Template (see sidebar or download the house template here)

XActo, or other craft knife

Scrapbook paper, preferably solid or tone on tone (12” x 12” sheet, plus smaller pieces of other paper, or pre-paint your own paper )

Color copies of family photos, landscapes, whatever catches your eye.  You can also get some great images for collage at ArtChix Studio .

Found objects (I’ve used things like bottle caps, doily pieces, embroidered appliques and small rubber animals)

Acrylic gel medium

Rubber stamps, stencils, bubble wrap, sequin waste, anything that will make a repeating pattern on your base

Dollar store picture frame (with glass) approximately 8” x 10”

Spray adhesive

Pencil or other marking tool, masking tape

1.  First, paint your flattened cereal box with the gesso, letting each side dry completely before adding the first coat of paint.  Let each layer dry, adding texture and details using rubber stamps, stencils, or sequin waste.  I paint both sides on my cereal boxes, using different colors on each side so I have more choices when creating my design.  Waiting for the pieces to dry takes patience, but end result of the funky layers makes the process worth it.  Don’t worry if some of the original cereal box ends up showing through, that just contributes to the charm of the project (or maybe the Lucky Charm; sorry, couldn’t resist).

2. When you are happy with the way your cereal box looks, trace the house template onto it, and cut out, using the craft knife or a sturdy pair of scissors.

3.  Cut a smaller triangle out of the opposite color/side of the cereal box, and place in the gable, for contrast.

Here you can see the various images I could choose from.  I love making copies of old artwork and resizing the image to fit these little collages.  It really expands my options.

4.  Choose your images and arrange them onto the house.  When you get an arrangement that pleases you, glue the components down using the acrylic medium.  I press larger pieces down using a heavy object such as a big jar of acrylic medium or fabric paint.  Let dry.

Here I chose a piece of paper I had painted last summer using a fish design that I turned into a silkscreen.

Gluing the elements using the gel medium and the putty knife.

I found some commercial embroidered appliques to add to the image.  I really like how it appears that my daughter is studying her garden.

5. Measure the inside perimeter of your picture frame.  Cut a piece from the 12” x 12” scrapbook paper to fit the area.  Don’t worry if it’s a little larger than your measurement.  It’s easier to trim excess paper than make a piece that is too small fit correctly.

6. Mask off the frame using the masking tape.  Clean the glass in the frame and let dry.  Then spray the glass with the adhesive and stick  the scrapbook paper in place, using a bone folder or old gift card to smooth out any bubbles.  If there is too much paper, try sliding the excess under the edges of the frame with the gift card, then trim any leftover.  Let dry.

7.  Using a putty knife, slather the back of the house with a layer of gel medium (I use  Golden’s Extra Heavy Gel on my pieces.  It’s very thick and stays where I put it).  You will have some ooze, so put a lighter coat near the edges than in the middle.

8.  Place the house, gel side down, centered on the scrapbook paper in the picture frame.  Weigh down with heavy jars as needed.  Let dry.

 

9. Remove weights and voila!  Hang your beautiful collage in its new home.

This is a great way to make a simple piece of artwork for your home or office.  Use copies of pecial photos and give as gifts.  The possibilities are endless.  To see some of the work I’ve made using this method, look at my Etsy shop.  Have fun!