Liquitex Acrylic Ink Landscape

Last week I was inspired to paint something for my wonderful husband as his birthday gift. The scene was inspired by photos I shot at a local park, but it came mostly from my imagination.

Earlier in that day I listened to water colorist, Sterling Edwards on a webinar. That influenced my decision to paint a landscape with water color techniques. I have been experimenting with Liquitex Acrylic Inks and decided to use them. I also used a bit of Golden Fluid Acrylic Titatium White since I don't have white ink.

The white paint was used to make tints for the highlights. The majority of white on the painting is the white paper. Leaving the whites unpainted was one of the techniques that Sterling Edwards talked about. It was a good reminder for me since I don't usually remember to do that.

Before framing the painting, I went to Staples and got a half-scale copy made on photographic paper. I used the print to make Hubby's birthday card. Happily, he was thrilled with both. The painting went right up on the wall. Need I say more.

GPP Crusade No. 41: Grid Lock

Look what can be done with monoprinted and stamped card stock!

Paper was monoprinted for a previous crusade. I added the text, butterflies and flowers with stamps using metallic ink and distress ink. A spritz of water blurred the distress ink.

Detail of the stamped paper.

"Tiles" were formed with square punch and adhered to white card stock.

Another monoprint that was stamped with text and circle patterns using distress inks.

Close up of tiled paper.

This paper mosaic was used to decorate a Fathers' Day card.

Once again the creative genius of Michelle Ward has resulted in a fun challenge. Go to the crusade page for Michelle's instructions.
You should really try this. It's lots of fun. I have ideas for more of these adding more layers with some of my monoprinted tissue.

Experiments & Faces

This is what happens when I experiment with no expectations...
I've been reading a book, DYNAMIC ACRYLICS by Soraya French. The author likes to use acrylic ink, often as the underpainting. I picked up a bottle of Liquitex Burnt Sienna Acrylic Ink. There's a dropper built into the cap. Wonderful. I applied the ink with the dropper on watercolor paper - dry, wet into wet, sprayed with water, alcohol, etc. Then I added Liquitex Soft Body paint - Ultramarine. More ink. Then I decided I needed a little black. That's when I saw a face. So I dipped a brush into the jar of black soft body paint & laid calligraphic strokes on the paper to bring out the face I "saw". I came back to the page later & decided it needed a bit of highlight, so I added a few strokes of yellow ochre. Then I bordered the page with strokes of black.

Another day, another experiment. I've been learning to paint faces. In Sharon Tomlinson's on-line class, we used Folk Art craft paints which has a nice generic skintone color. But Sharon also showed us an easy mix to create flesh tones.
This week I got out my set of Golden OPEN Acrylic paint to experiment with creating flesh tones. I was very happy with the results that came from mixing titatium white, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue. Ultramarine blue also works, but has a higher tinting strength than cobalt blue, so be careful to not add too much!
Well, I had the paint mixtures on my palette and dabs of the color recorded in my paint reference journal... so how about making a face. I had about 20 minutes available, so I grabbed a miniature watercolor tablet (3.5 x 4.75 inches), quickly sketched an outline & features, then applied paint with a 3/8 inch angular flat brush.
Have you ever used Golden OPEN Paints? They are luscious & creamy & so blendable!

This little study was painted very loosely. ALL of it was painted with that relatively large brush. The angle makes it possible to paint the smallest details when using a superb paint like Golden OPEN. (No, I am not getting any reimbursement for all this gushing.)
I definitely will be using this paint for more faces.

One last thing. If you want to take a fun on-line class, sign up with Sharon Tomlinson. She gives great feedback and is really fun. Sharon is offering a new class that will start this month using non-traditional colors for faces. Check it out!

Matisse and Black

APPLES" by HENRI MATISSE
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Chicago Art Institute. Two times! There is a special exhibit focusing on a pivotal period of Matisse's long career(1913-1917). The exhibit will be on display until June 20, 2010.

I was not very informed on Matisse's work or influences. The exhibit provided fascinating insights to both well-known and obscure art as well as his contribution to his countrymen during this unstable period of history.

My first trip to the exhibit left me inspired by this quote displayed by his painting "Gourds":
"[Matisse] began to use pure black as a color of light and not as a color of darkness."
As a watercolorist, I was taught to avoid using pure black because of its tendency to deaden a painting. In recent years, acrylic has been my primary medium and I still tend to avoid using black. But the paintings in this area of the exhibit and taking in this quote became an "AHA!" moment for me.

"Gourds" wasn't as interesting to me as "Apples". It's hard to explain my fascination with this painting. It looks so simple, but it holds my attention. I had to go back and study it again on my trip last weekend.

The color scheme of my last post, a journal spread for the GPP Street Team Crusade, was influenced by this painting. I love being inspired by the masters.

GPP Crusade No. 40 - Part 2 (XOXOXOXO)

Since I ended up framing my first crusade project, I needed to do another one for my crusade journal. This is a close up showing some of the subtle texture on the page. (Click on the photo to seem the whole image.)

This is on Fabriano cold press watercolor paper. I applied layers of Folk Art Paint in yellow/gold, burgundy and rust. After stamping xoxo with chalk ink, I stenciled the xo pattern with black paint. All these applications were done with a small sponge roller - the same type you find in the paint section of your local hardware or home improvement store.

Next I prepared the large XO by printing the letters on tissue paper using metallic copper paint. It dried quickly & I "painted" tear lines with water around the letters. (You can control your tears by applying water with a damp brush.) After brushing Golden Matte Soft Gel to the surface, I applied the tissue X & O. When dry, DecoArt One Step Crackle was added to the surface. Several hours later I decided to add more contrast by drawing around the large X & O with a black Stabilo pencil. Next I blurred the line and set the pencil with fluid acrylic medium.

To take down the shine, I added a layer of matte medium to the entire piece.

I used a set of large craft foam letters to stamp the X & O. I picked them up in the children's craft section at Hobby Lobby.

Linn Creek Arts Festival 2010

It's official! I'll be exhibiting at the Linn Creek Arts Festival on Sunday July 18, 2010. I enjoy this venue very much. The organizers are very helpful & friendly. The site is the park-like grounds surrounding the Fisher Community Center in Marshalltown. The air is filled with enjoyable music and the scents of delicious food.
My original artwork and jewelry will be available for sale.
This is my tent at last year's event. If you are in the area, save the date! I hope to see you there.

GPP Crusade No. 40: Step on the Scale

I'm a relatively new-comer to the Green Pepper Press Street Team Crusades having started at number 28. Michelle Ward has been orchestrating these challenges since the beginning. This month we celebrate GPP Crusade No. 40: Step on the Scale. Click on the link to learn more. We haven't become a new weight loss group. Michelle challenged us to work smaller or larger than usual.
I decided to go larger than my "normal" crusade projects and used a 12x16 sheet of acrylic paper for my base. It already had smears of paint left overs on it. I layered more paint, fiber paste, and pastel on the page.
I considered cutting the page up into ATC sized cards, but I decided to try one more thing before cutting up the paper.
What if I put a unifying layer of color over the page?
I tend to avoid using black paint because of my past experience using transparent watercolors. Black can deaden a painting when using it to dull colors or make darks. However, a recent trip to the Chicago Art Institute where we saw a special Matisse exhibit made me think about black in a new way.
More on that after I show you some of the digital tools I created that were used to compose the above image.
Even a very poor photo can produce treasure. I selected a portion of an image from my backyard. I liked the lacy branches against the sky. Thanks to Michelle, I knew how to make a digital brush. By adjusting the hue and opacity, I added more character to my image.

I have continued making monoprints since April's crusade. It's a great way to use up dabs of paint and I like the way it works with tissue paper. I scanned this page and converted it to brush-like layer for digital editing.

This is my finished mixed media painting. You can see the variety of colors that didn't seem to go together. Sorry, I don't have any progress shots on this. It was really ugly for a while. Really!

I added layers of distressing. Uglier. I was ready to cut it up into ATC's. Remembering Matisse's observations about black paint inspired me to stencil across the entire page using black paint. It was a risk, but I was hoping the black would illuminate the colors on the page and bring a unifying factor to the page.

I was thrilled with the results. In fact, I framed the finished page after scanning it! Then it was time to do more.

This was a challenge about scale. For me, that means thinking big, too. I decided to push past my usual comfort zone and add layers with Photoshop Elements. Adjusting the transparency and color of my digital brushes gave me the above results.

Why don't you join the in on the fun?