Category Archives: Level 3 Art and Design

Aspen Tree Studies

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design

I am still working on tree studies and really having a good time. Using a variety of paint techniques to create texture and trying to recreate what a tree looks like from a distance and up close.

This is a painted representation of the bark of the aspen tree up close. Lots of layers here.

Here’s a gelli plate print that happened to turn into an aspen grove. Just added a few more trunks. Every printed piece of paper I look at, I see trees 🙂

And this last one is of the upper branches of the aspen tree. It was supposed to be looking up into the branches but the viewpoint isn’t exactly as planned. I think I got the angles of the branches wrong. But I still like it. Next up I am beginning on rock studies.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Aspen Leaf

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design

I’m continuing to work on tree studies. Here’s an aspen leaf in colored pencils.

After comparing to the photo below, I see that I still haven’t gotten it dark enough but I think I am going to leave it the way it is.

Hope you have a good weekend!

Aspen Tree

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design

I have been working on my homework for Level 3 Art and Design.  The last couple of weeks has been doing a tree study.

Here’s the tree I picked to study.

Here’s a look into my sketchbook. I am really enjoying this study and now I want to do a bunch of different trees. I guess I will see how much I can get done before I go back to class in December. What have you been working on?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Jellyfish and a Leaf

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design

This is another sample that I started in class and then added more layers of paint when I got home.

This is done with one of the thicker mediums so you can mound it up and give really big texture. I decided after I took the photo that I need to add another coat of a gloss medium on top to make it look more like water.

And I wanted to show you this gorgeous leaf that I found while I was in Washington state at my class. It is a huge leaf, bigger than my head. And the colors and details are just gorgeous, aren’t they? I am definitely going to do a color study of this leaf. Have you found anything spectacular lately in nature? It seems I can always find something that catches my eye!

 

Samples, Samples, Samples

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design

In my recent Art & Design class, we started creating a sample library. We used lots of different acrylic mediums on a variety of papers with different application techniques. The documentation is the hardest part because you need to remember what you did so it could be replicated if you wanted.

I’m doing more samples since I got home and adding more layers to some of the original samples done in class. The samples are all about 5″ x 7″.

I have started putting my “library” together into a 2″ ring binder. I’m not sure I am going to have enough room. All the little green sticky notes have my notes about what the sample is, what medium and paper was used and how it was applied. Hopefully, none of these will disappear between now and when I get these into the book.

Here’s one of the original samples that I did in class. I have picked up a leaf on my way to the store and when I brought it home, it really matched this sample. We are supposed to add more color with colored pencils and other media to some of our samples. So I thought maybe the leaf would give me some inspiration.

Here is the piece after I added more color and details. I’m trying it out on different backgrounds to see which I might like.

I love this red background but I think it is a bit too much for the sample piece. What do you think? Click on any photo to enlarge.