Category Archives: mixed media

Winter Berries

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design, mixed media

I’m still playing with negative space painting. This was an experiment on a piece of screen printed paper that I had in my stash. It looked very organic to start with so I added some darkness behind the berries and leaves. It has both acrylic and water color paint and the paper was a “mixed media” paper that I have never really liked. And after working on it again, it has reaffirmed that I should never get this type of paper again. The paper feels almost like plastic and has a raised pattern on the surface that is hard to cover. I guess it should have gesso on it to start but since it was already printed, I just went over top of what was there. It is still going to take more practice to really get used to negative space painting. I feel the need to plan more as I have a tendency to get lost in the more intricate details. I painted a second landscape but it is really hideous at the moment and I have to work on it more to see if it is even salvageable.

And the rest of the day was spent packing up to go to my class soon. I have more stuff every time we go. Luckily, there are only 2 sessions left. Otherwise, we might have to rent a U Haul truck to get everything to class.

Tree Fragment Series

Posted on by under collage, mixed media

I created the first two of these “Tree Fragments” quite a while ago and then they just hung around the studio being UFO’s. I was invited to include some of my work in the “Uncommon Threads” exhibit at the Bigfork Cultural Arts Center. It is the same time as the exhibit for Whitefish Gallery Nights that I posted about here. So I needed different work for the Bigfork show. I decided to create one more piece to make this a series. I have created a post about that piece over on The Felting and Fiber Studio which will publish on August 13th. But I will show you the other two pieces here.

This first one is called “Chemo Leaves”. I used a rust printed background and covered a 12″ x 12″ canvas. This pattern was created from the curtains when my husband was taking chemotherapy several years ago. This is a combination of printed, screen printed and machine stitched felt as well as ice dyed cotton fabric.

The second piece is called Aspen Leaves and is created from printed and stenciled felt, iced dyed cotton fabric and machine stitched and painted silk. The background is an eco printed piece from my friend Paula. Thanks Paula!

I tried to fit these into some frames but it didn’t work. So I think they will stay unframed. Now I just need to finish up the backs and put on a hanger.

Tyvek Texture Samples

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design, mixed media

I showed you one of the Tyvek texture samples while it was wet last week. Today I added some oil paint stick highlights.

The photo on the left is before the oil paint stick application. As you can see, the black is really shiny because I used gloss gels mixed with acrylic paints. I was trying a variety of mediums with these tyvek samples so that I could see which worked best. On the right, I have added some matte oil paint sticks to the background to cut the shine. I also added more black to the Tyvek.

And the same with this one. I added a bit of matte blue to cut the shine and then added black oil paint stick to the ridges and the edges of the tyvek. The black definitely helps to integrate the tyvek into the piece more.

This one is definitely not my favorite. It looked better in the “solarized” photo last week. I added two colors of blue and gold oil paint sticks to this one. Bleh.

This is my favorite one. I just added a bit of black to this one. It kind of reminds me of butterfly wings.

This one has a bit different technique and is still wet. I painted the background first instead of adding paint to the medium as I did with the others above. I then applied clear gel gloss very thickly. It is supposed to dry clear but still isn’t completely dry. The thicker areas are still white. I’m not sure it will ever be completely clear but I am going to leave it for a while to see if it will clear up.

Here’s a collage I created out of some of my recent gelatin plate prints with alcohol inks.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Experimenting with Acrylics

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design, mixed media, painting

I wrote a post about creating some painted Tyvek samples on the Felting and Fiber Studio here. I decided to combine the tyvek pieces I had with a variety of acrylic mediums and paint. Since they are both plastics, I thought they might be a bit more integrated than trying to add tyvek to fabric. I always have an issue with the fact that it looks like I just plopped the tyvek on top and called it good. The tyvek never really feels integrated into a piece. So this was an attempt to try something different with tyvek. I made 5 samples but they aren’t dry and I can’t move them to take a good photo. But I did take a photo on my cell phone that turned out better than the photos from my regular camera.

I used light modeling paste mixed with orange paint and then pushed the tyvek down into the modeling paste. It squeezed up through the holes in the tyvek and the result is definitely interesting. I will have to see if it needs something more after it dries. I could always add more paint or perhaps brush the high points with oil paint sticks. It definitely has texture.

This is one of my samples that the photo was bad so I “solarized” it in Photoshop. Pretty cool effect. Maybe I can print this out and use it in a collage.

I painted this “stripe” painting for my first session of my art and design class. The one on the left is the original. It sat in my studio for a year. But now I have had some time to add a bit more to it. The end result is on the right. I like it better but can’t decide if it is finished or not. What do you think?

 

Art Scrap Cards and More Stamps

Posted on by under Level 3 Art and Design, mixed media, printing

I have gotten a bit behind schedule with my class homework but had a full day today to work. So I glued my collages that I have started and carved a couple of stamps. I made these “Art Scrap Cards” last week but didn’t get a chance to show you. These are made from gelatin plate prints and acrylic skins.


We are going to sell these cards (my art group) with a donation of a portion of the proceeds going to the Humane Society. We’ll see how that goes. We’re using “scraps” from other projects to create the cards.

And here’s a couple more stamps I carved today. The leaf one is to go with my two tree stamps. The bark is mainly for texture and I’m looking forward to printing with these. Perhaps I will get time for a printing session next week. Have a good weekend.