Mixed Media Pieces from Last Month’s Get Together

Posted on February 13, 2015 by ruthlane under mixed media

I have shown you the pieces that I started at my art groups last meeting. But I thought you might like to see what the others created. Bunny forgot to bring hers so I’ll have to get photos of those later.

This one is by Sally. She is really channeling spring. I love the colors and the writing showing through in the background.

This one is by Carole. She is thinking about adding a single real leaf as a focal point. You should enlarge this and take a look at all the texture. Really cool.

This one is by Louise. It is one that she had used as a sample to show us how to get started. Look closely at the cheesecloth along the bottom. She has some kind of new stuff that will rust anything. Rusted cheesecloth!

This is another one of Louise’s. She said that she didn’t like how it was going so she put more plaster on both sides and then repainted it. She suggested I could do the same with my iris piece.

The rest of these are also by Louise. She has been really busy making some beautiful pieces, hasn’t she? The black, white and blue one is fabric from one of our deconstructed screen printing sessions. Today we met and did a whole cloth free form painting session. I’ll show you photos soon. Hope you have a good weekend.

Quit While You’re Ahead

Posted on February 6, 2015 by ruthlane under mixed media

If only I would listen to my own advice. But no. I decided to try adding some fabric to the mixed media iris piece.

I had some lovely silk fabric in green and blue violet. The fabric looks much bluer than the iris in the photo but it isn’t as blue as the camera shows it. I thought that by adding the fabric, it would frame the iris and crop out some of the background. I decided that I liked the upper right corner formation.

So I used matte medium to glue it down. I painted over the entire piece and then left it to dry. The fabric was flat against the canvas when I left but when I checked it later, there were bubbles everywhere under the fabric. Sigh.

And I should have quit while I was ahead. But I thought I’d show you anyways. Everything doesn’t come out perfect or as planned. Of course if I had planned a little better I might not have gotten this far and gone overboard. Oh well. Live and learn.

Mixed Media Iris

Posted on January 30, 2015 by ruthlane under mixed media

Last week I showed you my iris piece and asked for suggestions. I got some good ones and added more layers this week.

Here’s what it looked like last week. The orange/red was just too over powering. I had suggestions to add more detail to the iris to make it more of a focal point as well as to add some darker shades of green.

So I added another layer of green paint mainly over the red/orange. You can still see it, but it isn’t overpowering.

I also added some white to the iris with a white gel pen. I drew in a vine with leaves with dark green gel pen. Not really sure I like it but I think it is finished. I will put it away and look at it later with fresh eyes. Perhaps it will grow on me. I actually like the cropped version of it better than the whole piece.

Videos and Iris Mixed Media

Posted on January 23, 2015 by ruthlane under mixed media

Today I started working on videos for my online classes. I have very little experience with video making and editing. But you have to start somewhere right?

Here’s the video camera set up in my studio ready to record.

I borrowed some panels from my friend Sally (Thanks, Sally!) and set them up on the other side of my table. And then I did a few practice videos. Luckily, you won’t be subjected to them here. They were a bit laughable. And of course I seem to make all these funny gestures and facial expressions and watching yourself hem and haw is pretty excruciating. I have a program that you can cut off the beginning and end of the video and paste them together but not a fancy editing program. Hopefully, I will get the hang of it soon.

I worked a little bit more on my mixed media iris piece. If you look at last week’s photo, I had added some walnut ink which really changed the overall colors. I decided I didn’t like it so I wet it down and wiped it off. So now it is more of the true colors that I started with. I painted some fusible web a lighter shade of green and added it on top. I wanted to tone down the red-orange a bit more by adding in more “greenery”. Not sure where I’m going from here but it seems to need a bit more. What do you think? Would you stop here or add something else? If you would add something, what would it be? I’d love to hear your opinion.

Finished?

Posted on January 16, 2015 by ruthlane under Felt, mixed media

I worked a bit more on my mixed media paintings and I stitched my Monet inspired felt to a canvas. I am never quite sure on the paintings whether they are complete but I’ve decided that two are finished. The last one is still in progress.

This one I added a bit of gel pen to highlight the blue and a few of the textured square bits.

This one got more orange and yellow added before adding highlights in gel pen.

And this is the one still in progress. I didn’t let the red-orange paint dry enough before I tried to knock it back with a little walnut ink. So the result is a bit messy. I am going to add more green in on top of the reds and see if I can get it to where I want it to be. But have to let it dry first!

And I finally got my Monet inspired felt on to canvas. I think it turned out nicely and this is actually the best photo I have gotten of the piece yet. It shows more of the details. Hope you have a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Ruth Lane Art

Experimenting with Arts Endless Possibilities

Category Archives: mixed media