Blackbird Has Spoken

Gallery Wrapped Canvas Acrylic 6"X 12"

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I must be busier than I think. Sometimes I have several works going at the same time and nothing is finished. This little acrylic had a layer of bead gel on it at first which I didn't care for so I covered it over with molding paste and made some designs on it. I didn't have a plan, I was just playing with it and trying to make it interesting. When the molding paste dried I started painting it and finally came up with a sunrise, moon set motif and the song "Morning Has Broken" came to mind. With that on my brain I had to have a blackbird. I found a blackbird picture and made a gel transfer. If you've ever made a gel transfer you know this takes lots of layers of gel medium on the picture and this can take several days for the layers to dry and get thick enough. Finally I rubbed the paper off and was able to cut my blackbird out and fasten him to the painting. I did have to darken him with black paint though, I didn't think the transfer turned out dark enough.

The Muse

I was going to title it the muse is not amused. But it's more like the artist is not amused. I have been struggling with this little 5x7 canvas for the past two weeks. It was too light, too dark, too much, too little blah, blah. It's just a little experiment with molding paste, again, and some of my acrylic paints that needed some use. The dark around the edges is a Micaceous Iron Oxide, a sample from Golden. It has a sparkly effect which I think is quite nice. I'm not sure it shows up that much in the picture. I was into the copper again, too; the powder and the paint. I love the combination with the cobalt turquoise. I think I'm finished, but you never know. I'll post her and put her away for awhile. Perhaps she's not a muse at all but really a Christmas angel in disguise.

Here's to anniversaries!

It's been one year today that I started to blog with some consistency. I would have liked to post a new painting each day, but that was a bit too much to dive into. Some weeks have been more prolific than others but it has been a great motivator for me to get the brushes wet and paint.

Today's offering is more in the "having fun" category as opposed to working for a prize winning painting. I played around with some molding paste on a previously painted 8X10 canvas. I decided to do a palm tree shape with the molding paste and then painted it with acrylics. This was begun BS (before surgery) and completed (maybe) today, which is also 3 weeks AS (after surgery). Just for fun and for my old painting buddy, Marilyn, I've even sprinkled a little copper powder in it. For me, playing around with the different products, experimenting, having no fear of failure, is the best way to learn whether I'm on my own or in a class. And then I have the audacity to show it to the world.

Thanks to all who have commented and followed my blog, it's been a fun year and I hope to keep the whole thing going.

Playing with Paste

Ancient Symbols 1 & 2

Getting my cue from Mary Todd Beam in her book The Creative Edge, I tried playing with molding paste. I was given two 5 X 7 canvas boards that were going to be thrown out so somehow that gave me permission to play. Funny how free material does that. On one I used molding paste and the other light molding paste, both sample jars from Golden. (More free material.) I spread the paste on the canvases and used a texture tool, palette knife and jar lids to make designs in the paste. I let them dry overnight and then rubbed a charcoal stick over the rough edges to bring out the design. I thought the charcoal was too heavy so I took some off with a paper towel. Then I started applying thinned liquid acrylic paint allowing the colors to mingle. After drying I added some dark blue, cobalt teal and metallic paint. I think I prefer the molding paste to the light molding paste because it dries with a glossier finish, the light paste is almost grainy and a very matte finish. It was fun to work with and I think I'll try a bigger project on illustration board in the future.