2017 30 Day Challenge Day 21

 

Cardinal

Mixed media-watercolor 15 X 11

I find that if I practice the techniques that I've learned in a workshop they stick in my brain better. If I go away and don't do that which I've learned for a week or two, I've forgotten everything. That is a waste of a good workshop! Here is my practice from Karen Knutson's charcoal pour class. There are some things I would change if I did it over again, but I love the bird so I'll keep him. Since every charcoal pour background comes out differently, every piece has it's own challenges. She also does landscapes on hers so I may try that, too. In the meantime, 9 days to go in the Challenge, I think I'll go back to abstracts.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 20

Tea With Klimpt

Acrylic 15 X 11

This is a painting from the Karen Knutson workshop. We switched gears and learned what she calls, "Painting like Gustav Klimpt." We could choose our own figure to put in the painting and I found a picture of a woman in old fashioned dress having tea. For my first attempt I'm pleased with the outcome. Klimpt put a lot of little geometric details in his paintings in black and gold and I've attempted to recreate this look with acrylic paint. 

Early stage of painting

I don't have a picture of the start of the painting but the acrylic is dropped on and pulled to the bottom of the painting, some paint is lifted to make random white dots, then the figure is put in, more paint is removed and negative spaces are painted around the figure. It's fun to see the figure emerge and take the stage. If you like to doodle you'd love putting in all the little shapes at the end. It's very different style of painting and I enjoyed the process.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 19

Beach House 4

Caribbean Blue

Mixed media collage 8 X 8

An orange sunset sky, the lovely aqua blue of the Caribbean and a swaying coconut tree; what could be better? Just add music and you are in a happy place. Making these little beach houses is pure fantasy. That's what makes them so enjoyable. What would your fantasy get-away look like? 

I used painted tissue, altered magazines, painted brown paper, spray glitter, printed papers, Inktense pencils and a metal bicycle embellishment. It's all heat fused with gloss medium and coated with UV varnish.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 18

Beach House 3

Mixed media collage 9 X 9

I'm deviating from the abstracts for a day or two since I'm still working on my beach house series. It seems like I've done more than 3, I guess because I keep going back to them from time to time. 

I used hand painted tissue, altered magazine pages, geli printed paper, coffee cup holders and painted brown bags in this collage. It's all coated with gloss acrylic and heat fused to 140# paper then varnished. It can be mounted on a wood panel or matted and framed. 

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 17

DRUM ROLL PLEASE: THIS IS MY 500TH BLOG!

Thank you for reading and following!

Bird Watching

Mixed media and watercolor 15 X 22

I never imagined that I would get so involved with blogging. It goes to show you how you can do things that you never dreamed you would do.

Last week end I attended an art workshop with Karen Knutson as the instructor. She and I are fellow Minnesotans so I've known her for a long time. It was great having her in Florida to teach a workshop. 

Her first lesson was doing charcoal pours as a background for your painting. If you look carefully at the painting you see random black spray like shapes in the background. These are made by splashing water on paper that has been sprinkled with powdered charcoal. When it's dry, after it's been sprayed with fixative, you design your painting around the charcoal. It's a fun but messy process. The bird's wing has been embellished with collage papers, so it's right up my alley. Click on the image to get a closer view of the detail. 

Karen has very creative and imaginative paintings, you can see her work at www.karenknutson.com or read her blog at www.karenknutson.blogspot.com.

2017 30 Day Challenge Day 16

A Postcard

Mixed media collage 6 X 6

No birds this time, just a cute postcard embellishment. It has no particular meaning except that it was a complementary color to the oranges and yellow and seemed to fit there; also it repeats the shape in the upper right. It's all about finding what works. 

Thanks for the comments about my work, I really appreciate it. 

2017 30 Day Challenge - Day 15

Bird on a Perch

Mixed media Collage

Day 15! I'm half-way through the challenge. I've made it through an out of town family funeral, and a 3 day workshop and I have still managed to post a daily piece. I can be organized and focused when I want to be, and that's the challenge. Not so much that I make great or even necessarily good art, but that I focus on what I want to do and that's to finish 30 pieces in 30 days. Sometimes I know life is going to get in the way  of creating so I double or even triple up on some days to get ahead or to catch up if need be. 

I'm starting to love the lighter oranges and yellows. I don't think I've made friends with a true orange color, yet; perhaps as an accent but not as a dominant color. I have one more orange and then I think I will move on and start a new color series of abstracts.