Day 6, Autumn Day Collage

Autumn Day

Collage, 7.5 X 5.5

The next few day's collages are a bit bigger, they fit in an 8 X 10 mat for framing. This one, with the orange and green made me think of the early days of fall when some of the leaves have turned and some have kept their green for just a little longer. The papers are painted tissue, water stained tissue, and an altered magazine page. Acrylic paint is lightly wiped on and wiped off in places to bring the piece together, then it is coated with gloss medium.  

Day 4, 30 In 30 Challenge, Postcard Collages

Caravan

Collage 4 X 5.5

This collage came together when I was looking for a piece of orange to place in my collage. I spotted this orange with camels on the back of some prepared paper  that had not been affected by the Citrasolv. I like to put in something that is objective now an then and people really like to see something recognizable in an otherwise abstract piece. I have gotten a very positive response to this collage and I think that's why. All the rest of the papers in this collage were magazine pages that were altered with Citrasolv and coated with gloss medium, then heat fused.

Day 4 Post Card Landscape 3

Moonscape

Mixed Media Collage

4 X 5.5

Here we are at day 4 and I have another postcard sized collage. The papers are hand painted tissue, jelly printed paper and magazine page with the ink altered with Citrasolv. The circular forms on this paper remind me of photos of the moon with the craters. I hope you are enjoying the 30 Day Challenge as much as I am.

Day 3 Postcard Collage 2

Sunlit 

Postcard Collage

This looks like a sunlit cliff shoreline to me, especially in the photo. You can't tell that the little strip of yellow is the gold acrylic that I put on the torn edges of the paper. That is what makes the cliff look sunlit as well. These are the same kinds of papers that I used yesterday. I'm loving experimenting with these little landscapes. Check in with me tomorrow to see the 3rd in the series.

Day 2- Post Card Landscape

Post Card Landscape A

Collage 4 X 5.5

I decided to make post card sized landscapes for the first part of the month of the 30 day challenge. It gives me a chance to experiment with differing horizon lines, colors and papers without having a large piece to agonize over. They go fairly quickly and leave me time to work on larger pieces which take longer to complete. 

This collage is made up of magazine pages altered with Citrasolv and colored tissue that has been altered with water. Everything is coated with gloss medium and fused together with heat on 140# watercolor paper.

Day 1, 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge

I'm going to participate in the 30 Day Challenge again. I plan to do my collage "paintings" as well as some watercolor and mixed media. My theme is "My Neck of the Woods", mostly focusing on Florida scenes but I will be doing a lot of non-objective pieces as well so I'm not being ridged about it. 

Time Span 

Collage 3.5 X 4.5

I've been learning how to make papers with National Geographic magazines and Citrasolv, a natural cleaning product. It dissolves the ink and makes one able to manipulate it into interesting, random patterns. All the papers in this little collage were made this way, coated with gloss medium and heat fused to 140 pound watercolor paper. It was then enhanced with acrylic paint and coated with another layer of medium.

Collage-o-rama

Going With the Flow 

Collage, 8 X 8

I've been on  quite a collage kick again lately. I'm surely addicted to the medium. I love working with the colors and patterns on the papers, the assembly, and making order out of what seems to be chaos. This was made with hand painted papers, text, stamped, and altered National Geographic papers. Out of my stacks of papers I pick two or three colors I want to work with, decide what kind of composition it will be, then I start tearing and placing papers until I get something I like. I didn't know it needed a fish until it was almost finished. This is stamped from my own hand carved fish stamp with copper acrylic on a thin paper. Next I wipe over the collage with acrylic paint and then wipe it off. This colors all the white edges of the papers and unifies the piece. If you enlarge the picture you should be able to make out fish images in the blue area above the stamped fish behind the net effect. They are all headed the same direction, going with the flow. The final step is to coat it with a UV varnish to preserve the colors. It can then be matted and framed or adhered to a gallery canvas or wood panel.

Lost and Found

Purple Mountains

7 X 10 Watercolor

Have you ever "lost" a painting and then found it years later? I found some magazines from 2001 in the bottom of a drawer, and I began looking through them. In the back of one of them was this painting. Obviously, it was painted during one of my trips west, I'm not sure which one. I thought it was a fun little painting and so typical of the sunset scenes one sees in Arizona,  or New Mexico. Usually I date my pictures that I paint away from home and keep them as a diary of my trips, but this one wasn't dated. The only thing I have to go by is the date on the magazines. 

Sailboat series #2

Red Sun At Night

Watercolor 15 X 11

This is the second in the sailboat series, very much like the first one only larger. I love doing the colorful skies, getting the colors to blend into each other is one of the most fun things to do with watercolor. I must be doing the boat OK because a sailor recognized the type of boat it was before I put the insignia on the sail. That's a good sign. 

Painting Sailboats

Red Sun in the Morning

Watercolor 8 X 11

I'm doing a series of sailboat paintings so that I have some to show at the Regatta in October. This is the first of them painted with watercolor. I wet the sky area being careful not to get the sail wet. Then I started with the orange and allowed the colors to blend into each other.When that dried I used masking on the lines and railing of the boat, then I wet the water area and put in a blend of ultra marine blue, and a touch of permanent magenta. After drying I could add the touch of orange from the sky and the details of the boat. This was my practice piece for a larger painting but it turned out OK so I thought I'd post it. 

A Bird in the Bush

A Bird in the Bush

Collage, 8 X 8

This collage has been patiently waiting for me for weeks to finish it. I'm so glad that it was begun so that I had something in the works one afternoon when the men were working on the kitchen and I had to be on hand for questions on details. Since my art room is right off the kitchen it was the perfect place to be. Over several days it entertained me during the completion of the kitchen project. The collage was begun with hand painted papers on 140# watercolor paper which were heat fused then coated with acrylics and stenciled. Finally it will be sealed a coat of satin acrylic varnish. 

Zentangle Butterfly  

4 1/4 X 3 1/4

With the remodel going on it's so crazy at my house I had to get away one afternoon to do something creative. Starting or finishing a painting was not an option, so I got out my colored pens and did some Zentangle. It's relaxing and absorbing at the same time. It takes your mind off of what is going on in your life and you combine your colors and doodles with abandon. It's small enough to finish in an afternoon and I come away with a sense of accomplishment. This will make a nice "mini" for our art league's sale in February. 

Moon Rise

Moon Rise Over Montana

Gouache on paper 7.5 X 7.5

It's been such a long time since I've posted a painting. I've been doing some summer travel to witness grandchildren graduating from High School. Such a milestone in their young lives! Add remodeling the kitchen and it leaves little time to paint.

This painting was done quite some time ago and I don't know where it's been hiding but it just surfaced and I thought it would be a fun one to post. I did a whole summer's worth of painting with gouache one year and really enjoyed the medium. It's a nice transition to go from watercolor to acrylic because of it's opaque qualities but it's still movable with water after it dries. I do hope I'll be able to get some painting in soon, I miss it when life gets in the way.

A Simple Design

Sailin'

Acrylic, 22 X 28 (framed) 

Every year our art league has a competition in conjunction with a local sailing club. The club members choose one painting from the show to put on their Regatta T shirt. This year my painting, Sailin' was chosen for the T shirt. Two years ago I had another painting chosen so this is the second time I've received this honor. 

For the painting I made a simple graded blue background in acrylic; mixing the paint with polymer medium gave it some shine. After it dried I drew simple boat and sail shapes on the blue background with chalk, erasing and redrawing until I had the placement , sizes and shapes that I wanted. Then it was a matter of boldly taking a brush full of fluid white paint and following the chalk lines. I had to move quickly to keep the lines smooth. It took several tries, washing out the white acrylic before it dried. it was a fun experiment, something I've never done before. It was so simple I almost didn't enter it but in the end decided I had nothing to loose. Now, I'm happy that I did. When the T shirt is printed in the Fall I'll share a picture of it.

Textured backgrounds

 Textured Acrylic Background

 

I think it must have been at least a year ago, probably longer, that I took a workshop from Libit Jones. She had us make colorful, textured backgrounds for our paintings. I did several smaller paintings in her workshop and made 2 full sheet backgrounds for future paintings. Then I stalled out. The backgrounds were stuck in the back of the stack waiting for an idea. I finally decided to try flamingos. I struggle with acrylic figurative painting because it's seems opposite of watercolor. You go from dark to light instead of light to dark, and then acrylics get darker as they dry and watercolors dry lighter. It's a learning process for sure.

My first attempt covered up the background and just allowed whatever I managed to scratch out show through in the water. Acrylics dry quickly and it was a challenge to get the top layer scraped out before it was too dry. You can see the under painting through the water. Click on the image to get a closer view.

 

 

Flamingo With Lotus

Acrylic 30 X 22

Palm Paradise

Palm Paradise

Collage/Acrylic 6X12

(Click for larger view)

 

 

This is the last collage I did for our collage class which ended in March. I wanted to show that not all the papers needed to be torn, some can be cut for hard edges. I cut some of the palm fronds and the grasses, it's too difficult to tear small pieces sometimes needed to complete your composition. The papers are altered Geographic pages, sheet music, printed papers and painted tissues. All are sealed with polymer medium, heat fused and the art is protected with UV varnish. Be sure to click on it so that you can see the little details.

I appreciate your comments so much. Thank you!



 

 



Zentangles

Hummingbird Zen

Colored Pen 4.25 X 3.25

Seahorse Zen

Colored Pen 4 X 6

I've been wanting to do some zentangles or doodle art with the many pens and markers that I have acquired over the years. I like the ones I've seen with a subject in them so I used a seahorse and a hummingbird as my beginning place. I tried to make them interesting and varied. Maybe my desire to make them artistically balanced gets in my way. I think they are colorful and fun, a great way to play with my "stuff" when I'm not working on a painting or collage. I think they will make fun note cards, too.

From Zambia

From Zambia

Collage, 8 X 8

I didn't know what to name this collage and finally settled on "From Zambia" because the stamps I put in it are from there. They have some wonderfully colorful stamps. The focal point is a stamp with a Rotary International logo on it. I thought it had an interesting shape and the orange is complimentary to the blue. The papers are hand painted tissue and deli papers, altered National Geographic pages, book pages, and decorative papers. All of them have been coated and sealed with polymer medium and heat fused to watercolor paper. 

New class, new students

Four Student Collages

These four collages were done by our new students last week. They are all 2 X 2 and were done from the scraps that my co-teacher and I save from our collages. They were embellished with little punch outs. I think they are all well done, we have some experienced artists in the group who wanted to learn the technique of collage without adhesives. It's going to be a fun class since there are only four new students and four returning students. We will have a great time making our papers and collages.

Spring Song

Spring Song

Collage 5 X 5

Often, when I begin a new collage I will do two with like papers. These papers are the same ones I used for the last collage; the music, player piano paper, gessoed and painted paper and altered magazine pages. I like the way the colors of the papers underneath show through the dashes of the player piano paper. With a little planning they can add quite a lot to the design.