a wip painting abstracted from a photo

I started this a while ago and have continued to layer and layer and erase and layer some more, trying to get the depth of color and the feeling of a rusty piece of metal here and there. Here are the steps, more or less..... Here's the piece of a photo that I'm attempting to abstract....

Scraped on a first layer of fluid green/teal random base color (with a credit card).  Then added some shades of blue.

Laid on some more colors and the first couple shades of color to become the "rust".

Added some modeling paste texture at the top and in the arc to indicate the rusty part.

Wasn't loving this direction,so painted over and added the texture circles and went off in a new direction.....

Then stenciling, dripping, more color.  It feels unfocused.  Probably because it is....I wasn't "feeling" it yet.

Of course, it needs collage!  Hated the dark mess I made of the circles on the bottom.....

Lighten up those circles, block paint the vase......liking it better.  What's a vase without flowers?

And there you have it.....some of the progression steps of my most recent piece. There may be a series of sorts in this theme......

More 365/2 art -

Continuing my quest to complete 365 projects for my second consecutive year.  Hit a bit of a snag in my production the last couple weeks - life just keeps getting in the way and I'm having a hard time making something every day.  But, I press on......

#276-279:  ATCs for MMSA project......haven't made any for a long time and it was fun to make little bits of art again.....

The bottom left pocket is actually made from a shiny silver envelope liner, not this dark gray thingy.

#280 - layers of painting made with drips and stencils, scribbles and shapes.  Still a work in progress.

#281 - I'm pleased with how this one turned out.....my first time using modeling paste (lower left). There's tons of layers that weren't going anywhere until I decided to collage some book pages in a rough vase shape.....then, it was easy and kinda finished itself.

detail

#282 &; 283 - Laura shared how she makes her collages using polymer medium and a tacking iron.  I thought it was interesting but didn't follow up on it.....then I saw that Karen gave it a try and fell in love with the process so that pushed me to try...... I bought a jar of the polymer on sale at Michael's and just used my regular iron on its lowest setting.  Here's my first couple of "iron on" collages, no glue used!  Then a bit of paint added.  

I used various weights of paper, some deli paper, tissue paper, magazines, etc.  Everything stayed in place really well.  You can see more detail on Karen's blog and Laura's made a how-to video.

#284 - a journal page still experimenting with polymer collaging. I made a fabulous discovery. I put polymer on both sides of this drying leaf and let it dry then I ironed it on with other collage pieces. I turned the iron up a bit and it was too hot so kind of melted the polymer off the front of the leaf (you iron over a piece of freezer paper so no iron was hurt in this process!) but  absolutely firmly sealed it to the journal page with no crinkles, wrinkles, or tears!  I love this discovery!

I'll continue sharing my progress - and watching yours. Have a creative weekend!

week 37 for 365/2 (part 2)

Aug 8-14

#254 - I've been working on this off and on for a while and am finally liking the direction it's going.  It needed collage! :) And I'm liking the color contrast/use.

#255 - 257 - I've been playing major catch up in my inspiration or restraint journal (as originally inspired by Hanna at ihanna)  I can't believe how many inspiration pics I'd accumulated to put into the journal. Sheesh!

I've been looking for ways to incorporate my photos with my mixed media & so have collected a few inspiration images to get me started. (above)

Usually I use table bits and pieces to collage with my inspiration photos, but this time I used all washi - I have so much and decided it was time to USE it!

I use these restraint/inspiration journals to inspire (obviously) but also as a reminder - of something I want to try or a direction I want to go.  Sometimes I'll have a start to a painting or a card or a digital project, but get stuck.  A flip through these inspiration journals (I'm on my 3rd) often helps me resolve my lack of direction.

Stay creative - do something different this week.....try a new technique, bring something outside and make something inside.....have a blast with your art!

painting frenzy

I really took advantage of low commitments this holiday weekend and spent lots of time in my art room.  I managed to finish (?) two mix media pieces.....

Branching Out, 12x12 on canvas

Time to rework this experimental mark-making canvas - out came the collage materials, brayer and a digitally altered photo I took of a tree.

A bit of black ink added that I discovered wasn't waterproof - oops.

The final image with all my layers and a tree added.

painting detail

Then, I showed a bunch of early versions of this large piece and I think it's done - at least for now.  I'm living with it on the wall for a while, just to make sure.

Here's where I left it last time - shapes ala Jane Davies though I didn't have my gelli plate then, these are just painted papers.

There are elements I like about this version, but I was really struggling with those shapes and what to do on the opposing side.  It feels like two separate paintings doesn't it?

Better with the yellow gone and some stenciling added, but still..............

What happens if I rotate the canvas?  Oh my gosh - a whole different feeling and suddenly my conflicts are gone and I really like this piece and so does Dan.  Hooray.

painting detail

So that's what I was up to over the weekend - collages, mail art, painting, reading and relaxing - a perfect weekend.  We even sneaked in a couple of movies - watched Promised Land with Matt Damon and The Sessions with Helen Hunt.  Whew!  Hope you all got the chance to satisfy your creative urges too!

a new painting

I took one of my early collages that I didn't really like anymore and decided to rework it.  I had this gardening ad torn out of a magazine from years ago that has been calling to me - so I figured it was time to use it as inspiration.....

My inspiration (above) and my starting point (below) an 11x17 canvas

This hot mess had some interesting textures and I liked bits and pieces of it, but overall I saw more wrong than right with it.  Time for a makeover.

Started by creating a new background - our friend gesso covered up most of the collage then layers of acrylic to make the background..... (it's actually much more green than blue - somehow my camera washed out the color and I didn't mess with fixing it in PSE)

 Here's the finished product - I like that I can see the hint of the bird profile still (lower right) and that my lines aren't too terrible in spite of painting over such rough collaging underneath.  I signed it but it was illegible cuz it's so bumpy so I washed it off and will try again in another place (maybe on the back:) )  I quite like how this one turned out.

AEDM #9

I have the start of a couple of projects for my creative efforts today.....  Working on a 5x7" canvas panel I am just laying down the background starts for a couple of ideas I have.

Started with adhering an Asian book page to one panel (the paper was received in a swap!) with mat medium.  I won a small book from Fiona a couple months ago and have it hanging on the wall, but it needs a companion so I want to make something gently Asian and compatible with her gorgeous book.

The other project is that I want to experiment with working with the veneer pieces I get from work.  My thought is that I'll use a few different veneer colors and make a quilt type pattern on the painted background.

Used yellow, orange and light brown so far....

The Asian beginning is on the right, the veneer will be on the gold one and the left is my baby wipe drying to become collage fodder for another day.


Why don't you join in the Art Every Day Month?  It doesn't have to be a big project - just a little working in your journal, begin a project (like me), take a gorgeous photo, or make a new soup.  Who says creativity is restricted to painting/collage?  How will you be creative today?

a little time for art

I've managed to find just a little time for art this week.....a couple of art journal pages....

Then, while on vacation, I was mulling around what to do with my big, WIP canvas.  Toying with this idea and that.  Wondering, speculating, visualizing.  One night as I'm laying in bed trying to sleep, I got a germ of an idea....tossed and turned some more and as I laid there kept telling myself "don't forget this in the morning"..."use this color palette"....."remember this plan".  Finally I just had to get up and sketch the idea, write it all down and get it out of my head.

One of the things I noticed about not having access to a computer and the ability to peruse everyone else's wonderful art is that I started to feel more confident about my own.  I started having ideas and sparks that I feel like are just mine.  It took a few days of NOT thinking about art to have the art come bubbling to the top and my little sketchbook (my new moleskine that I wasn't sure I'd like) has numerous beginnings, baby ideas, and 'what ifs'.

Once home I wanted to try out my idea in my journal and see what I liked or didn't before moving to the big canvas.  Here's my trial pages.....

As a reminder, here's the big canvas when last I showed it - I'd covered up much of the riot of color and added this bold stencil - which I like but wasn't feeling connected to.

So I painted the whole thing gray - shades of black, white, gray but with hints of the former layers and colors still peeking through.....don't know how much, if any, will be there at the end, but that's the joy, right?  And I'm thinking a vertical orientation instead of my typical landscape.....

This weekend I MUST focus on making some mail art....I have so many beautiful cards that I've received and want to respond to.  BUT, I also am feeling the pull to work on this baby.  Will let you know how it goes.

[ed to add] I'm adding this to Artists in Blogland - a great resource to see what other folks are up to artistically.  I often forget this great weekly resource....just link up one of your posts showing what you've been up to in the last week so people can find you -