This piece was created last winter/spring and never made it to the blog. So, belatedly, may I present “Monocromatic”! Creating using a mixture of markers, charcoal and ink here are images of the piece in progress:
As you can tell I was busy creating instead of taking photos of my process. It happens sometimes!
Next post will be another tree from winter/spring, this one with a tropical feel. Look for it soon.
Lynne
A few years ago I created a three-piece artwork entitled “Backbeat”. This spring it was purchased by one of my collectors, with the request that I also create a forth piece to add to the set. I was more than happy to oblige, and the work began.
Next came a layer of sewing patterns to add some detail and guidelines for painting.
That was followed by some drippy layers of acrylic ink.
After those layers dried it was time to start adding some geometric patterns with charcoal.
The piece was sealed and then the detail painting began.
Following the painting was adding the dimensional details – including old records & CD’s plus a few acrylic shapes too. Voila! Finished.
I really enjoy creating art in this style. Since finishing this piece I’ve covered some new wood panels with background, just waiting for me to get to them. Soon? I hope!
Lynne
So much meaning to this piece, as well as the title of the post!
This has to be one of my favorite new pieces. It took it’s sweet time but was worth the wait! Created on another of the canvases that I had textured and painted white, it began much differently than it ended.
And then it sat. And sat. And sat around the studio.
Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer and figured ANY progress had to be better than it just sitting there! So I grabbed a charcoal pencil and just started drawing.
Lately it seems all my doodles and sketches are swirly vines. I’m sure this is symbolic of something but I’m just going with it. Once I’d gotten that pattern down I went back with a blending stump and softened and worked the design. After sealing that layer the next step had to be some color!
That ended up being more than just the next step, there was color, color and more color added, blended and swirled all over that canvas in thin layers that let some of the under-colors peeks through. Here’s a detailed image of a section of the finished work that highlights the colors and texture of the piece.
The title means several things to me. I’d not painted in many weeks so that part of my creativity had been lying dormant, it is the middle of winter and all the growth outdoors is dormant as well and, after sitting around the studio for months the art itself is no longer dormant but alive with color and design. Happiness!
I’ve had a period of being semi-dormant, at least as far as my online activities. I wrote and scheduled the blog posts for the last four weeks all at once and set them to auto-post – both here and on my digital blog. I set auto-tweets and Facebook posts and then I hibernated. Not entirely but I purposely allowed myself time away from these digital tasks so that I could have time to work on my goals and schedule for 2013. I knew they were not going to be done for the “New Year” celebration January 1st but as the days passed I was afraid that too much time would slip by and they might not get done at all! Along with working on that project I’ve just taken time to relax, to travel, to nap, to do pretty much whatever I felt like. What a treat! So, the next post you see on here will be post-dormancy. I guess we will both have to wait and see what it’s about. 🙂
Lynne
This piece has been “in progress” for a few months. I’m excited to finally share it with you!
When I got the idea it took a bit of mulling around on exactly how I’d make it and then once underway it was a bit time consuming. The things we do for art! The first step was to create large pages of mandala-inspired art that would be painted and then torn apart.
I will admit to some mixed emotions about creating something just to tear it into pieces! Art from last year? Wouldn’t have slown me down a bit! While that was in stages of progress I designed the background from old pages of sheet music, watercolor paint and layer of thin paper to lay out a rough shape.
Then it was time to rip, tear and arrange the pieces! In addition to the mandala art that was used I also cut circles from some “not so successful” printmaking projects and added them for color and texture.
It seemed like a great idea but I ended up going a bit overboard. Ack! Color overload. And not very “tree like” either!
The first thing I did once it got to this stage was to paint a thin layer of irridesent white over the background to tone it down a bit (shown above after the background was painted). Then it sat for a while. And then it sat a bit longer. I wasn’t sure where to go with it at this point…I knew what I wanted, but that was about all. One day when I had a friend over to the studio we talked about it and bounced ideas back & forth and before she’d even left I was working away!
I have a fabulous stash of different kinds of paper…okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a paper-aholic! I love paper, thin, thick, solid colors, pattern, textures, flat…it doesn’t matter. So I dug into that and found the perfect piece. A nice brown tree-ish color, very loosely woven with gaps and thin spots for the design underneath to peek through while it gave the piece the unity that I’d been looking for. Happiness!! The next steps were to add highlights, shadows and outlines for definition.
The finishing touches from this point didn’t take long at all, a little charcoal, a bit of acrylic ink and it was done. 🙂 I’ve got a few other pieces that are in progress right now but I’m also shifting focus to holiday projects and gifts so they are moving slow too. Lucky for you I’ve got a backlog of art that I haven’t written about yet. 🙂
Look for more soon!
Lynne
This piece is the second of three new mixed media collages that I created while on my retreat last month. It is also the one that I struggled with the most, at least until a creative lightning bolt hit me during an afternoon nap. I literally leapt off the couch and dashed to the studio before the idea disappeared!
It’s beginning were inspired by my goal of having more words & text in my work so I literally covered the canvas with just that!
A bit of texture and design were make with the acrylic gel to give it some added detail. At that point I wasn’t sure what else it needed so I started with some color, a nice warm brown.
That’s where I got stuck! I just could not picture where it was going so knowing the next step was impossible. So it sat for several days and, evidently, simmered in my creative percolator. My sleep schedule (when left to my own devices) includes a nice afternoon nap for an hour or so and as I was drifting off one afternoon a thought popped in my mind. Talking in circles! I already had the words, all I needed was the circles. 🙂 From that point on it was a piece of cake!
Adding ribbons of paper in different colors, drawing the circular design with charcoal, painting the highlights, I had it finished by the time I went to bed that evening. Although you can’t tell it from these small images there are still places in the image where the text shows through.
I think it really helped to have it out and in my view while I was pondering what to do with it. I’ve got several pieces in the studio I need to pull out and ponder on a bit – perhaps I’ll get hit with another creative lightning bolt when I least expect it!
In my last post I showed some new images I’d made using a gelatin plate to make monoprints with. Today I’m going to show you the other half of the process, these are called “ghost” prints. After each layer of the original prints were made there was still a nice amount of color left on the plate so I lined up two additional prints and used the excess paint for their color. The result is always a lighter print that the original but sometimes that ends up being more pleasing than the darker first print!
These are the prints that I added charcoal to during the process – some of which stuck to the plate and was transfered to the original prints.
As you can see, the image on the left was printed backwards during one of the blue layers, a disadvantage of manually placing them vs. the originals that are taped in place. But, not to fear, with a mat added to the image (top of the page) all is not lost! This last print ended up being my favorite:
One thing I really like about it is the “happy accident” with the run of blue at the bottom of the image. That’s the joy of this technique – going where the flow takes you! More prints to share next week, until then…
Go with the flow!
Lynne
If you’ve read this blog much you know I’m always up to something new…from new color combinations to totally different techniques or mediums, I like to change things up! Last week during my studio time I wandered back into printmaking for a while and had a lot of fun reacquainting myself with it and experimenting. I’ve got lots of photos to show the processes and outcomes but for today I’m just going to tease you with one of the finished images. Check back later this week for more…
Lynne
A Randomly Creative Blog 