Sending some love…

So I’ve been playing with several things in the studio lately, today it only seems natural to share some “heart art” with you! I am slowly working my way back to creating more batik artwork. I took a break for several months but know I’ll be wanting new work for an upcoming show so I started playing with it again yesterday. Instead of creating on plain white paper this time I am using colored paper or paper with natural elements embedded in it. I also decided not to draw out and color in the designs with ink first but to preserve some of the paper color by painting the design on with wax instead. This was my second attempt at a heart, I stressed the paper out too much with the first one and it crumbled into pieces after the second waxing. Ooops!

I did go in after it dried and add some marks and lines. I like how loose and easy-going it ended up!

While I was in the studio I played with a new heart stencil (plus a couple others) in one of my journals…along with some “blendable” inks. It turned out cute enough for my first attempt.

I like it but…well, I just couldn’t help but do some digital editing on it. I know there are a lot of people out there that don’t necessarily enjoy Valentine’s Day. I don’t have strong feelings about it either way, I try to let the people that I love know they are loved all year round so I don’t get very extravagant celebrating just one day! Anyhow, the more I played with the image in Photoshop it morphed into a “dark” version…just for those that aren’t into the happy pink & red hearts or sentiments.

Enjoy the day…however you celebrate (or don’t). With love,

Your Randomly Creative Friend,

Lynne

P.S. If you are out & about and happen to be in the area, the RED show opens tonight at Flourish Gallery, 88 Morgan Street, Martinsville, Indiana. I have art in the RED show and a selection of items for sale in the gallery too. I’ll be there from 2 p.m. till around 7 p.m.

Exploring possibilities

So, in my last post I explained that I had chosen not one, but two, words to focus on in 2013. Although the first word I shared, HAVEN, is something I want to create for myself it really is more of a “project” type word than a focus for the year. What popped into my mind immediately when I thought about choosing a word for the year was EXPLORE. I love that word! So full of possibilities, with so many different areas in life it can apply to! Again, I jotted down a list of words that I felt attached themselves to EXPLORE and then created a piece of word art from them. 

I love how it turned out! Although there are some controls when making one of these “Wordles” the website randomly generates much of the images. It took several tries before this one came into being, once I saw that “Love, art, life” were surrounded by the larger “explore” I knew it was the one I would use. I plan on printing it out and hanging it here & there throughout my home & studio, tucking it into journals and just letting it inspire me throughout 2013. It makes me feel as if I am going on a grand adventure, I can hardly wait! Of course I’ll share my artistic explorations and teachings (I’ve been gearing up for several new projects in those areas) but I will also share some of the bits & pieces of my other explorations as well. I expect you all to hold me accountable…if I start to seem stale and boring you best tell me to get exploring! 🙂

What do you look forward to exploring this year?

Love & Laugh…

"laugh" mixed media on 8x8" panel, $65 © 2011, Lynne Medsker

Last week I was finally able to get back to the studio and start on some new pieces. This week I’m back again and am getting some of those beginnings finished! Here are the first two I wanted to share with you, along with some shots of their progress along the way. I began these two panels along with a different set of four panels, this is an image of all of them with a thick layer of textured white acrylic on them:

work in progress, image 1 © 2011, Lynne Medsker

After the texture layer dried then I began adding color with acrylic inks. I love playing with the thin inks, a spritz of water and they run, blend and bleed together – what fun! My initial thought was something multi-colored in a rainbow-ish pattern so that’s how I started.

work in progress, image 2 © 2011, Lynne Medsker

Eventually it kind of took on a landscape aspect so I followed that path a bit and even added a sunny spot high in the sky.

work in progress, image 3 © 2011, Lynne Medsker

I wasn’t totally excited about it at this point but I left it like this overnight. The next morning I still wasn’t excited about it so it was time to rework it. This time I went back to a more comfortable abstract pattern. I was almost there but it needed a little something else. Adding the black edges did the trick, it reminded me of the frame that appears around a Polaroid transfer!

work in progress, image 4 © 2011, Lynne Medsker

Once that dried all I had to do was add the rocks that I had selected prior to painting.

"love" mixed media on 8x8" panel, $65 © 2011, Lynne Medsker

Ta dah!  I’ve finished the edges, all that’s left is to add a hanger. These panels are thin and have holes at the top, I’m planning on using some natural hemp-type string for hanging. I also worked on the other four panels and have them nearly complete. I’m back in the studio again today so look for those on the blog in the next day or two!  I’ve got some new ideas whirling around in my mind…I’m anxious to see what pops out next. 🙂

Lynne