No Filter & Slightly Off-Kilter

During the winter months I always explore new art ideas as I snuggle into hibernation mode. This year I continued working on digital art, but with a twist. These sets of images can be printed as greet cards or as wall art. All are fun, colorful and many feature the off-center style of humor that I adore. I still have many ideas for this series, they’ll be added to the website page as they are produced! These are the first two topics I tackled…Caffeinated Thoughts & (since Valentine’s was approaching at the time) Love & Laughter.

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You can see the entire collection on my website. I’m having so much fun with these…both in the design aspect and in finding the sayings to go with each image! Future topics I’m planning on are “Unicorns Goals” and “That’s What I Thought!” but I’m always open to suggestions too! Drop me an email if inspiration hits. 😉

Until next time!

Your randomly creative artist friend,

Lynne

Whimsy

Last year, as I was preparing for a show of my mixed media batik art, I was also spending lots of time with my grandkids. Trying to mix the two I did many of the drawing layers of the art while they were busy coloring and drawing at the kitchen table with me. As often happens I got requests – “Gramsy, can you draw a fish? Gramsy, what about a bird? Maybe some flowers?” as those drawings began to unfold I unintentionally created a trove of tiny art pieces inspired by the requests! The original pieces were all small – mounted on 4×4″ wood panels when completed. Some just seemed to need a bit more space so 6×6, 6×12 and 8×8″ pieces were added to the mixture over the months.

Above: Batik art on paper in progress – drawing/coloring stage Below: Finished 4×4″ pieces

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Display of multiple 4×4″ pieces

As I continued to create these whimsical pieces I also began adding text and quotes to them. The ones shown below are all 6×6″ pieces on wood panels.

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These creations fell right into my art motto of “Happy Art for Happy People”! Many of the pieces that feature flowers, nature, gardens, etc. are now available at Queen Anne’s Farmhouse & Flower Shoppe located in Greenwood, Indiana. You can also find a few of my handmade journals there too! Hmmmm….journals. I’m not sure I’ve blogged about those yet. Perhaps next post?

Lynne

Tell Me About It

"tell me about it" mixed media collage on wood panel, 12x12", $175 © lynne medsker

Another text/word/quote based piece – this one even includes actual metal typesetting pieces in the composition! Beginning with a large piece of paper that I had painted, stamped letters and patterns onto I proceeded to add more paper and designs on top of it to create the background.

stamps used for design © Lynne Medsker

stamping paper for collage work © Lynne Medsker

"tell me about it" work in progress, image 1 © lynne medsker

While that was drying I began working with the typesetting pieces, selecting small letters & symbols that would fit within the square pieces they would be held together in, eventually making three groups that would be added to the piece next. I also stamped some copper designs across the surface.

"tell me about it" work in progress, image 2 © lynne medsker

To finish off the piece I did some shading with pencil, added written text over the surface with a fine line marker and also outlined some of the text on the surface to emphasize certain words & phrases.

Does it “speak” to you?

From Dreams

"from dreams" mixed media on canvas, 12x24, $275 (c) 2010, Lynne Medsker

Last month I posted about a piece of art that I had dreamed about making. It prompted me straight to the studio the next morning to lay down layers of acrylic gel for texture on a canvas. (See previous post: HERE) As soon as that layer was dried I moved on to the next step, which was adding text.  I have an old psychology textbook that I use often for text in my creations, it has lots of interesting words & ideas that often synch with what it is I am creating. This time was no different except that instead of tearing out portions of the pages I cut words & phrases to add individually.

work in progress, image #1 (c) 2010, Lynne Medsker

work in progress, image #2 - detail (c) 2010, Lynne Medsker

So, there’s the beginning. Unfortunately, all I can show is the beginning & end! I was so wrapped up into what I was doing that day that I simply forgot to take photos of the rest of the progress. Ooops!

detail of "from dreams" (c) 2010, Lynne Medsker

I can tell you that my dream inspired the colors and the concept of the piece but that the end result was a variation of the dream, not a duplication.  It seems I am dreaming more often about the art I want to create, with tiny details and vivid colors dancing about my sleeping mind. Although the end results aren’t the same as the dreams, just visualizing the images moves me toward my studio and into a creative mindset. I am loving the inspiration!

Wide awake and dreaming…

Lynne