Batik Art

As I mentioned in my last post, today’s blog features some new batik artwork. It seems as if I haven’t exhausted all the ways I can play and explore with this medium…as I learn new styles and techniques in other media they often translate into some fun batik pieces!

Batik on Unryu paper, approximately 8×8″ currently untitled

The piece above (and the three below) I used the wax to “paint” abstract marks and shapes onto the paper before adding the background colors. The final coloring on these pieces seeps in between the cracks in a final layer of wax. I like the earthy way these feel. Incorporating the spirit-led, random mark making with the wax painting brings in some of the new style I’ve been using with acrylic paints.

“Mantras” 1,2 & 3 each 6×12″ mixed media Batik on Unryu paper

Another new type of batik I’ve been exploring is using India Ink to paint onto the paper prior to waxing and adding the final layer of color. Very free strokes, flow-oriented and fun!

Spontaneous Song
11×14, matted and framed to 16×20″

Obviously I was having a LOT of fun with the piece above! Testing how the inks interacted with the paper, how the brush moved and the colors could blend. The ones below were a little more thoughtful as far as the colors selected, but still full of freedom and expression.

(L to R) Catalyst, Unguarded, Limitless
each 11×14″, matted and framed to 16×20″

I did one other very special set of batik art but I can’t reveal them just yet…I need to deliver them first! Look for them soon.

With love, Your Randomly Creative Friend….

Lynne

Stages

So I thought today I’d share a couple recent pieces that I finished and show a bit of the stages it went through along the way. Both these pieces are currently hanging in the gallery at the Blackford County Art Center in Hartford City, Indiana in my show titled “”Cairns & Other Repurposed Treasures” – along with another 26 pieces that are part of my “Wood | Stone | Metal” series. The beginning inspirations were a set of rocks that I painted last month:

In addition to those larger, detailed pieces I also had painted several batches of smaller, colorful, messy, drippy, watercolored stones:

 

Deciding on the composition is a trial and error process for me, first one layout, then another, tweeking the arrangement and inclusion of stones and material as I progress. This shows an early layout vs. the final version for each of the two pieces.

Potential Layout for “Celebration”

Final Design of “Celebration” mixed media art, 5×12″ in wood cradle

 

 

Early design idea for “Simpatico”

Final design of “Simpatico” mixed media art on 12×5″ panel

The third rock in the set is still in the studio, waiting for inspiration to lead me to it’s final destination, who knows where it will end up!

Lynne

 

Butterflies everywhere…

I’ve been working on two large pieces of art featuring butterflies. Today as I was waiting for some of the layers to dry on those two pieces I took time to create three smaller butterfly pieces. Using the batik style I’ve been fond of lately I started by drawing them with a Sharpie on some hand made paper.

After the outlines were down I added color with my Pitt pens that are full of india ink. Love me some Pitt pens!!

The next couple of steps involve wax being applied on the surface to make a resist when I spray liquid watercolor onto the paper. The first layer of wax just covers the part of the the drawings I don’t want to blend with the background color. After that has been sprayed on and dried I cover the entire piece with wax. Then comes the part that continues to make me nervous – wadding up the paper into a tight little ball to crack the wax in a random kind of way. Then (gently) unfolding it and spraying the piece again, this time with a contrast color to make random lines throughout the piece. I used black watercolor on these pieces but have some white ink on order than I’m anxious to try for a different result.

The final step is to place the waxy art between sheets of newspaper and iron it with a hot iron, which pulls the wax out of the art and leaves it on the newspaper. Sometimes this takes a few ironings before it’s totally wax free. Ta-da! Art! Well, okay, I did go back in with some gel pens and add a few details. Then the ta-da happened. 🙂

 

Rather amusing is that these quick little pieces are more exciting to me than the larger ones are right now! Go figure. I’ve added these three to the “Giftables” page on my website so go pick out your favorite and give it a home!

Lynne

Mandala Tree

A recently finished piece!

Mixed Media (Marker, watercolor, Ink) on Paper, 36 x 24″ © Lynne Medsker

This was a fun project that I started for one reason and finished just because I loved making it. 🙂 Originally thinking I’d enter it into a competition, I didn’t get it finished before the deadline but that didn’t stop me from completing it. The drawing/coloring of all the mandala “leaves” was much more time consuming than what I thought! 

 

After getting them drawn it was on to adding the background paint and then it needed to dry for a while, it had gotten quite saturated!

Once it was dry, the first details I tackled were in the tree trucks.

Then on to the leaves. That was the slowest part of the process. 

I used a semi-limited pallet so that the piece would have some continuity, which added to the challenge. 

The finished piece is still in the studio as I decide how to frame & display it! I’m also thinking it needs a better title than “Mandala Tree” – what do you think??

Lynne

 

Conjured

So, yes, you guessed it. More art on old LP’s today. 🙂 This piece started just like the others:

From that point it pretty much followed in the footsteps of “Circadian” with a mandala pattern on watercolor paper, painted, carefully cut and attached to the LP.

This piece is very bright, fun and lively!

“Conjured” Lynne Medsker

Next post will be one of the last pieces of the art on LP’s and a combination of a couple different previous ones I’ve shared. Be on the lookout!

Circadian

As promised in the last post, I’m continuing with artwork created on old LP’s.  Today’s piece began as all the others shown here, stacked and waiting for some creativity to find them. It is actually the one on the top of the pile, that’s been spray painted with hammered metal color paint.

Different from the last post, there are no magazine pages. Instead,  I began by outlining the record onto a piece of watercolor paper and drawing a mandala with that circle. On one side was the drawing, on the other side I had fun with some abstract painting of watercolors.

Once the paint was dry I began the tedious task of cutting out tiny areas of the mandala so that, once attached, the record would show through.  Yes, these images show some pink & brown instead. That’s my pretty cutting board and my work table. 🙂

After all the cutting was done the paper was attached to the record and extra drawing, ink and glass pieces were added to it for some dimension.

The final step creating “Circadian” was to add the mechanism and hands to transform it into a work clock. Viola!

“Circadian” © Lynne Medsker

Hmmmm. I wonder what the next piece will look like? You’ll find out in a few days!

Lynne

 

The start of a series…

Okay, so I know I’ve been trying to catch up with all the upcycled/recycled artwork from last year but in the meantime I’ve been doing some other fun art so I thought I’d take a little “time out” and share something new with you before we finish up with the last half-dozen or so pieces from last year. My obsession with trees continues, both in my art and at home.  Both in the form of bonsai trees! I’ve adopted a little juniper bonsai tree and have two other types I’m trying to grow from seed (as I wait impatiently for sprouts!). I’ve always loved the “personality” of trees, how they branch this way and that, twist, lean and each just seem to have a story to tell us if we listen closely enough. With the way bonsai trees are pruned and trained into such interesting shapes I suppose it would be inevitable that I wouldn’t be able to resist them and, after trying for several years, I gave in. My sketch book is slowly filling up with trees from my imagination and now I am producing some in a more presentable manner. The first three started together with a (very) rough outline of the trucks and limbs.

From there I added some softly blended layers of color to the background areas.

After that dried I began adding the areas where the leaves would fill in the image.

I am always amazed at how much difference adding some shading can make in an image. Suddenly the tree has some dimension and looses that flat feeling!

If you know how I like to make art you might have guessed what happened next.  Yes. Doodling, Zentangles, whatever you want to call it…lots of tiny detailed patterns!

After the patterns were all added then came the color! I’ve clumped together the rest of the progression shots, you can click on them to enlarge the images and scroll through at your leisure.

All of which leads us up to the finished image:

“Bonsai One” marker, ink & watercolor on 12×12″ watercolor paper, $175 unframed/$350 framed © Lynne Medsker

Since this is the first one that I finished I took lots of progress shots with my camera. When I share the other two finished pieces there is not near as much to see!

Look for them to be posted soon,

Lynne

Acrylic & Watercolor, recap

So, back in March, a bit over a month ago I held an acrylic & watercolor class here in the studio.

It was a great afternoon of fun and creativity! We started off by making abstract designs with black acrylic paint.

Once the black paint was reasonably dry then we began to work with the watercolors, painting, spraying and blending the colors.

We even did some experimenting with yarn, string & gauze for texture in the watercolor before the class was over.

I so enjoying seeing how people take the same materials and guidelines and each create unique work from it!

 

Flourish

Another new piece of art today…or at least MY version of it. If you recall I had posted the line drawing of this image on the blog and Facebook page giving people permission to download it and create their own art. It’s been so much fun seeing and hearing what people wanted to do with it! I’ll post some of the images in the future. It’s still available to download if you get inspired!

Here are some of the progress images of my version of the piece:

Finished detail drawings

Close-up image to show the shading that was added

Entire piece with shading added

After the drawing process I painted the piece with watercolors and added highlights with ink. This shows the details, shine & surface of the finished piece, you really need to see it in person to appreciate it!

detail of “Flourish” © Lynne Medsker

And, finally, here is the completed piece:

“Flourish” mixed media (marker, graphite, watercolor, ink) on watercolor paper, 9×12″ $195 (unframed) © 2013, Lynne Medsker

I continue to lean toward trees, branches and organic shapes as I create, I am really enjoying them!

Lynne

 

Thrive

I guess I was so busy creating this piece I didn’t take time to snap many images of it along the way! That happens sometimes…it’s hard to remember that I have a blog when I’m in art mode. 🙂

“Thrive” work in progress, line drawing with graphite shading added © Lynne Medsker

So, for this piece it’ll be a line drawing followed by the finished piece. Short & sweet! Somewhere along the way there was also pastel, watercolor and ink added to the piece.

“Thrive” mixed media (marker, graphite, pastel, watercolor & ink) on watercolor paper, 9×12″ $195 (unframed) © 2013, Lynne Medsker

I’ve not created many mandala-inspired pieces lately so it’s always fun to go back to it and see what I’m inspired to do. I’ve got a few other ideas using mandala shapes too, we’ll see how they turn out! Hopefully I’ll at least a few more images of them than this!

Lynne