Moving from the black & white images from my previous post I seem to be in the mood for red quite a bit lately. I love how it just pops off the page when used with black, white & grey. These images were all created with the same program but on different computers and will different tools. Can you tell which one I used my finger to “paint” with? 🙂 Hey, a finger is a built in tool, let alone the least expensive!
“Arbitrary”
“Abstract”
“Allegory”
Be sure to “click” on these images to see the full version! Next post? I’m changing it up a bit and sharing the beginnings of a new photo/digital series of work! Then back to more digital drawings, with even MORE colors. 🙂 I do have to say that these have also inspired me to do more “real” drawing and sketching as well, but we’ll catch up on that down the road a bit.
This project has been underway since warm weather (some of the layers were applied outside on a warm, sunny day) but got it’s finish during a chilly winter day. I flip back and forth thinking it feels like a clear blue sky on a sunny day or an icy blue, cold day.
It was one of the large canvases that I had textures and painted white last fall, waiting for inspiration to take over.
20+ canvases/wood panels, textured, painted white and waiting…
I will say that originally stash of canvases is dwindling, which makes me happy! I knew that I wanted this piece to be shades of blue, specifically to hang in my living room. I hang my art in the living room, along with the pieces I’ve been able to acquire from other artists, but I’ve never really created a piece just for my own home. It really hadn’t occurred to me! So I decided I’d “commission” myself to make a large piece using certain shades of blues. What fun! I started with a layer of blue and went from there:
Well, THAT wasn’t what I was after! More blue to the rescue! I think it was along in this stage that I moved outdoors and things really began to happen.
I gave up brushes and went straight to using my (glove covered) fingers and hands, swirling the paints and acrylic inks around, blending the colors and literally “going with the flow” of the paint. Aaaah, yes!!
Here’s where that days work finished.
I loved the circular forms and way the colors transitioned from light to dark but felt like it still needed a bit more contrast. So I turned to some splashes of white.
Ack! Too much, too much! Back to the blues, more swirls, more colors flowing and I finally got the darks and lights that I wanted. This is a close-up from part of the finished canvas:
This really shows the texture that lays under all the color, it’s such a tactile piece you can’t help but run your hands over it!
I hope you enjoyed seeing these new creations! I had so much fun getting my hands into these pieces, there isn’t a texture or color on any of them that I didn’t touch!
My inspiration for these pieces were the primitive cave and rock drawings made by our long-past ancestors. Even then, with their hands and rudimentary tools, people had the urge to create, communicate and share their life through art. Some of the markings I used on these works were taken from books about the rock drawings, a few were combined to create new symbols and some were from my imagination.
Similar to making designs in the muddy earth, each piece in this series originated with concrete being applied by hand to wood panels, with lots of symbols, marks and texture being etched into them. Just as the passage of time concealed many of the original rock drawings, more concrete was drizzled and dropped on top of the original design to give it feeling of age. Once dry it was topped off with multiple layers of color and acrylic glaze. A final coat of white was used to further veil the design.
Posting more work from February today! This piece is one of several I created using concrete on wood panels to achieve the texture.
"subdued spontaniety" mixed media on wood panel 20x20", $375 (c) lynne medsker
The “normal” process is to let the concrete dry for a couple of days, apply a sealer and then do the painting/coloring on top of that. But I got to wondering – what would happen if I added the color when the concrete was freshly applied? Although the color wasn’t quite as vivid and seemed to be absorbed by the concrete a bit I had a lot of fun just dropping acrylic inks on the surface, wetting them, letting them bleed together & blend and then do it all over again. My original thought was I’d call this piece “feelin’ groovy” because it reminded me of the 60’s era so much! Can you see why?
work in progress - pretty groovy! (c) lynne medsker
These are the only two images I took but basically the end resulted by me wiping a layer of white over the dried & sealed piece (to subdue it!) so I guess there wouldn’t be much else to show you anyhow! This is another piece that is included in the “Mixed Well and Served Fresh” show that runs through April 14th at Artistic Designs Gallery in Brownsburg, Indiana. Stop by and take a peek at it, the texture looks so awesome in person!
A Randomly Creative Blog 