Month: January 2015

Walt Disney narrates a great example of how the views of a single object can be drastically different from one artist to the next.The four artists that are featured: Walt Peregoy, Marc Davis, Eyvind Earle, and Josh Meador, take on the task of drawing the exact same tree with very different approaches. Each of their styles adds something different and amazing to their finished products. Check out the video at this link:  Four Artists Paint a Tree 

This painting will be available at The Art Centre, Westmount Mall, London, ON Jan 16 to Jan 23, 2015. Acrylic – 24 x 24 – “A Gentle Spirit” 

 

Many of us talk to ourselves. I suspect that more creative folk do this more often. It’s not a bad thing. The vast majority of our thinking happens on a subconscience level. Verbalizing is helpful for clarifying and, at times, problem solving too. What follows is a conversation that a painter may have with herself. Can you relate to this? Do you talk to yourself? 

My first painting from this sabbatical time – it includes a lot of collage! If you would like to know what techniques were used, scroll down and see the previous blog posts. 

Just loving layering with collage! Into the painting in progress I have collaged polished stones, glass, words, metal art foil, and charcoal (see previous post). The stones and glass were attached to the canvas with acrylic clear gloss gel. I was pleased with how easy it was to incorporate some words into the image. After printing the phrase off on my black and white printer, I tore the words so that there was an uneven edge all around. I put a layer of matte medium onto the painting, and placed the paper into it. With more matte medium on a brush, I thoroughly soaked the paper and made it lay flat. After that layer was dry, I used similar colours of acrylic paint on top of the paper to make it fade into the painting. I was pleased with how unobtrusive, yet still legible, the writing became. This image is just part of the phrase, and a small part of the painting. Curious to see the whole painting, and see what the phrase is? Probably tomorrow – check back then. 

Yesterday was the first day of my art sabbatical. I was happy at the end of the day with what I had learned – lots of exploring – and layers on layers! One of the items I played with was powdered charcoal. It can be used to give a more organic looking texture than, for example, spattered paint. This is the method: paint some clear matte medium onto the paint surface wherever I wanted black dots. Pinch some charcoal powder between my fingers, and sprinkle it over the desired area. It doesn’t matter if it lands on areas you don’t want it. Simply wait until the matte medium is thoroughly dried, then take a damp cloth and gently wipe away any excess charcoal. A final coat of acrylic varnish locks everything in. You can get the feeling of it from the detail image posted here. Not ready to show you the whole painting yet – perhaps in a few days.