Cut Cut Cut

Remember my  "Love Love Me Naught". Well decided to cut it up, ala  Dotty. Never would had had the courage. Thanks Dotty!  Made a frame and cut 3 pieces and made some neat cards.

Before

Three Cards Cut 

5" x 7"

 From a another small piece from one of my lesson exercises made 2 smaller cards. Getting to like the cutting idea LOL!!!

5.5" x  4.25"

Dancing Lines Finale

All large tasks are completed in a series of starts. (Neil Fiore)

Remember my dancing lines? Well I think I have brought them to some sort of finale! Well until I decide otherwise!

Did some white Posca dots, did some veiling, more crayons, and new orientations. When I did some veiling some of the watercolor crayon marks bled.

Mixed Media

18 x 20

Watercolor Paper

Mixed Media

18 x 20

Watercolor Paper

Mixed Media

18 x 20

Watercolor Paper

Mixed Media

18 x 20

Watercolor Paper

New Roads

This morning while checking my mail I opened Chris Lalley's blog and aside from her lovely painting was a quote that I really connected to.

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there."

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

I feel that I am traveling roads that I don't know where they are going, in hopes that they will take me to where ever I am going.I just hope I will know when I get there! Speaking of roads I have to mention Frost's beautiful poem The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Yesterday I was feeling out of sorts. Maybe I was incubating something. Rested most of the day reading, watching TV, napping. In the evening felt up to tackling my dancing lines project. I had already cut them into four parts and they had been in my view all day.  The question rose, still in bed I remembered that at one time I had bought a small, and I mean small, set of gouache paints. They seemed a good choice for the situation, although I had never painted with them. I bought them in the anticipation of an artist that was to make a webinar on gouache that never materialized. So I took them out of their hiding place, took a few of my Rosemary Ivory brushes, and with a small jar of water on my side table went to work. It was a juggling act but worked itself out.

These are all  18 x 21 cm. Two I rotated and two were kept the same. Click to enlarge and view in the light box.

Bottom Left

Bottom right

Top Left

Top right

These are the four in  their correct positions

Reminder of where I started

before cutting

Hope to be traveling a new road some time today. May take them outside in the sun.

Dancing Line Part Three

Remember Dancing Line part 2. Well thought I about to cut it into smaller parts. Not just yet. Bought pen and ink at the store and decided to try my hand on this piece. Took to the pen very nicely. But whoa and behold some creatures started to come out of the woodwork. Actually I liked them so I did some more crayon work,

Not to get too attached I will be cutting this evening,

Dancing Line  III WIP

35.5 x 42 cm

Black and White

Dancing Line Part Two

OK put on paint and spread it around. A sort of greenish gray. Added oranges, yellows and blue. Rubbed and blotted, scrubbed a bit too! Spread it on with my silicon knife and palette knife. Decided I needed white. Spread it on, rubbed some off. Really not knowing where I was going or what I was doing. Tried some stamping, rubbed it off. Decided to leave it for the night or else I think I would have chucked the whole thing.. no not really!!!

Dancing Line  II WIP

35.5 x 42 cm

Black and White

I sometimes check out how the tones look in B&W. May need some contrast!!! 

See ya tomorrow!

In Line for Messing and Cutting

This piece was done in the evening and was done with the intention of modifications, layering and cutting and more modifications.

Well, that's fine, but where do I begin. So many choices so many decisions! What now, what colors to use, what tools to incorporate. How am I going to cut it up?

Using heavy watercolor paper the first layer was done with watercolor pencil, dancing line, and watercolor crayons. I used water on this layer and then put a layer of matt medium.

I am doing a project for my art workshop that involves a presentation along with a piece of artwork of our making, painting, collage, photograph, sculpture etc. My topic is getting out of the box specifically in regard to creativity. I have been doing research and one thing I read is that restraints can increase creativity. So I shall choose a limited palette and work with acrylic paint using mainly the palette knife for my next layer.

Dancing Line WIP

35.5 x 42 cm

More thoughts for consideration, what do I like and what don't I like. Don't think these are relavent at this stage because I want to be intuitive as much as possible.

Extreme Compositions Color Fields 1

Lesson 3

Texture with color

Experiment with different techniques using layering,printing, with different values of various hues to create color interest and texture. It is supposed to be monochromatic in nature, which in some of my cases went a  bit astray. Will have to do this exercise again, but wanted to post the first group. I made a montage of the samples. Click to enlarge.

Greens

Reds and oranges

Extreme Compositions Shape Arrangements 3

Lesson 2

Part 3

In this exercise we are to make compositions using 2 or more shapes plus a line. These can be on a colored background and differ from one another.

Since I am still having difficulties with acrylics I used a simple limited pallete trying various techniques, brayer, credit card, wetting paper. For my shapes and lines used dry media, Caran d'Ache neocolor I wax/oil crayons. All done on 5 x 7 " bristle paper

 

Background was brayed left over paint that made interesting shapes

Added shapes with crayons

Line think white.. gel pen

Colored background 

Crayon shapes

White gel pen

Gray background with white shape and ochre line acrylic

Square shape crayon

Fine permanent pen 

Acrylic yellow background

Gray circles printed from cap shape

Crayon square

Lines ball point pen

Background acrylic using stencil and print

Circle crayons 

Lines ball point pen

Observations: Feel I still need more practice with these small compositions. Found adding the lines sometimes difficult. have to stop thinking too much. 

Have a few more starts to play with 

Extreme Compositions Shape Arrangements 2

Lesson 2

Part 2 

Arrangements of one shape, black, gray, and white, circles. I really tried to work one these more intuitively and take risks. Some were done on backgrounds of black acrylic paint done with a brayer. Left over paints from the previous series. Used mostly dry media, ink intense pencils, watercolor crayons, oil pastels, plus water in some cases blotted with tissue.  All were done on 5 x 7" white bristle. 

#1

Brayed acrylic background

Right oval stenciled with alcohol

watercolor crayons with blotted water

Extreme Composition Shape Arrangments I

Lesson 2

Part 2  a

Arrangements of simple shapes using the vocabulary learned in the first part of the lesson.
Restrictions were to use one shape and only gray,black and white.
Did these in acrylic using stamps,printing, masks, and collage on 5 x 7 " white bristle paper.

#1

Playing with Shapes Extreme Composition

Lesson II 

Part 1

Fall is at last in the air!!! A very short season here. We even had 10 minutes or less of rain. IT still warms up during the day but cooler evenings and we are now off Daylight Savings,, so will get dark earlier. 

Last week went by so fast that aside from working at my weekly workshop, I didn't get to my online course  Extreme Composition . 

Explore different techniques for creating simple shapes. Try to find different techniques than those shown in the video.  This is just a page filled at random of various techniques, don't know if I found any really different on but as I go along I probably will.

Extreme Composition 3

Jane Davies Extreme Composition

Lesson  1  Series Backgrounds and Line Drawing


Jane strongly believes in making limitations when making a series. So with this last exercise in lesson 1 we are to choose the colors, format size, and drawing tools to make a series of backgrounds and dancing lines. Not all colors and drawing tool have to be used in each painting but the series should have a consistent  feeling.

All painted on white bristle paper, 9.5 x 9.5 " Th colors used were 2 grays, 2 oranges one quite neon that did not photograph true, 2 dulled gray-greens, and white. I mixed the grays using ultramarine blue and raw umber and then adding white.  The greens were mixed using the grays plus yellow.
Line drawings were made with black watercolor pencil brushed with water, white oil pastel, gray crayon, green crayon, and orange crayon

I made 10 backgrounds but used only seven for the final line drawings. In a few, I used a brayer to make some softer transitions.

 My Observations

First I need much more practice in handling acrylic paint.

I think for my first series I should have made a smaller format.

I am pretty happy with my gray-green mixes.

Line drawing is quite bold and similar maybe

I should have done more variation.
Feel I succeeded in making a consistent series,

Click on images to view larger in lightbox

Extreme Composition 2

Lesson 1 Part 2 Dancing Lines on Colored Backgrounds

We were to paint colored backgrounds with soft transitions and low contrast on which to draw lines.
I worked on heavy 23 x 30 cm, brown paper mainly with watercolor crayons and water medium, one was done with OP and turps. I know that with paints the backgrounds would be much different. I will have to take that jump and learn how to handle acrylic paints.

Click on Images to enlarge

Background Watercolor Crayons with Water

Lines

White Oil Pastel

Black Graphite Stick

Pink Crayon

Background Oil Pastels

Lines

Black Oil Pastel

Ball Point Pen

White Marker

The colors in the photo are way off

Orange should be light pink !!!!

Background Watercolor Crayons with Water

Lines

Medium Marker

Sepia Stick

Background Watercolor Crayons with Water

Lines

Fine Marker

White Marker

 I find it still difficult to free myself with all the concepts of painting and just really be free to explore. 

New Directions Extreme Composition 1

During the 30 x 30 challenge this past September I was impressed by the work of one artist, Dotty Seiter that caught my eye at first because she was working in  B&W. I also was working mainly in charcoal and gray and white pastels. I was impressed with the works she was doing following an online course by Jane Davies,  She was doing the 100 drawings on the bottom of the page.
Following Dotty each day and seeing how her work was developing I decided that I should try one of the courses. This is my new direction. October is a month of holidays and we will only have 2 workshops so I decided to JUMP in.

Lesson 1 Lines and Dancing Lines

These are all just experiments!!!! I am really mainly posting for myself to see my own development in this course.

Did a test sheet of various lines with pencils,markers, pens, charcoal, and crayons to see their marks.
Then we were to do exercises with what Jane calls the wandering line. Letting the line go where it wants, rather intuitively.  Then add another line to compliment or go along with the first, Jane calls this a dancing line.  I many but wasn't getting really what I wanted. Need much more practice
I have a large 11 x 14 " sketchbook with fairly good quality paper. 

click to enlarge

Black oil pastel and lt brown conte stick.  My observation is that it's much too busy. 

click to enlarge

This was done first with a watercolor graphite pencil and then the conte stick... photo came out too faint, but you can get the idea.  The stains are from a work on the next page. This page probably was wet when I closed the book. I like this one much better. 

click to enlarge

We were to make backgrounds with low contrast colors and do the dancing lines on them.

Background oil/wax crayons with some medium. The lines were charcoal stick and 2B graphite pencil.

 Jane works in acrylic paints. I mainly work in oils so I did experiments with my wax/oil crayons and watercolor crayons with medium and without. Not good on plain paper so did a few on heavy brown paper and pieces of cut canvas, 

click to enlarge

Top strip is watercolor crayons with water added on heavy brown paper.

Bottom strip  using my oil/wax neocolor I crayons by Caran D'Ache. with added medium of  linseed oil and turps. Like the watercolor crayons best. I have cut sheets and will do some more. 

The cut canvas trials did not work out too well. I hope to open my paints and do them again,