Mixed Media Art. Photography. Inspiration.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Mixed- Media Painting: To The Sea-Green

Here is my mixed-media painting for Cathy Nichols' Found Art Friday and Louise Gale's Creative Color Challenge.   They decided to combine them since the two went together so well.  The Found Art Friday theme is "To The Sea", and the Color Challenge theme is "Sea-Green".


I immediately knew I wanted to paint waves, but when I started to work on it this Tuesday I was not very happy with where it was headed.  Yesterday when I worked on it, I started by painting over what was already there (3 smaller waves) because it didn't have the impact that I wanted.  When I painted this larger, more graphic wave I immediately liked it better.


 I added the "spray" by rubbing on Golden's Fiber Paste with my finger.  When dry, I rubbed a bit of Heavy Gel Medium in a gloss, to add a bit more sheen in areas.  It still didn't look finished, so I added the border around it.  I did this by 1st wetting a stamp, then rubbing over it with a black water-soluable(WS) crayon.  I sprayed it with more water then stamped it on, then I rubbed out some areas with a wet paper towel to soften it.  I then took black and then white WS crayons and outlined the border here and there.

For the Color Challenge you have to use only shades of sea-green, along with black and white if you want, and this week Louise said we could also add metallics.  I added painted cheesecloth in the bottom corner, and added a few objects that looked like they were found in the ocean....a smashed piece of copper pipe (hey, you never know), a silver shell, sea glass, and a brass ring, along with some copper wire.  To balance it I added a copper tack to the other three corners.


I'm not sure if it's finished yet, I feel like I need to work on the border a bit more, but I'll see what happens when I step away from it for a bit.  If I change anything, I'll show you a picture of it later.

I'm off to go to the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach (a wonderful art show)!  I'm so excited!  Woohoo!  There are some amazing artists every year, can't wait to see what they came up with this time.  Bye.

Umm...yeah, I'm back and yes...I need to fix the border.  I'll post pics when it's done.

8 comments:

Rita A. said...

How beautiful. It really caught my eye fast. I love the stuff in the corner. Thanks for sharing your techniques.I love reading them.

Shelby and Bev said...

this is so beautiful esther, love the sea green, the wave, the texture...very nice. and the sawdust festival in laguna beach...sounds simply to die for! be sure and share all the details...

Brigitte aka Scrappassie said...

Very beautiful work, the texture is awesome and I love the colors ! All the stuff washed on the shore you've added on the left, fabulous idea and so creative. Love it !

Cathy Nichols Art said...

So pretty, Esther! And I love hearing all about your process. Thank you so much for sharing this on Found Art Friday (the post will be up later today). xo

2smart said...

I love this Esther! and thanks for talking through your processes, it really adds an extra dimension. Thanks also for visiting my blog and your kind comments. Sheila

Megan Woodard Johnson said...

This is lovely- and I so enjoyed reading about your process- I always find myself wondering 'how did they do that...if only I could see it up close!' Thanks, too- for stopping by at my blog yesterday :)

Beverley Baird said...

What a gorgeous piece! Love the colour and wave! So dramatic! Thanks forsharing your process.

Kristin said...

I LOVE it!! I love the color (wish blogs showed off glitter and sheen better) and the corner embellishments are FAB - really, really wonderful. Oh, and SUCH a cool technique with the WS crayons and stamps - can't wait to try it, xo