Crumbled Rusty Garden Wall Painting

Here's another finished mixed media painting that I made as homework for the online Texture Town class.   Remember I mentioned the art vortex and getting paintings done in the last post?  This is another one that I worked on that day.  It is supposed to be a soft pretty crumbly wall, but I had to kick it up a notch with some rusty bits and faux rust paint so it felt more "me". 

I've been collecting rusty bits for years (sounds dirty, LOL!) and didn't know what exactly I was going to do with them....until now!!  I knew they would be worked into my art, but I hadn't really used them yet.

I'm so excited and I LOVE the way it turned out!  I told my husband that this painting has been in me for quite a while now, I guess I just needed this class and these techniques to bring it out!  Everything in it's own time, right?

This shot above shows my favorite part of the painting...it really does look old and decayed.

This is done on a 12x12 canvas with layers of Heavy Gel Medium, stencils, Golden's fluid acrylics, and of course... found rusty bits.

I hope you all are constantly learning more, and taking what you are learning and making it more "you"....you have to...no one else will!

Art Vortex and Shadow Shot Sunday

Thursday was the best day ever!  I got sucked into an art vortex and painted for hours, only stopping when necessary.  I was in that amazing place where time, hunger, and pain do not exist (though they certainly exist now).  I was in "the zone" that we artists strive for.  The one we create rituals to try be able to tap into it when we want, but so many times it eludes us, but not me...not Thursday.  Everything just flowed so wonderfully!  I was floating...and still am!

 I finished this painting, almost finished a second one and even worked on a small third one all that day.

 This is from Lesson 8 : 2D texture for my Texture Town class.  This class really is the best!  I can't believe how much I'm getting out of it!  I love it!! I know I keep saying it, but it's true!  If anyone is considering it, I highly recommend it!

 This was painted on a 12x12 canvas.  I glued down paper, fabric, netting, mesh, and ribbons with gel medium.  I then used the gel medium to create texture and stamped into it (in the center red square) and used stencils to add the raised dots.

I painted this to hang in the direction that is shown, but once it was done, I turned it clockwise one turn and liked it that way too.  So I posted both in the class forum to see what they thought and one of the teachers, Julie Prichard, suggested  turning it once more.  So I ended up posting it all four ways and asking the other students to vote.  Everyone liked it a different way!  I think it's a wonderful "problem" to have.  I've never experienced this before.  So I decided just to go with how I originally planned it, and whoever ends up buying it down the road can hang it however they want!

And here's my photo for Shadow Shot Sunday.  I thought this went well with the painting above with a bit of similar colors and pattern.  To join in the fun and see more shadows, pop on over to visit  Hey Harriet.

Finished Texture Painting : Hidden Depths

 I finished another painting for the online Texture Town class that I'm taking.  Did I mention that I love this class?  And this is my favorite assignment so far, Lesson 7 - Advanced Gel Layering x2.  I am learning so much and loving it!

The color isn't quite as red as it appears in the first shot, more of a deep rust like in these photos here. 

There are actually two paintings for this assignment, and I'm working on the second one now.  Of course I'll share it with you when it's done.  I hope you are all doing well, and haven't given up on your New Year's resolutions already!   

 Enjoy today.  

Enjoy your own company. 

 Enjoy the gifts that you have been given.

"Gateway" Texture Painting

"Gateway" was done on a 9"x12" canvas board for Lesson 6 of the "Texture Town" class that I'm taking.  I'm having SO much fun with these techniques.  This lesson was about writing or drawing into the texture, and of course I couldn't keep it simple...I did both! : )

This was made using all Golden products ; Heavy Gel Medium, Fluid Acrylics, and Acrylic Glazing Liquid (gloss).

Mmm....love that texture.  I'm sooo addicted! 

 I'm already working on the next lesson which is actually 2 paintings, and I think it's my favorite lesson so far.  I'll be sure to share it with you once it's done.

Finished Texture Painting and SSS : Double Vision

This painting was done for one of our lessons in the Texture Town class I'm taking.  It was done using Golden's Heavy Matte Gel which was then scraped, stenciled, stamped into with random things ....some which are meant to be used for art...others ...not so much.  It was fun searching the house for things that would add a cool texture.  So much fun to do!  Then it was painted and glazed MANY times until I was finally happy with it.  I wanted it to almost look like rusted metal here and there (I love rusty things).  I think my favorite part is the top left side (1st photo below).

Don't you just love all the texture?  And the rich, earthy colors...yum.  We have a limited palette for the class, but the colors are amazing and everyone's work looks so different depending on which colors they use more of, and how they mix them, etc...  It's wonderful.  

Below are my shadow shots for this week.  It's the shadow of a plant being cast on our basement window.  I love how it's a double shadow...one on the screen, one on the window.

To see more shadows go check out Shadow Shot Sunday over at Hey Harriet's here.

Implied Texture Painting

I'm loving this painting!  This was painted using techniques that I learned in the online Texture Town class that I'm taking.  I love this class and am learning so much already, and it's just starting!  This was for an assignment about implied texture.  Do you see how much depth this painting has?  But to the touch it is completely flat!  All the depth and texture is done with paints and glaze.  And the best thing is that it didn't even take that long!

This photo below shows the initial glazing...

Next, it was stamped and stenciled...

Then it was stenciled more and shaded.  At first glance these two appear similar, but look closely.  See how much more depth there is around the scroll stamps in the bottom photo?  I love it!  And I added a polka dot pattern here and there.

At this point I wanted to call the painting done, I loved it like this, but I also wanted to do the full lesson, so I added my the details.  I'm really glad I did because I LOVE the finished painting.  I want to do many more like this, it was so much fun!  And I can't wait to get into the actual applied texture lessons, with the touchable, raised textures....oh yeah!

If anyone's still thinking about this class I highly recommend it, it's wonderful.  And you should see some of the other students samples, wow!  I love seeing how even with the same techniques, everyone's paintings look so different with their different styles and designs, etc...so cool.  Once again, I'm not getting anything for going on and on about the class...I'm just excited about it and want to share it with you!  I'm off to paint more...