Mixed Media Painting: Solace

Hi there! Wow! I've been neglecting my poor blog so much these past couple of years! Instagram and Facebook seem to distract me so much that I forget about Blogland... but I really have been missing it here so I'm going to try again to get back to it. 

Anywho... let's get to it! Often when I'm stressed or not quite myself the sea will call to me. Back when I was single, after a bad day, there were times I'd hop in my car and drive to Huntington Beach (CA) and walk the pier or just sit in the sand barefoot and watch the waves. It always seemed to help me feel better. There's just something about it (or any body of water really). Sitting by it always seems to soothe me and make everything feel manageable. I can't just up and run to the beach anytime I want now because having a family changes that, but making art with a body of water on it helps almost as much! While working on this I could hear the waves crashing down below. I could almost smell and breathe in the fresh air and feel it's mist on my face.. ahh... there's nothing like it. Come sit by me and let's drink it all in. "Solace" 5" x 7" on watercolor paper. This little mixed media painting is from the beginning of summer and is sold.

Thanks for being here! Have a wonderful, creative weekend!

Three New Paintings!

Hi there!  I've been a busy little bee lately!  Recently I took part in a challenge to paint 30 paintings in 30 days.  This one above was the very first one that I painted for the challenge.  Not bad #1, not bad!  It's on a 8" x 10"x 1/2" canvas. I love Koi and waterlilies so I figured why not paint both!

This is the second one, "I AM here".  This one was much easier than the first one.  It seemed to flow out fairly easily and tell me exactly what it wanted.  I love when that happens!  It's also on 8" x 10" x 1/2" canvas.

close up of "I AM here"

"Island Of Dreams" was the third painting that I did.  Don't you want to take a boat out on that water and just float?  This one was done on 11" x 14" canvas board. 

 I like how the first three paintings all have water and seem to go together.  I think it was a great way to start off the challenge!  

Just for fun here's a photo of "Island Of Dreams" while it was still in progress.  This can almost be a finished painting itself!

So there's the first 3 out of 30!  I only have 27 more to show you!  ;-)  

They're all done now so if you can't wait you can see them all on my Facebook Art Page or Instagram 

Thanks for visiting!  See you soon!

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.

Mixed Media Ocean Collage

I love the beach, the sand, the shells, the water, and the sound of the waves.  Whenever I'm having a tough time, if i go to the beach it all seems to melt away.  All my worries, hurt, anger, or whatever is troubling me, all seem to get washed away with the tide.  And the crisp clean air....ahhh....so cleansing and refreshing.

                            Here's a 8x8 mixed media piece about the beach and ocean that I just finished.

This piece started with inspiration from this paper from  Cavallini with star fish on it (pictured above), combined with these cool pewter shells I bought a while back(one is pictured below). 

I first glued down the papers, then spread crackle paste all along the outside and sides of the canvas.  When it dried, I did an antiquing glaze over everything to age it and bring out the beauty of the cracks.  Then I added bits of yarn, fibers, red spiky fake plants, etc.. to look like seaweed, coral, and whatever else might be found in or near the ocean.  I also added some shells that I collected long ago, along with tiny broken shell bits that I found at a craft store and a piece that reminds me of driftwood.  To finish it off I painted and doodled a wave pattern around the main image, and wrote a list of things you'd find at the beach all around the starfish image.