Mixed Media Artwork

One of my favorite magazines is Cloth, Paper, Scissors. This month has some really fun ideas and some challenges for readers. This project was inspired by one of those challenges. The hand lettering challenge seemed fun.

 I spent a couple days thinking about ideas and how to incorporate my art with a hand lettered message.

I decided to take a piece of heavy illustration board and cut it to the 8”x10” size. Then I used a piece of brown scrapbooking paper and tore it into odd pieces and glued them down for texture. I used Alene’s Tacky Glue for this.

Once the glue dried I got out my acrylic matte medium and eggshell white paint, and painted the whole thing to give my acrylic paints a good base. It also sealed the paper so it wouldn’t affect the colors of my paints as much.

Tip:  Adding matte medium, or gloss medium, to your acrylic paint will lighten the color without breaking down the integrity of the paint. You need less water to create a wash of transparent color by doing this. Too much water can make it very difficult for the paint to adhere to your background and the paint will lift when you apply your next layer, even if it has dried.

I used the small bottles of craft acrylics because they are already diluted and I could make washes with them much easier. At this point this was just an abstract background to work from. I added a layer of paint using a sea sponge to create a different textural look to the background.

Another coat of the matte medium was added to set the paint so it wouldn’t be changed by the next layer.

The next step was to add some pieces of cream colored lace fabric. My theme is time and a bit of Steampunk.  A couple of layers of odd shapes were added to add depth and texture. The lace was added using the matte medium as the glue. It permeates the fabric and adheres to the previous layers of medium.

The lace layer had to dry completely before moving on, giving me time to consider what was next.

Then more paint. I laid in a wash of blue and purple.

The next thought was to use some molding paste to add some more texture. I let this dry completely before moving on. This added some really white areas giving new options for laying down colors.

Then a heavy layer of matte medium was added to give me a more slick surface to work on. I wanted the thin paint to slide and run across parts of the surface.

Then more blue and purple paints were added, along with some raw umber for added dark areas. 

The face was added and then more paint was put over the top.

More matte medium was added. I like to layer matte or gloss medium between layers of thin washes. I feel that this separates some of the paint layers and lets the light bounce between layers. I think this gives the painting a higher level of transparency and creates a nice light effect.

  

At this point I had to stop and evaluate what to do next. The lettering idea did not seem to want to fit into the design. I could see that this was not the piece for the challenge. But it had some potential anyway.

I wanted to use some pieces of copper mesh, but it took a while to figure out how to add it.

Going through my collection of papers I found a piece of glossy cardstock that I had used alcohol inks on. It turned out to be right for putting under the copper mesh.

 

I got very involved in adding the rest of the pieces and didn’t take any photos. It’s easy to do this when you really get inspired. I just kept adding and gluing watch and jewelry parts.

I did add words and sayings that related to time (it’s only a matter of time, just a moment, hour by hour, once upon a time, dreamtime, time flies). Some were written right onto the background, others were written on painted watercolor paper and glued on.

The end result turned out to be a fun piece of art. I even put it into a frame.

Hope you have a great week.

Terri

 Note: My photos on this blog appear small. If you click on them they can be viewed larger. I just make them small to save room and to have them fit with the text.

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Altered Sketchbook

The process of moving to another town is a tough one. It takes up so much of your time that it interferes with some things. Today's post is a revisit of one that was originally posted in August of 2012. I hope you enjoy.

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Are you ever intimidated by the black drawing book? You know the one. It has a hardcover and costs more than a regular old drawing tablet.

I bought one of them years ago and have only put a few sketches in it. The solidness of it, the idea of it, makes me nervous.

It makes me feel like whatever I put into it has to be the best. It’s not like my plain old drawing tablets that have paper covers. Those I can rip pages out of with no reservations at all.

But that black book. It says “don’t even think about tearing out the drawings you don’t like!” Whatever goes in, stays in.

I was thinking this morning about what to do with this post. And the black book came to mind. What if I do things to the cover? What if I paint on it? Or glue things on it.?

Well, here is what I did. First I marked out and drilled holes to run ribbon around it. I also marked holes in the spine to run cord so it looks like it was hand bound (sort of).

Then I got out some of my scrapbook papers, ribbons, a button, glitter, ModPodge, and some other trims.

I cut out the papers and created a collage on the front, and the back of the book.  

I had only a minor idea of how this would come together. I layered papers and added odds and ends from my stash of sayings, tissue paper, etc.

The holes I drilled were small so I only used one ribbon instead of three or four. I threaded the ribbon through the edge holes and a separate pair for the binding. I then tied all the ends together at top and bottom. This made fun tassles.  I also added a pair of ribbons tied to the knot at the top of the spine to act as a bookmark.

At left you can see the back. I created a loop with the ribbon to go around the button on the front as a clasp closure.

I may add something to the inside covers in the future. For now I think it is complete.

The intention of this project wasn’t really to make the book look pretty.  I wanted to make it less intimidating. My thought was “if I can drill holes and glue stuff to it, it will be easier to just draw with abandon instead of trying to be perfect.”

This way there won’t be any expectation that the contents are serious, amazing, or even my best work. I can now just draw, doodle, paint, or write whatever I feel, with no fear.

It’s the same with a blank white canvas. By painting it a light color, any color, it takes the fear out of putting bright paint onto a vast expanse of white.

See you next week. Experiment. Think outside the box. Try something new. Make one great big mess. As you can see behind the book, my work table is a pile of tools, glue, paint, the stuff for this project, and my oil paints. But I had fun and that’s what it’s all about.  Isn’t it?

And now I have to put some of this stuff away so I can do more painting and come up with next week’s post.

☺

Terri

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