Creating Hope

Time for a peak into the making of my newest bit of mixed media artwork, "Angel of Hope."

I have been wanting to play with something more 3 dimensional than a typical painting but not an actual assemblage or sculpture so first I doodled around in one of my sketchbooks (after a nice bubble bath which almost always gets me dreaming of some new something) and I came up with a shadowbox sort of idea. I browsed my scrap pile for some possible pieces to use as my base. My sketches -really rough, more like thought nudges, were more square or horizontal in format but all I could find that might work was the lid of a shoe box, a narrow sandal type box. Luckily I had some scrap cardboard left over from cutting out sheets to use as mailing backer boards. Putting the box over the board added a little detail and  jazzed up the proportions. I also grabbed a piece of chip board, you know the kind that comes at the back of a ledger pad to use for my cut out elements.

Next i started my angel. I did a loose sketch, really just the face as I knew I wanted the body to be a simple shape. I painted her with acrylics and watercolor crayons, then cut out her out and headed to my paper piles and baskets of odd bits to see what I could find. By now I knew my color scheme was going to be predominately green and gold so anything that might go in that direction was tossed on to the floor next to me.

I laid my angel aside, went back to my background and began using matt medium to collage on torn pieces of a paper towel saturated with green paints, magazine photos of a garden, and some old scrapbook paper left overs. I intentionally keep it messy with a few crinkles to catch a later layer of paint. 

I have a great collection of well, I guess most people would call it trash. I can't bear to throw away even the tiniest of paper so as I cut papers for one project, its scraps become part of the next ... and so on and so. Its kind of cool, each piece of new art has a bit of old art in it and its left overs become part of the next. I peel a bit of the top layer of some of the cardboard and add an old sheet of music (It came upon a midnight clear) to completely cover the substrate. Then I start to smear on some blue with fluid acrylic and watercolor crayons. Then back on my angel.

I lay her in the box to see how she fits and then look through the pile to my side and start trying different pieces to see how I want to continue. I tend to just pick up the first piece I see then move it around till it finds a home. I cut and tear the scraps to layer up the angel's dress. It includes some neat wrapping paper my daughter used at Christmas, part of a print that the ink ran out in the middle of, and a piece of vintage lace given to me by a friend. Next I add bits of cardboard to the back of my angel so she will hover off the background.

I slip her into the background for another check. I initially cut up a heart shaped gold doily for the wings but now I think the piece needs more color to tie to the color in the dress so I trim them down and add a bottom layer of red polka dots. I also cut some green wood grained lower wings (yes, scrap from another project) and serendipitously a few green feathers fall out of a basket as I pull out some copper wire for her halo. Its fate, I simply must slip then in as well.

Back into the background she goes. Now I wonder, should I go in a different direction? I tear some printed paper and see how she'd do as a garden fairy. I add some of the red polka dot flowers to the frame. I also try some stars and a butterfly. Hum... Nice but I think she'll stay my angel of hope but I do see another piece developing in my head. I take off the hair and some of the polka dots (they weren't glue on so its easy, I'm constantly editing and changing things and sometime put off gluing something way too long -just in case, you know) I do keep the heart charm and a pair of flowers at the frame top. Finally I commit and glue it all together and then add a final bit of grunge over the whole thing with charcoal and fluid acrylics.

Just about done. I'm torn -do I want to attach the art on a canvas at a diagonal. I have a partially completed background on an appropriately sized canvas so I add a few scraps of the red polka dot paper and more red paints to it and see how it works. I like it but it gets a little too matchy cute which is fine but not where I was wanting it to go in my head.

So I sleep on it and this morning, I know what I want to do. I decide I'll use the red canvas for my next project.  It turned out nice so it'll make a great background. But for this one, I gather some twigs then wrap some of the copper wire and rustic ribbon around them for a hanger. I also find a little silver butterfly charm and add it to the twigs. Voila! Finished -unless I change my mind again. Hope you enjoyed this little peak in to my process :)

"Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand." 

-Thomas Aquinas

The Making of Friendship

Hello My Little Art Blog :)

Today I am describing the process I used to put together my newest Mixed Media painting "Friendship" & sending out lots of love to all my wonderful girl friends and my two amazing daughters!

First a bit of context: Other than printer woes, my life is swimming along quite nicely. As usual, too much to do and not enough time to play in my studio (which of course is what I really want to be doing) Laundry, grocery shopping, buying eyeglasses, paying bills, finishing up work projects, the list goes on and on and on. Partly because I have been sneaking in a little extra time "arting" about & Yes that is arting (not farting -gross) as I never know what exactly to call what I most like to do. It is a little drawing, a little collaging, a little painting, a little stamping, and a little of whatever else catches my fancy at the moment. Mixed Media seems so off putting and do you say I'm mixed media-ing, just doesn't sound right. But I guess that's what it is. So there you go.

Ya'll, I am really excited to show off my latest creation. I've wanting to do something that represents the special connection between girl friends, but hadn't had the right inspiration until the other day while perusing pinterest and this cool advertisement caught my eye. I know the three women in it are models posing and probably not close friends but something about it hooked me (probably the pretty colors -I am sucker for pretty colors) and I knew I had to put it into a sketch. So I did.

As you can see from the image below, I take lots of liberties while translating inspiration to art idea. But that's the fun -distilling what's personal and making it my own. The next evening I went about taking it from a sketch to the beginnings of an actual piece of art. I used the sketch from my notebook/ sketchbook (I adore them & have dozens; lined, gridded, plain, fancy, all with bits of art ideas, recipes, prayers, travel journaling, etc all thrown together) and drew the three girls in my Strathmore mixed media journal (I like the way its paper takes acrylic and it tends to hold up well with lots of glueing) then I cut the ladies out so I could add them to my background.

On the photo above -top right and bottom left, you'll see that I gather up favorite bits of decorative papers, napkins (love how they turn translucent when applied with matte medium) old book text, letter stamps, and craft paints (folkart, less than $1) then started applying them to an old board I had laying around. Once the papers were arranged to my liking, glued down and dried, I cut the board into segments. I added more collage bits to the cut edges then used a credit card and dotted brayer to grunge up the board. I then stamped in some butterflies and flowers rather randomly and added the words: LAUGHTER and JOY. Some of the napkins and collage bits bleed over the girls to give texture and settle them in to the piece. This is seriously loosey goosey fun time.

Now to give my ladies some love. I start with white heavy body acrylics and watercolor crayons (love them!) Scribble... I mean it, I scribble bit of watercolor crayon then go over with a light mix of water and white. It just blends beautifully and you can still see the pencil through the paints much like watercolor. I try not to be too perfect or get caught up in fine detail at this point. I figure out what colors I want where and add a messy outline around the women with a sketch & wash pencil and fluid acrylics. Four fluid acrylic colors that I used a lot in this painting are quinacridane magenta, phthalo green-blue shade, yellow ochre, and raw umber. Actually, these are probably the four colors I use most (along with white) in many of my paintings.

I keep blending and adding color until I am happy with the composition then I start on the detail. I really like this part. I probably use at least four or five layers on each girl's eyes. I add subtle polka dots on the dress, then add the flowers and finally white highlights on lips, cheeks, dresses, and eyes. Last step is a bit more grunge -red paint with a palette knife and a few more yellow and blue smears with my fingers. I typically paint equal parts brush to fingers -not kidding. (You can't say I don't get into my art - LOL)

TA-DA!

Friendship

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. That love is stronger than death. And that there is nothing on this earth more prized than true friendship.

(A bastardized and blended quote adapted from Robert Fulghum and Thomas Aquinas)