I continue to discover new methods for using acrylic paints and mediums every week in my Monday mixed media class. The possibilities are really endless! Last week we used a variety of acrylic mediums and improvised tools to create physical textures on our chosen surface [canvas board, watercolor paper, mat board, or stretched canvas]. Each medium appears differently on each surface – do the math on that! Lots of opportunity to play for life.
In this example I started by drizzling gesso in an area and then flattened a portion of that with a palette knife and did some scrafetti into it. Then I pressed some light molding paste through a box stencil, spread some gel gloss [regular & and soft] and then scraped into, pressed into, and stamped into it with various items to create textures. After all of this dried I puddled dilute fluid acrylics in warm tones across the surface. The paint dries differently in each of the various areas of texture. It makes for an interesting start – but, most of the texture is not visible on this photo. [Note: all products listed are made by Golden]
We were meant to work with this start abstractly at least at the beginning but I find that very challenging. Without “thingness” I struggle to know how to move forward. However, I dove in and glazed some transparent areas then added darker passages and towards the end some opaque areas. I tend to see figures in everything I look at and this was no exception. It naturally evolved, what can I say?
Naturally, this process is a teeter-totter – if you make a mark in one place you have to respond to that mark somewhere else. Completing a piece could, quite literally, take forever. It’s a matter of knowing what you like and quitting as soon as you see it. Doesn’t that sound easy? HA HA… right!!!! It’s a bit like putting a jigsaw puzzle together without any edges. The good news is that light areas can be lost and found and lost and found again – yay for acrylics! It’s a fun challenge. Here’s a photo of the piece as it was before class today, warts and all. I’ll have a new and improved version here tomorrow. Cheers!
2 comments:
Cheryl! This is Annie (Froese) from your Monday class! I was delighted to see your post. I feel like I picked up "make-up" notes from you. My car still will not start (but cold weather was the least of it's problems!) I am hoping to be back in class for January 18th! In the meantime, great work! I love your description of process, AND your sense of humour! Merry Christmas to you!!! See you in the New Year.... Happy creating, Ånnie
Thanks Annie! We've had small classes the last couple of weeks - some others have had car troubles too. This texture business is a lot of fun!
Post a Comment