NO GRASS GROWING UNDER MY FEET!

I am working on my Kanuga presentation.  I am thinking I will collage a drawing onto the altered surface and then paint from there.  I am trying different variations of this idea.  This drawing was done on some sort of Japanese paper I have.  The drawing was done with a coffee stirer and ink.  I really liked the results.  The surface of this paper is very soft  and is difficult to collage down because it starts to fuzz up a bit.  I put it over a surface that I had used ink and bleach on.  The bleach causes the ink to turn brown and yellowish. It continues to bleed through with interesting results.  I like this piece the way it is and don't think I want to add color to it.

This piece is tissue paper with a sharpie ink drawing on top collaged onto a piece that had very colorful, high gloss collage on it.  I love the random color that shows through the tissue.  I will definitely paint on top of this page.

This page had a red ink drawing on tissue collaged over a collaged background.  I am leaning toward this idea but need to see how the red line works into the painting.  

This was an experiment to see how a drawing on newsprint would work as collage material.  I was surprised to see it allows the background to subtly show through and works well as collage material.  I added the magenta ink while it the sheet was still wet so it bled.  I'm not sure I like that result but I can add paint on top and modify the effect.  

I need to finalize my ideas so I can stop stressing over this demo.

CHEAP JOE'S NEW WATERCOLOR STICKS TRY OUT!

My order for the compete set of Watercolor Sticks from Cheap Joe's has been on backorder for about 6 months!  They finally arrived today along with an order from Daniel Smith for these plastic cases to store them in.  They get sticky and messy when wet.  These cases are a great solution and solve the problem nicely.    I have about 8 colors from Daniel Smith's watercolor sticks.  I was excited to try them out today and compare the two lines.  Daniel Smith's sticks are very pricey....$12 each!  Cheap Joe's were about $4 each, at least when you bought them as a set.  This particular painting had my gesso transfer over an old painting.  This is a very rough surface to paint on but produces great texture.  DON'T USE GOOD BRUSHES as they will wear away quickly.  I drew with ink using a new stick I found at Michael's.  I bought an entire package (should last awhile!) and they look sort of like fat, flat, large toothpicks.  After the ink dried, I wet the watercolor stick by dipping it into water and started using it like a crayon, then took a wet brush and blended out the color.  I need to try the Cheap Joe's sticks on a more traditional watercolor surface before coming to any permanent conclusion, but the new sticks seem to have a serious wax coating on them and do not have the richness of color I find in the Daniel Smith brand.  This may be a case of "you get what you pay for"  

MORE PHOTO PAPER PAINTINGS

The above images are the result of todays efforts. They are in the order of my happiness with the results, not in the order they were created. I usually spare you the disasters but I thought I would show some today.

A comment from my last post by Ginny asked me to go into more detail about the paper I am using. That request made we want to share a little more about how I work and what I hope to inspire in those of you who want to explore a little more beyond what you are already doing.

I, too, want to know all the details about techniques and processes, but the truth is I do my most inventive work when I know next to nothing! I feel that too much detailed information often stifles exploration. Many times exciting discoveries happen because we don't know we can't do something. Most of the time all we need is a seed of an idea. Then each of us will take that seed and water it with questions that pop into our minds and fertilize it with our own special mix.

Years ago, I read just one line in an article that stated they used the microwave to dye fabric. At the time I was working with dyes and fabric but had never thought about using a microwave. I had no instructions, only the seed of an idea and basic knowledge about a microwave. I eventually developed some wonderful techniques and some unique results through trial and error. Any disasters? Well, I did set some one's microwave on fire! Turns out wet embroidery thread will get hot enough to have spontaneous combustion. No serious damage. Anyway, if I had had detailed instructions, I probably would not have come up with unique ideas of my own.

So, now I am exploring photo paper. I am trying different kinds and applying combinations of techniques and art products I have used on other papers. I started with the photo paper I had on hand. Cheap Costco glossy 8.5 x 11 sheets. Some of the ideas I think I can apply to YUPO if I want to work larger. It looks like cheaper is better for my purposes. Large format sizes only come in high end quality glossy photo paper. Turns out the coating on these papers aren't suitable for watercolor.

I have tried watercolor sticks, Dr. Martin's Hydrus Watercolor, drawing with wc pencils, dip pen, sharpened match stick, stamping, collage, splattering, blotting, washing off, and spraying. I have over stamped, over worked and over splattered. I have made some exciting discoveries and I'm just getting started. Some of these experiments I like and some I don't but I'm having a ball in the process. Oh, yes, and I didn't even start a fire in the microwave!

FINAL TWO STEPS

Here are the last two stages to complete this painting. I added white acrylic to the bleached painting, then started glazing and painting on top. It is a good idea to photograph the steps of your paintings for future reference. If you find you don't need them, it is easy to erase them. If you decide after the fact, that you wanted to document the steps, you can't go back!

Very little of the original bleached effect is left. Most likely it impacted the look of the finished painting, but it is pretty subtle. I'm going to keep on with this idea until I hit on the balance I am looking for. Can't quite say what it is, but I will know it when it shows up. The thrill of the hunt!

2ND BLEACH PAINTING EXPERIMENT

After completing the first bleach painting, I wondered what would happen if I used different dilutions of ink and bleach. That's what this painting is investigating. I let the computer do the hard work and broke the image down into 4 values, printed out the results and used that as my guide. I drew the shapes of the values in with a charcoal pencil and then painted away. This ink is decidedly blue when diluted. I let stage one dry, then went about bleaching out the ink areas. I diluted the bleach about 50/50 and it seemed to work. There was practically no odor, so this is a good discovery. I played around with a little stamping. I can't seem to help myself! I'm not sure if I took too much off or not. Tomorrow I will be sitting at Gallery Concord, so I will take my paints and put the color in. If you are in the area, stop by and say hi.

EXCITING NEW TECHNIQUE!!!

I found a very interesting book at the library called "Painting without a Brush" by David Ferry. Printed in 1991, it is still available on line. In fact, I had to pay as much for postage as for the book! The library is a very expensive place for me. When I find a book I like, I want to own it. This book has lots of interesting mixed media ideas. Today I decided to try one that really intrigued me. The idea is to use bleach to lift areas of ink. Above is the final result. Here is the process I followed:
First I drew the image with charcoal onto a sheet of smooth watercolor paper. Next, I took a white candle and drew some lines that will act as a resist. Then I took some non-permanent black ink (permanent ink has shellac in it and won't work) and brushed the ink over the paper, leaving some of the area white. When that dried, I then used various brushes and applied bleach. Be sure you have decent ventilation as the bleach odor can be fairly strong. The bleached area turned shades of orange. I want to explore different strengths of ink and different dilutions of bleach to see how much variation I can achieve. When the paper dried, I applied more charcoal, then sprayed with an acrylic fixative. Lastly, I glazed some acrylic color over areas and used titanium white acrylic from the tube for more opaque passages.

This was so much fun, I can't wait to try it again tomorrow. Now that I have the idea, there are some variations I want to try.

FRENCHMAN: JOURNAL ENTRY W/ COLLAGE PAPERS

I awoke this morning and looked at my little paintings from yesterday. Surprise! The color had faded over night sitting on my desk. I guess the watercolor pen set will be relegated to journal and sketch books. Quite awhile ago I had glued some scraps of my hand painted collage papers randomly in a sketch book. I decided to try my little Frenchman drawn over the collage papers and then try painting the image with my new watercolor brush pens. It's amazing how simplifying the image makes it so easy to quickly draw the shapes. Here is the result of my experiment. I rather like it. I think I might like to do something like this on a larger sheet of paper with lightfast paints.

THE MAGIC BLUE FOAM!

Yesterday the weather was gorgeous and my two friends and I had a date to go see the Frida Kahlo exhibit in San Francisco. We drove to the subway station and took BART into the City, had lunch at the Nordstrom complex (can't remember what they call the new expanded shopping center, I just know how to get there!) and then we walked a few blocks to The Museum of Modern Art...and read the sign that said "Closed on Wednesday" AAAARGH! You would have thought at least one of us would have checked this little detail. The Museum Store was open and doing a brisk business with all of the other clueless folks who came to see the show. Naturally, we did a little shopping. I controlled myself and only bought one big book and one little one. With no car, I had to carry everything for a few hours. By the time I got home, the day was gone and no painting.


Today, I had critique group in the morning, then a trip to the art supply store and then a hair cut and then to the shoe store to check out the tread on the exercise shoes. I found some fun stuff at the art supply store, one being a flexible masking tape about 1/8" thin that can create curves. I'm going to try that on my next painting. I also bought a small pad of YUPO to try things out on before I work on the large sheets. Again, not enough time to paint but I did do a little experimenting after dinner.


I got this idea in my head that all the exercise shoes have different patterns of tread on the bottom and that some of them would make good stamps. I have these neat little magic blue foam rectangles called PenScore Magic Stamp Moldable Foam. (That is what you Google to find a supplier). You heat the surface with a hair dryer or, better yet, a heat gun (for stripping paint) and then press it into any surface that will give an impression. If you want to "erase" your impression, just reheat it and start over.



Here are my little experiments I did this evening with a photo of one of the foam blocks with the impression. I used my new YUPO pad. I know they work with stamp ink, so tonight I tried brushing some watercolor over the block and stamping it. Them I wanted to see if Caran d'ache watercolor crayon would work. The turquoise and yellow green are from the crayon. It worked better than I thought. I am very excited about the patterns. I have a few blocks left, so I will return the 3 pairs of shoes and get a few more to work with. It doesn't harm the shoe in the least. The bigger the shoe, the more area to print.

NEW PAINTING: THE PLANNING STAGES

I dislike this drawing so much I almost decided not to post it. However, it serves it purpose so I put vanity aside. I have an idea I am excited about for my next painting but I have lots of choices so I am doing studies and experiments to narrow them down.

The first decision is which facial image I want to use. I have two I took with me looking up. I like the unusual angle of the head and the shapes of the features. One of the photos I really played around with in Photoshop Elements and distorted it a bit and rotated the head. This is the one I was drawing today. I think I may have gone overboard changing the angle of the head. I did about 4 drawings yesterday of this image in it's original orientation. Pencil drawings are hard to photograph, so I didn't bother this time. I will draw the image 5 or 6 more times at least until I feel confident I can draw it with pen onto a good sheet of paper. The size and placement will be important so I will probably draw onto tracing paper first and then transfer it. The other option is to put the drawing in my projector and then scale it up and down until I like the placement and size. It is easier to draw small and project larger. I have the projector on a rolling cart and the paper on my easel. Works like a charm. I only believe in tracing your own drawings, not photographs.

The second decision is the format of the painting. Right now I am thinking I want it long and thin with the head at the bottom looking up. I will be making lots of thumbnails to get a feel for the composition.

Third decision is how to put the writing on the wall in the background. Lots of options here, also. Today I tried gesso on watercolor paper using a variety of instruments to write with. Diluted gesso works better than straight because it flows. I was writing with the gesso on the untreated paper and letting it dry. Then, put a wash over the whole thing and the words show up lighter. Turns out the best lettering was done with a bird feather I picked up in Yellowstone National Park. I was going to make my own quill pens. I just used the feather in it's natural state on the end. The ones I tried to sharpen into a quill pen weren't good. Probably the wrong kind of feather for that. I want to try a bunch of other ideas before I decide on the background. The words are "stream of consciousness" all run together but can be read with a little patience.

I will try stamping tomorrow.

EVALUATING THE EXPERIMENTS

I'm working on these small paintings a few minutes here and there around all the minutia of my day. I am getting anxious to spend considerably more serious time on a major painting. I am excited because I thought of what I want to do. The dark side of producing a painting that turns out to be a major piece and receives a lot of attention is the pressure to do it again! I feel like I've peaked! I was contemplating how to photograph the drawing that will be in the next Strokes of Genius 2 book and I realized I never did a painting of this image, only the drawing. I think it should make an interesting painting. That will be my next project. I am going to change the format a bit. I will post as I work on it.

In the meantime, I need to evaluate my little experiments. Today I worked on 3 more bozzettos, only completing this one. The others aren't worth wasting more paint on. It's not always a virtue to keep going. I once heard a wonderful expression: "When the horse dies, get off." I learned what I needed to with the unfinished last two. The texture was too overwhelming and unattractive for a portrait head. The one I completed (above) is too textural in the face as well. The stamps seem to have less contrast than the plastic squares. I think the acrylic gel gets down in the grooves of the pattern of the squares and deposits too much texture. It does make an interesting background, however. Scale plays a part. This size pattern on a much larger head will look somewhat different.

I changed the set of primaries on this last head to see what colors I could produce. New Gamboge, Ultramarine and Primary Red. Don't ask what Primary red is. It's a hue but not a pigment. I just go by the labels on the bottles. The red mixed with Ultramarine creates a purple that is close to brown, very rich and beautiful. Excellent skin tone for darker complexions.

FURTHER EXPERIMENTATION!

Today was a lot of fun playing around with texture ideas. I wanted to stamp into thick gesso. Unfortunately, the only gesso that comes really thick is by Utrecht and I was out. I decided to use heavy gloss gel and then cover with a thin coat of gesso so it would accept watercolor. I found a sheet of smooth press watercolor paper that I had divided into bozzettos of 5 x 7. This paper was a failed start that I had lost interest in. Perfect for today's experiments. I slathered on some heavy gloss gel onto one of the 5 x 7's, smoothed it out with a plastic credit card ( I save all those card offers that come in the mail ) and then stamped into gel with a rubber stamp. I then took the stamp and put the residue on another 5 x 7. I actually like the second one best. It leaves behind a more defined texture and uses less product. The stamp I used was a variation on a checkerboard. I also have these plastic squares with different overall patterns on them. I used two of those on different 5 x 7 's. I found these pattern sheets in the scrapbook and stamping isles of Michael's Craft Store. They come in sets with 4 different plastic sheets each with a different pattern on each side.

After the gel dried, I brushed on a coat of regular gesso and let that dry. Notice on the second image how there are streaks on the right side of the face. I must have been careless when applying the textural surface. These things show up after it is too late to fix them. I used the Vis-a-Vis pen and quickly drew on the head. I am gauging the placement mentally but with a pen you get what you get. I would have liked a little more of the head and shoulders in the frame, but c'est la vie! These are just studies so it didn't really matter that much. I have posted an image illustrating the process to this point. I then used my Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons and colored in everything. Next I wet a brush and dissolved the crayon and followed with Hydrus liquid watercolor. I did a second one holding off adding Caran d'Ache until the end. It makes a difference how the Hydrus flows onto the painting depending on the order of application. I like this look. I am very pleased with the rich saturation of color, the liftability of the paint, the edges etc. The first pattern reminds me of the textured glass on shower stall doors. I am going to try this on a large sheet of watercolor paper.

THE ARTIST'S CONSTANT DILEMMA!

So, here is the painting after another session. Is it finished? Ah, the constant dilemma....when to quit. It seems we can't stop fiddling with the image. This particular painting could be complete as it is. The problem I am presented with is this: I had a different idea when I started...more of an experiment with color and line. Do I play it safe and keep it the way it is, the way I usually paint .. OR.. do I risk screwing it up by adding watercolor crayon in various places as I had originally intended? I am inclined to push it and take a chance. See what happens. This isn't such an important painting and my whole idea was to try some new things. It's late. I'm tired. I will sleep on it.

EXPERIMENTAL PAINTING FAILURE

This is a painting I have been playing with the past several days. I tried to paint watercolor on a regular canvas. I thought because it was coated by the manufacturer with gesso, that it would accept the paint. Well, not so! The paint just beaded up. I tried massaging it and working with it but not much success. I did get some color to stick, so I sprayed it with an acrylic spray. Let that dry. Then I coated it with full strength Clear Gesso so I could save what was underneath and then tried painting again. The paint didn't bead up but it crawled beyond the lines and generally was a mess. I was ready to totally cover the whole thing up but decided to play with what I had since I could hardly "ruin" it. It was already "ruined". This is a very freeing situation when you have a dog to play with. I added line with a pen and full strength liquid watercolor. I used some watercolor crayon here and there. Overall, it turned out fair. I will probably wind up reusing the canvas later. In the meantime, I will leave it as is. I think I prefer laminating watercolor paper to a canvas rather than painting watercolor directly on the canvas. There are still more experiments to be tried.