HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!



I love to post animated fireworks each New Years Eve but I could find nothing this year on the 'net that wouldn't give my visitors and myself seizures so I went with this lovely wallpaper. I want to thank everyone for supporting me and my art this past year. You are the juice that keeps me going. Thank you!

A Faux Batik Xmas



Occasionally I will paint individual cards for Xmas. I find them labor intensive so I have to be in the mood and this year I'm in the mood. I decided to stick with my alcohol ink batik technique for a welcome change. These are not folding cards so I've used Yupo as my backing substrate. I'll be writing my message on the back of each card with Micron pen so they will need a coat of Krylon spray varnish to eliminate any smearing. I could not find my white fluid acrylic paint to create the snowy candy canes so I used White-out. It worked great but I had a devil of a time washing it out of my spatter brush. Here are a couple of my faves.

Pecking Order ~ complete



I mounted this on 144# Yupo two days ago but had to wait to get a photograph. The weather finally broke long enough to allow me to capture a decent photo of this piece. I took it outside today on a bright hazy, 5 degree F day...perfect for photographing art. Well, the temp wasn't perfect but tolerable and the lighting couldn't have been better. I added a digital 'frame' with my photo editor. The final dimensions are approx. 11" x 18". Hope you like!

Note: My photo reference was courtesy of Sharon Whitley on Paint My Photo.

Pecking Order ~ WIP 3

Sorry for yet another bad image. Between our dark days and the shine of the alcohol inks I'm having a devil of a time photographing this piece. Suffice it to say, it looks a whole lot better IRL. I'm just about ready to mount this on Yupo and give it a few coats of varnish but I thought I'd post it at this stage to show how it looks before I work out the puffiness with a brayer. I like that quilted effect for some subjects but not this one. I'll be using Mod Podge to adhere it to the Yupo. Mod Podge works very well because it stays tacky long enough to make adjustments before it dries.

I just noticed I may have missed a toe on one of the roosters. I also have a few areas that need to be lifted (colors that bled or accidently landed in the wrong spot). Hopefully I'll be able to take care of that with a Q-tip and blending solution.

Pecking Order ~ WIP 2

With flash

Without flash

I'm trying to spend just a few hours at a time working on this to avoid breathing too many fumes but it's really difficult when I get in the zone. I've got the chickens finished but it's hard to tell from these images. I tried photographing twice, once with and once without flash and got varying results, neither of which turned out well. I used Ranger's Pearl mixative on the white chickens and the flash lit the ink up like crazy because this particular ink contains iridescent particles. Without flash the painting looks dull but the quilted effect from the waxed paper is less apparent. I decided I'm going to post both images because with all these gloomy days(and no sun predicted in the foreseeable future) I doubt I'll be able to do better before the painting is done.

Pecking Order ~ WIP 1

'Pecking Order' is my working title for now. At least until I can come up with something better. My photo reference came from Sharon Whitley on PMP. This will be the largest faux batik I've done to date. I don't have the final measurements but will post them later. I took a quick photo when the clouds tried to part for a moment but the image could be better.

Instead of India ink I've used walnut ink to prime my waxed paper before applying the alcohol inks. Walnut ink tones the entire surface a nice shade of sepia and I love that look for certain subjects. FYI, for anyone that wants to try my faux batik technique , any shade of India type ink can be used. Because there is so much small detail in this drawing I taped my drawing directly under the waxed paper so all the lines would be visible, then added a layer of clear plastic wrap between the drawing and the waxed paper. There will be bleed through when the alcohol ink goes on and I wanted to protect my drawing. I've been battling lung issues more so than usual lately so I hope this comes together nicely and I tolerate the fumes well. We'll see.