Christmas Bird ~ mixed media

This is my rendition of a Christmas bird. Trust me, it's one of a kind. I tried several ideas out on this little birdie while in the process. For instance, I added quilted fabric to his body. I found an old pillow sham which was sacrificed for the cause. Also I dipped into my vast collection of bird feathers and used those to embellish the breast. I created a makeshift piping bag from a plastic storage bag and piped the branch with modeling paste. I used my waxed paper faux batik technique to make the leaves and the tail and wing feathers. Walnut ink was used to tone the waxed paper rather than India ink and the background was also toned with walnut ink. Hope you like. I like it.

Working on Canvas

Using Ohmyprints Wall App

This is a new surface for me and I'm liking it more than I thought I would. A few years ago I picked up a box of 9"x12" canvases on sale on Jerrys Artarama . I played around with two, then decided I didn't care for the texture of the canvas and so they were all set aside. Recently I've had a change of heart and suddenly find myself excited to have pristine canvases awaiting my brush. This is my first successful painting on canvas and I love the idea that I can simply hang it up. No trip to the framers, no ordering framing supplies...nada. Love that!

I've chosen to do something more creative this time. More from my own imagination and purely decorative. Here I've shown the painting in a home environment using Ohmyprints WallApp . I used heavy and soft body acrylic paint, flexible modeling paste and dried maple leaves.

Something Different

A little something different from me. I dreamed this one up...literally. The composition and the colors. I just wish I could get the colors to show true. For those that are familiar with Adirondack's 'Willow' alcohol ink that's the color in the sky, not Pesto green. I hate when these things happen. It's the funky 'Willow' green that makes the painting work IMO. Ah well....

This is another small work...5" x 7" on Yupo. I added some cut paper collage and flexible modeling paste. For the patterns in the white and red areas I painted over the alcohol ink when it was dry with black acrylic paint, then used an old credit card I had notched and dragged that through the wet paint until I was satisfied with the results. Voila! 

Liquitex Flexible Modeling Paste ~ product review

I'm always on the lookout for ways to add texture to some of my paintings. Today I experimented with this product and I highly recommend it to artists that prefer to work on paper like myself. It's flexible, as the label states, so it won't crack on flexible surfaces. Up to this point I've been relying on Liquitex gesso to get a degree of texture but there's a lot of moisture in gesso and it takes a long time to dry. Also it's rather runny, causing the paper to buckle, and has to be worked and reworked with a palette knife or other tool to produce an interesting surface. However this product is thick, easy to mold and dries much faster. It's also possible to get a high degree of texture not possible with acrylic gesso. I created this sample floral to see how well the modeling paste accepted watercolor and ink. It behaved very similar to gesso. Paint was pretty easy to lift but I think the surface tended to stain a bit more. If a non porous surface was needed a coat or two of high gloss gel medium over the modeling paste would accomplish that.