Alcohol Ink on Yupo ~ continued

I was introduced to alcohol ink on Yupo by Wendy Videlock who I chanced to meet on Facebook. I thought her work was exciting so, of course, I wanted to know more. I checked out her blog, The Fifth Element (link) and was happy to discover she sells DVDs demo-ing her process. I ordered the demo which was very well done and full of information.

Wendy buys her supplies from her local Michaels store but we don't have one nearby so I ordered from Tim Holtz online (link) . She recommends his line of Ranger Adirondack acid free inks, claiming they are the most vibrant of any she has tried. When I went to the Tim Holtz store online, I searched 'alcohol ink' and a page opened with a list of most all the supplies needed. I've been intending to try my hand with Yupo for a few years so this was the impetus to order a few sheets from Blick and since all my supplies have arrived I've been hooked. Playing with ink on Yupo is addicting.

As Wendy recommended in her demo, I've been experimenting on small (4" x 4"/ 4" x 5") squares of Yupo, getting accustomed to the way each different color of ink reacts/behaves, alone and together with other colors. I'm posting today's samples to see what they look like on screen.

To anyone who would like to try alcohol ink on Yupo and is interested in Wendy's DVD, here is a link:

http://nutshell-wendy.blogspot.com/2012/06/alcohol-inks-on-yupo-tutorial.html

Note: You can contact Wendy via Facebook or by email

Alcohol Ink on Yupo

I've been playing with a new(to me) medium today. It's called alcohol ink. Normally used by scrapbookers and crafters, it has potential for the fine art world, IMO. I'm going to post some samples I've been working on today and I'll do a follow up post with more information, some links and hopefully more results very soon.

Miss Willmott's Ghost ~ 2012

Miss Willmott's Ghost (link) (aka Eryngium giganteum aka giant white sea holly) has graced my moon garden this year with not one but two blooming stalks, each roughly 36" tall and both are loaded with blooms. This doesn't happen every year. These plants come from the seed of a parent plant I added to the garden back in 1997. Here are a few photos I'd like to share.

More Weeds

I have a lovely weed border growing in front of my home between my sidewalk and the drive. Before it succumbs to the weed whacker I thought I'd use up the last half sheet of the dark pastel paper from my prior post and sketch a small snippet. I have to say I really hate this color of pastel paper. It 'eats' light colors (mainly white) and it seems there's nothing that can be done about it. I tried white charcoal, Chinese white and white colored pencil w/o luck. It also shows every little smudge and piece of dust. Nonetheless, here is my sketch.

Another Shell Sketch

I've got a rather large conch shell I've used as my model this time. I'm not quite as happy with this as I am with the first shell sketch. I think my pastel paper may have been too dark. I'm posting it anyway. I had plans of doing a series and calling it 'Shell-f Life'. I may still follow through. Have to see where inspiration takes me.

Joseph Zbukvic ~ video demo

To anyone that works with watercolor, Mr. Zbukvic (or Mr. Z for short) is a very familiar name. He paints the most incredible urban landscapes in watercolor with poetic ease. I wanted to share this video demo with you, my visitors, so you can all enjoy seeing a master at work. I need to mention that he demos his entire process (creating the comp) and paints a piece to completion in the 20 minutes this video runs. It's really worth the time to watch.


Joseph Zbukvic gives a studio demo from web3media on Vimeo.

Back to the Drawing Board

I found myself stuck on a problem with my cat collage *sigh* so I decided to go back to my roots...drawing. I haven't sketched much of anything in quite some time. Being able to draw and sketch should be a basic skill of every artist. I realized I had grown lazy, using my computer screen as a light box to trace simple outlines for my paintings from photo references. I was always so eager to get started on the painting I was neglecting my prep work.


I have this shell that has sat on the tank lid of my toilet as decoration for years. It's a crazy looking thing. Well armored with spikes poking out at every angle. This must have been one bada** snail when it was alive and I'm sure it died of natural causes.

I sketched this shell from four different angles with ballpoint pen. I used a pen to keep myself honest. No erasing. Then I found a few sheets of sanded pastel paper. I hunted through my art supplies and found my sketch set...one sepia pencil, one sanguine, one china white and also I grabbed a medium charcoal pencil and went to work. I'm posting my current results for Operation Snail Shell.

A Dip into Digital Art

I'm not a huge fan of digital art but if it's done really well I can certainly appreciate it. The skill level and work involved in creating something visually stunning and/or unique using computer technology is a part of the future of art.

These pieces, which I just uploaded, are not one of those stunning and unique bits of artwork I speak of but I thought they were kind of cool so I'm posting them. I filled a vase with a bouquet of chive blossoms and created a still life with a cluster of grapes and a bell pepper, then photographed it. I began to play in my photo editor and voila! Art!

Truth be told, I ran into issues with my collage so that's staring at me from my studio table begging for a solution and I haven't picked up a brush in awhile. I had to create something today so this is it.

Petoskey Gallery Walk

                                                 The Twelfth Annual Gallery Walk (link)

The art world will descend upon Downtown Petoskey for its twelfth annual Gallery Walk. This evening of art and entertainment has definitely become a community tradition.


Participating art galleries will greet guests on the third Thursday in June, June 21, 2012, from 6:00 to 9pm in an open-house format and offer delights for your eyes, ears, and taste buds. Many of the galleries will have the artists present to introduce their works.


Gallery Walk is sponsored by the galleries of Downtown Petoskey with the support of the Downtown Management Board and Crooked Tree Arts Center.  Participating galleries are:  Arlington Jewelers, Art Cats Gallery, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Art Tree Sales Gallery, Hramiec Hoffman Gallery, Luciano's, Mitchell Street Frameworks & Gallery, Northern Michigan Artists Market, Shadetree Stained Glass Studio, Stafford's Gallery of Art and History,  Ward & Eis Gallery, and WARD Gallery at Ciao Bella!

New Header

The photo for my new blog header is courtesy of Julie Christiansen, a wonderful local photographer. Thanks, Julie!

The Gardener's Cat ~ collage wip 2

Here's a quick update on my first collage. I may have bit off more than I can chew but I'll perservere. It's slow going, though. I'm beginning to question my choice of colors. The cat is starting to get lost in the background. I'll have to figure something out to make it work. Gotta love a challenge!

The Gardener's Cat ~ collage wip

I hatched this particular idea because I've always admired the work of really good collage artists. Patty Henderson (check my link list for her work) comes to mind first because she creates the most beautiful collages. Absolutely stunning!


My subject evolved in due part to the many nursery catalogs that appear in my mailbox every year. I thought enough ahead to save many of them as source material. The plan is to use the lovely flower photos in these catalogs to create my cat and it's surroundings. I've never done a serious collage and realize now I wish I had a much smaller pair of sharp scissors and can already see this will push my patience to it's limits.


All I have to share at the moment is my intial sketch of the cat with some garden foliage. I've also begun adding values and have been playing with some different 'palettes' of cut out flower photos. This will not be a quick project but I will update as things develop.

Disposable Palettes

Remember that stack of styrofoam plates I bought to make stamps? Well, I switched to recycled styrofoam meat trays for my stamp making needs because they're thicker. So what to do with all those plates. I found out they make the best disposable palettes! Even better, when leftover paint dries on the plates I can stack them (dried paint and all) out of the way. Whenever I need a color, I can browse through the stack and usually find it. Why didn't I think of this sooner?

Stalker

This is another small piece ( 3 1/2" x 5 1/2") that I painted this afternoon. I used black Speedball ink and transparent watercolor on #140 w/c paper. I love the intense stare of this cat. It's definitely in stalker mode.

Experimenting with Watermedia

I truly enjoy mixing it up when it comes to different mediums. In this case, all the mediums used I consider water mediums (meaning they will combine readily with water). There is some debate on what actually constitutes 'watermedia' so I'm using my own understanding of the term.

The right image is black Speedball ink, thinned with a little water and applied onto damp w/c paper. Then gold metallic fluid acrylic was dropped in and allowed to mingle with the wet ink. I did direct some of the metallic acrylic with a bamboo skewer. While the paper was still damp I added some Quin. pink here & there. I dropped a little granulation medium into one of the pink 'runs' just to see what would happen and got some extra texture going.

The left image is phthalo blue fluid acrylic applied to damp paper with the gold metallic fluid acrylic added. This time I let the gold go where it wanted with no coaxing from me.

Painting on Black Paper

I've spent the last few weeks experimenting with all sorts of ideas. Most wound up in the bin but I thought I'd share this one with you. This was painted on black Strathmore Artagain paper with regular watercolor and a little white fluid acrylic. I was pleased with the effect I was able to achieve painting those lovely semi-transparent fins and tails on the black background. This was also a real bugger to photograph. I've found black usually is problematic for the camera, especially for this cameraman/woman.

An Exploration of Chinese Style Painting

I've always admired the look of the more loose style Chinese painting aka Freehand - Shui-mo (水墨). Last night I again tried my hand at painting fish, this time Black Moors. I love their bug-eyes. Having no rice paper or Chinese ink on hand, I used 110# cardstock and black India ink. For a brush I employed a #4 Kolinsky sable round. I did use photo references but no prior sketches. I'm posting my results above.

I still tend to go too detailed. The art of Shui-mo says that to add more detail is to lose the vitality or life force of the subject. Having never studied art history, it makes me wonder how much impact this philosophy has actually had on Western art, particularly watercolor painting. I enjoy a well done, detailed painting but usually react more positively to something less detailed and more spontaneous. In fact, this is why I took up watercolor in the first place...to loosen up. I wish to strive for more expression, less technique but am continually fighting the urge to focus on unnecessary details. My quest is ongoing.....

I have found a few videos my visitors may find interesting. The first is a demo of fish painting using the art of Shui-mo brushwork on rice paper. The second is how to mount the finished painting onto 300# watercolor paper with silicone release paper .

 

Goldfish ~ Oriental Style

I've been browsing through Youtube looking at Japanese and Chinese painters in action. Some very incredible work going on over there! The style is so simple but so effective. There's a real art to keeping things simple. Every line means something and not a one is wasted.

Watching these artists, I was inspired to try my hand at goldfish. I know I keep saying I would love to paint fish but never seem to make it happen. Well, today I painted goldfish. I'm still working in a small format so this one went quick. Little space forced me to keep the detail to a minimum. This is mostly walnut ink with a bit of gouache and transparent watercolor here & there. I actually cropped the painting to include the Chinese word for 'goldfish' in the finished piece but my photo editor would not recognize the symbols. I finally just added it in English.

Milkweed ~ watercolor on gesso

SOLD

One more, this time the ubiquitous milkweed pods going to seed. It's a perfect subject for this type of surface because lifting is so incredibly easy. I created the fluff with nothing more than a 1/4" stiff bristle brush.

Watercolor on Gesso

Another small work, this time on acrylic gesso coated 90# Fabriano watercolor paper. I really love working with transparent watercolor on gesso. The paints reacts very different on this surface and if I add texture to the gesso while it's still moist, it creates the opportunity for some interesting effects later on. This is a fantasy floral, no reference used. I find, while texturing the gesso, if I don't have any plan in mind beforehand and simply allow the resulting texture to guide me, I can get more spontaneous results.

Feathers ~ #5

Yesterday I played with my feathers again, coating them on one side with walnut ink and using them as stamps. Afterward I embellished with more ink, Quin. gold and phthalo turquoise watercolor. This one is also a small work, roughly 4" x 5".

Looking Back

I've been looking through some of my past work lately and came across some pieces I actually like. I can see that I've progressed in some areas, stayed stagnant in others. The bane of not attending workshops or the lack of any professional instruction, I guess. I also believe I have not found my artistic voice yet, whatever that is. I can't seem to find a comfortable niche but maybe that's a good thing. I've concluded that I'd rather continue the hunt than keep cranking out the same thing over, and over, and over. Still there's a nagging feeling that I need to land somewhere and find my own style. Can you tell I'm feeling a little lost today?

I've posted a cat (above) I painted a long time ago following an online demo by Jean Haines, the queen of loose style watercolors. I thought it was horrible at the time but now I can see it's merits. I had no idea what I was doing and can still remember how scary it was letting all that water and paint loose on paper. Somehow it all came together to form a cat. Maybe my naivety was my advantage. My fear, my friend back then.

Feathers ~ continued

I'm still at it. This time with a cluster of three feathers, new colors in my atomizer bottles(Phthalo turquoise, indigo and green gold) and more of my homemade stamps. I've got this 'thing' for metallics right now so I've been trying to find ways to incorporate them into my work.

Light As A Feather

Still working in a smaller format, this time with feathers taped to my working paper and atomizer bottles filled with transparent watercolor. I've also embellished each piece with splatters of metallic acrylic but I can't seem to get the acrylic to show up in photos. I even tried scanning but no luck. Colors are off too, unfortunately. Close but no cigar.

Walnut Ink ~ Small Works

I did something I've never done before. I ordered a couple of packs of 8" x 10" pre-cut mats and mountboard and painted to fit the mat openings. I usually work the other way around. I also ordered the mats in black (I don't normally use black mats). I don't usually work this small either but I found a bag of 8" x 10" acetate sleeves I must have ordered a long time ago and wanted to use them up.

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I played with my walnut ink, my metallic acrylics, gouache and torn paper collage. I dipped evergreen sprigs in masking fluid, I poured, I mixed walnut ink with the acrylics (with some interesting results) and generally played "I wonder what would happen if...". Some of my results were better than others but I'm going to post them all anyway.

Making Homemade Stamps for Cheap ~ Frog

Here are my first results. Speedball ink seemed to work best. The fluid acrylic, not so much although my stamp was still a bit wet from rinsing.

Here is my stamp, cut and mounted on a scrap piece of gatorboard. The frog is 2 7/8" x 1 3/8".

I went over my drawing on the styrofoam with a sharp pencil. Styrofoam is so soft this easily left an indented outline to follow.

A drawing, if one is needed. I made mine on tracing paper so if I chose to reverse the image(which I did) I didn't need to redraw. Remember, when you use your stamp the image will be reversed so please keep that in mind when transferring your drawing.

Supplies you will need: styrofoam plates, Exacto knife with sharp blade & glue. A self-healing mat is nice for cutting and some foamcore or gatorboard for mounting your finished stamp. Note: You may need to glue two or more plates together to get the desired thickness of styrofoam. For my project I used two plates.

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I saw this idea somewhere but can't for the life of me remember where or I would post a link or at least give credit.


I've done a short pictorial demo of my first attempt at making a homemade stamp from cheap styrofoam plates. Stamps tend to be pricey and you can never find exactly what you're looking for anyway. Proper stamp making supplies also come with a price tag and, with no craft stores near me, shipping costs as well.

Dead Leaves & Walnut Ink

4/1/2012

I did a little tweaking. I warmed this up with a wash of Quin. gold deep and added some Lumiere Super Copper fluid acrylic.

It's now titled 'Fall-en'

I got out my homemade walnut ink yesterday and some dry leaves I had saved from last Fall. I coated the back of the leaves with masking fluid, then using the mask coated leaves as stamps, I pressed them onto my paper. I had to work fast or the leaves would stick. After the masking was dry, I did my first pour. Next I removed the first masking, did another stamping and then another pour. When the last of the mask was removed I added some phthalo turquoise watercolor and gold metallic fluid acrylic. The result is a bit on the abstract side but I think it evokes a feeling of dry forest floor, possibly tree bark. Anyway, I like it!

Daisy Peeper Quartet ~ Complete

I started this painting last year, then ran into a snag so it needed some tweaking to save it which I put off until just recently. I finally put it back on the easel a few days ago, made some adjustments and hopefully it's now ready for framing. I'll have to do my 'sit and stare' time with it to make sure it all works. This is a full sheet and I rarely work this large so I was praying I could rescue it. The thought of wasting a full sheet of w/c paper makes me feel ill.:( Thank God for heavy body acrylics.

Le Chat Retourne

The title translates roughly as The Cat Returns. I thought it would be fun to translate my usually boring titles to French. It sounds a whole lot better.:D

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I took the reference photo last summer during a hot, sunny afternoon when one of my cats came inside to escape the heat. After downloading the image to my PC I noticed it contained some fascinating shapes, shadows and colors. Amazingly the slice of door on the right and the cat are both white but reflected light(or lack thereof) and surrounding colors inside my home greatly changed the hues of both. Also it was interesting that the cat is casting two separate shadows...forward toward the viewer because of the light entering the window in the storm door and also to the left because of the same light reflected off the white surface of the inner door.

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For a palette I started with the three primaries, in this case Quin. perm rose, permanent yellow and phthalo blue. I later added some tinted gouache and watercolor pencil as well as Quin. violet.

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Note: I hope these images are somewhat close to the originals. I have a new OS and have struggled to adjust the colors on my old monitor.