A B. C?

Here is the repaired painting. I stenciled a honeycomb pattern on the background to finish the piece.

Hopefully this image will allow you to see the area of damaged Yupo I circled. When I'm working on certain insects I will cut away only a few sections of frisket at a time. In this case I saved the bee's wings until last so the Pitch Black and Yellow Sunshine ink wouldn't get on them. When I attempted to remove the frisket from the left wing I accidently dug into the surface of the Yupo and peeled off a thin layer leaving a rough area. I managed to solve the problem by cutting a piece of the glossy backing paper from the frisket into the shape of the damaged wing and gluing it in place with gel medium. Another solution could've been another piece of Yupo but I decided the backing paper would work best for this purpose.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I think I'm losing it and if winter doesn't end here soon in northern Michigan I'm going to completely lose my mind. Anyhoo, this is my latest bug, the wonderful bumblebee. I love to hear their deep throaty buzz in the garden on a hot summer afternoon.

The Fly

This one took two tries and it still could use some grounding with a few shadows now that I see it on screen. I used Ranger Pearl mixative on the wings to make them look more fly wing-y and I added the veining with a Prismacolor colored pencil...Violet Blue, I think. A waxy pencil on Yupo, you say? I know but I'm fairly certain it'll be permanent after a good spray or two of Krylon gloss varnish.

Which Came First?

The cocoon or the bug? Well, in this case, the chrysalis. I used Adirondack Copper mixative on the bark of the branch. It has great texture that works well for this type of application. When the inks were dry and the frisket film was removed I went over everything with a wash of Da Vinci green gold fluid acrylic thinned with a little water and let it puddle and dry. That produced some nice texture in the background.

More Bugs

Here's the latest efforts, hot off the easel. I may have to redo the yellow moth. If you look closely I forgot my own advice and cut into the Yupo too far. It's easy to do. I should have another update tomorrow but there may be a very short break while I wait for more frisket film and liquid frisket to arrive from Blick. I was surprised how quickly I ran out!

FYI, if you want perfection don't work with these inks, at least not in this manner. There will invariably be imperfections here and there. As Vivi at the gallery says, "it's the hand of the artist". Much like watercolor, these inks work best if left to go their own way to some extent.

Bug Me ~ a new series

Spring is coming and it looks like Mamas' got her ink on again. I finally have a new direction and it's about time, too. 2015 kicked my behind health-wise and I'm still dealing with the aftermath. It's difficult for me to sit for any length of time at my work area because of severe arthritis in my spine and I wound up losing all my forward momentum. This past week I told myself I will paint two bugs every day no matter how I feel and so far I'm doing it. And it feels good. I just love bugs and I love alcohol ink so this series makes perfect sense to me.

I'm using the frisket film still which allows me to pour the inks to my bugs with abandon. Occasionally I use a little liquid masque as well. I'm only limited by my imagination. In addition to the alcohol ink I've been embellishing a few of my bugs with Brilliance Archival pearlescent inks .  
Jo Ann's was having a sale on these ink pads and I couldn't resist.

All the paintings are small (5" x 7") and are surprisingly labor intensive. If anyone wishes to give this a go let me give you some tips.

1. Make sure your working Yupo is completely covered by the frisket film. Otherwise the inks have a way of sneaking underneath and winding up in areas they shouldn't.
2. When applying the film be sure to leave no creases or bubbles, again for the reason listed above.
3. Be sure to keep a sharp blade in your Exacto knife for clean cuts. The moment the blade starts to drag change it.
4. When cutting out the shapes fight the urge to bare down too hard on the blade. You don't want to cut through the Yupo. A light hand on the handle of the knife helps.
5. You can draw on matte frisket film to give yourself guide lines if you wish. 
6. After you've made your cuts hold the Yupo up to the light so you can see your cut lines. I miss spots all the time so I recommend double checking. Also double check after you've removed the Yupo from your cut shapes and before you start inking. Frisket film tears easily and some little pieces might get left behind.  
7. Work as clean as possible. Nothing is more heartbreaking than a big ink smudge on a new ink painting. This is one of the biggest challenges for me.
8. Happy inking!

Alcohol Ink & Frisket Film

Here I've used frisket film on Yupo and cut out simple shapes with an Exacto knife before applying my ink. For those not familiar with frisket film, it's a lot like transparent contact paper with a low tack adhesive. Most art suppliers carry it.

I've wanted to try this for some time and finally got around to it recently. It's fun to have the edges of the film corral the ink and to feel free to keep throwing color. It's almost impossible to make a mistake with this technique. These are a few of my results. I think they could handle some more embellishment, possibly some jelly roll pen or marker OR I may just leave these as is and give them a coat of gel gloss medium. I don't dare spray Krylon varnish in the house in winter.

frisket film

Meet Peter Steele ~ commission

I've just completed a portrait of Peter Steele and it turned out rather well. I'm always a little surprised when I have success with people portraits, mostly because I so rarely do them. I will admit my first attempt failed. I couldn't find a suitable photo reference at first and a good reference is crucial. I also tried a non-conventional palette the first go around and it did not work. I had to try though.

The palette I did settle on was fairly typical for caucasian skin tones...Alizarin Crimson and yellow ochre. I do prefer DS Moonglow in place of cobalt blue because it will give me a full range of values. I added DS Quin. Burnt Scarlet and used it as the color on the lip area. This is the first male I've painted and I was able to create a more 'manly' lip color with this shade. The Quin. Scarlet also combined well with Moonglow to give me a nice neutral. For his hair, I did an under glaze of Indathrone blue, a staining color. I then mixed a black with the same blue and burnt sienna and went over the entire hair area, lifting out the blue highlights afterward with a stiff brush. 

Happy 2016

Merry Christmas 2015

To all who celebrate this time of year, no matter what the holiday, may it be filled with love and laughter.

Sexy Sixty Somethin's ~ mixed media

Watercolor, marker and cut paper collage on w/c paper

My best friend's 65th birthday is nearing and I wanted to create a special card that would give her a laugh. She's had a rough few months. In September she had a stroke that left her paralyzed on the right side and affected her speech. Bad enough for anyone but especially for her as she loves to be on the go-go-go. Her speech has come back and this past week she took her first steps with a walker. At the rate she's now recovering I wouldn't be surprised to see her walking without the walker very soon. We've been friends since the 4th grade and we'll both be 65 very soon hence the title.

Lunch Rush at Chez Dumpsta ~ complete

Almost nine months in the making, it's finally done. Like giving birth, huh? Well, not even close but I'm certainly glad it's done and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Again, it doesn't photograph well but I did my best with my photo editor. I gave it a final coat of gel gloss medium last night, then today I added some of the cat's whiskers with white gelly roll pen. One coat of Krylon gloss varnish spray this afternoon and it was ready for it's close up.

Reference photo courtesy of Margaret Wiles on PMP

More Inky Things

I've added a little white Gelli pen to this one.

This one reminds of reef diving. Lots of lovely little organic shapes.

It's always fun to simply play with alcohol inks and see what comes of it. I work with Adirondack inks exclusively. The colors are vibrant and clean and I like how they react with one another. Most all the colors spread quickly when they hit the surface of the Yupo. Without the use of the blending solution, one color will push aside another color creating a ring or bloom. One exception is the Pitch Black. Aside from the mixatives, Pitch Black is slightly thicker or more viscous and a bit easier to control. It can act as a dam to stop the other colors from running wild and getting into places I'd rather not have them go. The mixatives can be used in the same way.  

Back to the Inks

Red I

Red II

Red III

I made a trip to the gallery recently to drop off 50 greeting cards to sell. Moo.com was having their 20% sale last month so I had a collection of my favorite cat paintings made into cards. Moo does an amazing job and their quality is superb. I did a review a few years ago on their cards if anyone would care to read it. FYI, even though I think their greeting cards are an odd size, Clearbags carries an acetate sleeve (B46) that fits them perfectly. Another FYI...Moo is currently running a 25% sale which ends midnight Nov. 10th. But I digress....

While I was at the gallery I was asked to produce more ink paintings and other small works. They've proven to be quite popular. I love creating small works. Anything in the 5"x7" range or thereabouts. They go fast and I can try out all sorts of ideas without ruining reams of expensive paper if an idea fails. I've been working on some free form alcohol ink paintings and I just completed a small series focusing on the color red which I'd like to share. These were scanned so the colors are a bit off but not too bad. 

Happy Halloween from Crabby Cat!

Lunch Rush at Chez Dumpsta ~ WIP 2

I've been putzing away at this over the last several days and it still needs a lot of work. I thought I should post an update anyway. BTW, the camera absolutely hates this painting. It actually looks much better IRL which is a switch from my usual. I didn't like the look of the yellow/orange water soluble crayon so I removed it. I was surprised to see it stain areas of the painting. I'm glad I laid down a coat of gloss gel medium over the initial collage paper or it could've been worse.

I'm Back with a Work in Progress

This past April my COPD flared up which landed me in hospital for the better part of a week. This flare was a real doozy and it was August before I felt human again. During my recovery I found out I now have severe arthritis in my spine so pain management became an issue. Things are looking up at last and I think I've found my art groove once again.

I've decided to start out where I left off this past March ( has it really been 6 months?!) and finish up these kitties. So far this is collage, acrylic, gel medium and crayon on Yupo. I love working with collage on Yupo. No buckling which is a huge bonus. My current working title is 'Lunch Rush at Chez Dumpsta'.

Whales, Snails and Puppy Dogs

When I titled this I thought I was channeling that old rhyme, "What are little boys made of ?".  "Whales, snails and puppy dog tails". Apparently it goes, "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails". I also discovered a snip is a type of eel. Who knew?! Anyway, when I chose the collage papers for the base of this piece I hadn't done my fact checking yet so it is what it is.

I also discovered what a mess I can make with gel medium and collage paper. I managed to ruin another fleece shirt too but I'm still happy with my results. This is not a great image but I did my best. The colors are a little off but close. I wound up using collage papers, matte and gloss gel medium, Sharpie pen and acrylic paint, all on 174# Yupo. It was fun, enough fun that I'm on to another.  

Yup, cats are next.

Lots of Puppies

Paul Kemp posted the cutest photo of a litter of puppies on PMP. So cute it knocked me out of my current funk and got me back on track. I took up an 8B pencil and did this line drawing the other day. You know the method...all one continuous line without raising your pencil. I made it....mostly. I did back track a little to add a missing paw, etc. The whole thing took me all of 10 minutes and I liked the result. Now what to do next. I think I'm going to try laying down some collage papers on Yupo, then do another continuous line drawing in ink over top. I may get some acrylic into the act, too. Lots of possibilities and at least I have a direction now. 

Playing in GIMP

I was playing in GIMP today and came up with these digitally enhanced images, in this case a photo I took of cherry blossoms a few years ago. Same image, different enhancements. GIMP (link) is a free photo editor available online and has far more features than Irfanview (link) which is also free. GIMP is much more complicated so occasionally I open it and just play. There are many tutorials online but my eyes tend to glaze over when I try to read the instructions. I'm a visual learner and wish there were video instructions out there instead. Maybe there is! Come to think of it, I've never checked!

Kitty Kocktail ~ complete

I finished this one up this morning. It sat staring at me with those big soulful eyes so I had to finish it. I didn't do much actually. Just a bit here and there. Some reflections in the granite countertop, adjusted some values, darkened the tile backsplash, etc. A lot of little fiddles.

Kitty Kocktail ~ WIP 2

I had hopes this was complete but I see some things that need a tweak or two. When I first saw the image on my PC screen I thought I had gotten my grout lines in the background crooked. Turned out to be camera distortion thankfully. I think I may have breathed in enough pastel dust for awhile so I'll fiddle with this just a little bit each day until I'm satisfied and post the final end of the week.

Pigments of Your Imagination ~ the book

Back in February of 2013 I was contacted by Cathy Taylor (link)who I met on Facebook via an alcohol artists inking group. She was planning on self publishing a book featuring a variety of techniques employing this medium and wanted to know if I would like to be among the artistic contributors. Sure! How exciting and what a great way to have my work published. I was both flattered and honored.

Cathy stayed in touch with all the ink artists by email and in June announced that Schiffer Publications had picked up the book. Of course we were all over the Moon for Cathy but a lot of work still lay ahead for her. Long story short, after much work, stress and a few delays the book, Pigments of Your Imagination (link)is now available on Amazon. Yesterday I received my complimentary copy and I have to say, all Cathy's work was well worth it. Schiffer did a wonderful job with the book, too. The book is a nice size, roughly 8" x 9", and the pages are heavy weight glossy paper held together with a spiral binder so the book can be opened and lay flat. My waxed paper faux batik technique (link)is featured in one of the chapters and several of my ink paintings are in the gallery section. I believe there are 14 contributors total, each with a unique perspective and some really lovely work. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone considering trying alcohol inks. The instructions are clear with an abundance of photos for guidance.

Pigments of Your Imagination ~ Video review by Jill Berry

Kitty Kocktail ~ WIP 1

I've finally begun work on this little fella. I decided not to try this in watercolor(I didn't believe I could achieve the soft fuzziness of this kitten) and opted instead for dry media. So far I've used various pastels, Caran D'Ache water soluble crayon and water soluble graphite. I also decided to work on artist quality kraft paper. I love the look of a toned paper with pastel.

February

Sorry I've been MIA for so long. Having lung issues again among other things this winter and I haven't felt at all creative. I'm so tired of opening my blog to see the New Years clipart so I'm posting a couple colored pencil portraits I did about 6-7 years ago. I was asked to join a 5 day challenge on Facebook recently so I dug these out of some old files to honor that challenge. The goal was to post 3 pieces of artwork every day for 5 days. Each day another artist had to be named to do same and so on. It caught on and produced a steady stream of fabulous work in the FB newsfeed which is still running! I enjoyed participating and got to discover some talent I may never have otherwise.  

Happy 2015!

Here's wishing all my visitors a Happy New Year and all the best for 2015!

2014 was a mixed bag for me. I'm hoping 2015 will see things improve. I'm leaving you with a photo of the Charlevoix Bridge Drop , an annual event in my hometown to herald in the new year. I think I'll be skipping the festivities this time. It's going to be very cold and windy so I'm staying home, warm and cozy with a nice pepperoni pizza and a good movie.

 Photo Courtesy of Walter Barkley

To all my visitors. Thank you for a great year and your support. I hope you are enjoying your holiday.

Kitty Kocktail ~ drawing

This project may be beyond my expertise as a painter but I want to give it a go anyway. I've never painted a clear glass anything before but there's always a first time.

I met this adorable little kitten this past September at the hair salon I frequent. One of the hairdressers had rescued him and brought him to work because he needed to be feed every 1-2 hours around the clock. He was so tiny he fit in the palm of my hand and he was such a sweet kitten. The stylist that was caring for him had taken a photo of him in a wine glass and she showed it to me on her cellphone. I never forgot it so when I arrived for another hair appointment last week I asked permission to use the image for a painting. Thankfully she still had the photo and gladly she agreed. I know I've drawn this too small already and need to enlarge it. I'm not known for my steady hand so we'll see how well I do. I may have to paint this more than once to get it right.

Mama Luv

I just completed my latest cat painting and I'm pretty happy with it. Shame that my blues appear more red violet in places but I was happy to get a halfway decent photo at all today. It's so gloomy.

I saw Karina's image of a mother cat with her kitten on PMP and knew I had to paint it. Shy kitten, protective mother...a short story, if you will. It speaks to a part of the mother and child bond that exists in both the human world and the animal kingdom, but a very important part. To quote Stephen King, "There's no bitch on earth like a mother frightened for her kids.”
 

Little S-Kittles

The title popped into my head while I was finishing this painting and I think it works. It's been almost a month since I updated my blog so I thought I'd paint some kitties and post them. I have another feline painting ready to go, too.

I was inspired by a photo a friend posted on Facebook, Tracy Meadows. Tracy rescued a litter of kittens recently. He said he found them under his porch and the photo he posted was just too darn cute to pass up. I asked him if I could use it and he obliged. The actual kittens are all a smoky grey so I decided to take a lot of liberty with my palette. And this is my favorite palette....golds and violets. I used DS Quin deep gold, DS Quin Burnt scarlet, DS Quin sienna, DS Carbazole Violet and DS Quin Violet. With these colors I can go just as vibrant or neutral as I want with no mud making involved. Hope you like. 

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.  

Silverbark at Sundown ~ complete (acrylic and collage on paper)

I'm going to call this done now. It doesn't look like I've done much since my last post but I spent a lot of time just looking at the painting and deciding how I wanted to create the leaves. I finally settled on a paste paper that I copper leafed on one side, painted on the other. I used tracing paper so the copper leaf would show through and tone the yellow. This produced a fairly accurate representation of birch leaves in Fall. Then the issue was where to place the leaves and how many wouldn't be too many. Did they distract or benefit the painting? Branches were never where I needed them and I knew I should've added the leaf placement to the original drawing. Dang! Ah well, a Chinese white pencil and a violet Prismacolor Verithin solved the problem. Cutting those teeny, tiny leaves was a chore, as was using tweezers to handle them. I think it was worth the effort and time, though. I'm pretty happy with it. :) The final size is approx. 6 1/2" x 29".

Work in progress