WELL PLAYED

Graphite and fluid acrylics on Yupo with added texture from stamping gesso first.  Lots of fun!

I’ll be teaching this process in March, 2021.  See side bar for more info.

NEW ATELIER ACRYLIC PAINTS!

Finally, the brush made it to my hand and into some glorious new paint! It's been nearly two months since I painted anything at all - long, long time for me, but a 'bug' kept me under the weather and not caring if I painted. Then a box of new paints arrived at the studio with some gorgeous colors made in Australia by Chroma, Inc.

This painting is the first of what will be many acrylic paintings on YUPO using these Atelier Interactive Professional Artists' Acrylics. The acrylics behave like regular acrylic, but can be blended MUCH easier, even after they get dry! They can be re moistened with ease.

This painting is a result of forty five minutes of experimenting to see what would happen. The paint can be applied thickly like oil or very thinly like watercolor washes. The dozen colors that I have are mostly transparent, so glazing added a luscious look to those colors. I can't wait to share these new paints with my classes and see what beautiful paintings they create.

Though this isn't a 'real' painting, (no planning, etc. just impulse and delight,) it was so much fun to play and experiment. There are several unique mediums from the order that I must try next with the paints. Check out their website at http://www.chromaonline.com/.

"THINKING OF OREGON" Atelier Interactive Acrylics on YUPO 22 x 16"

MORE FUN

Here's another textural painting that was freeing to create. It's also on acid free foam core which has been covered with various textural products and allowed to dry. Then the acrylic paint was added to bring out the textures of the surface and to help develop a good design. Transfer cut from an old magazine was also embellished onto the painting for added interest. Painting smaller, nonrepresentational work increases my love of being an artist.
"ONLINE" Acrylic on Acid Free Foam Core 4 x 4"

TEXTURES

This painting was created with fluid acrylics, tube acrylics, some surface treatments, and lots of time discovering and maneuvering shapes within the created textures. Painting it somehow seemed like a vacation away from painting, and yet 'painting' has ALWAYS seemed like a vacation... sometimes without a map or reservations. It reminded me of the huge volcano that erupted this past spring, hence the name.

"EYJALLAJOKULL" Mixed Media on Acid Free Foam Core 4x4"

FALLING AWAY

Watercolor is often defined as a medium that incorporates the pigment with water to extend it onto the paper. That could include many kinds of paint like tempera paint/poster paint - from grade school - plus opaque watercolor made by mixing chalk with the pigments (gouache) to acrylics to water based inks to casein and egg tempera paint. Even watercolor pencils and crayons technically qualify as watercolor if water is added. But transparent watercolor is what the majority of people 'think' when they hear the word 'watercolor.'

This painting, done on the slick YUPO surface, includes 'regular' transparent watercolor with fluid acrylics over parts of it, with gouache added in thin layers plus water based inks drawn in last. It's a 'watercolor' technically, but PURISTS wouldn't consider it one.

Very few watercolor societies limit the definition of 'watercolor' to mean just transparent watercolor (as PURISTS do.) There's certainly validity in having a group or show for only transparent watercolor paintings because the difficulty and challenge of painting with only transparent watercolor is great. It's good to compare apples with apples in a 'watercolor' show occasionally.

The majority of my paintings are only transparent watercolor, yet it is exhilarating to be able to select whatever medium it takes to produce art. Years ago, I let the restrictive interior "WATERCOLOR POLICE" keep me from trying out other water mediums. My goal was to increase my expertise with the transparent stuff, and I (unwisely) shunned all the other possibilities.

For so many watercolor artists, it can be a big deal to take that first step away from using ONLY transparent watercolor. It was a giant step for me several years ago. However, now, whatever it takes, whatever works - that's what art's about for me, and it certainly allows so much more freedom to be able to express and create.

This painting's title came about partially because of my 'fall' from transparent watercolor. It was one of the very first that I'd tried as I used gouache and acrylics and broke away from the limits I'd set on myself. It's several years old, and tomorrow's post will include another oldie from that time, using gouache, too.

"FALLEN ANGELS" Transparent Watercolor, Gouache, Acrylics, Ink on YUPO 13 x 8"

IT'S GOT TO BE WRIGHT

Once in a while, a special friend and I get together to paint. I drag my array of supplies to her studio, and we drench ourselves in making art from day break til late in the evening.

I am the most free to explore and play when I'm there. No expectations. No deadlines. No one else's opinions. No self imposed requirements or judgements. Practically unlimited use of resources and supplies. I know that making art is a solitary journey for most, but I seem to thrive on painting with creative friends.

This may be the airplane that Wilbur and Orville must have dreamed about before they engineered it to fly ..... but someone else suggested that it reminded them of Falling Waters. Either way could be wright.

Actually, the posted painting is upside down. Earlier, I liked it better flipped over, so I signed it in the deep red area and framed it with the deep red on the bottom. I may take it out of the frame and adjust it someday ... flip it back over. Always a work in progress, these abstracts.

"MERIDIA" Fluid Acrylics (straight out of the bottle) on Crescent Board, 32 x 20"

YUPO - MORE THAN A HISTORY LESSON

"PEARL OF GREAT PRICE" Transparent Watercolor, Gouache (Opaque Watercolor,) and Tube Acrylics on YUPO, 17 x 13"

I expected our visit to the memorial at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to be a good history lesson, but I was taken off guard by my overwhelming emotional response. I'd always considered Pearl Harbor as part of my parents generation's history, too far removed to have much emotional impact in my life. The very strong reaction I had completely surprised me - - - feelings of pain, confusion, sorrow, anguish, compassion, hope, reverence, and awe washed through me while we were there. Painting this picture helped me express some of those powerful feelings.

This is the only painting on YUPO I've tried using other watermedia. The painting is five years old and still all in one piece, so I'm hoping all the watermedia stays on the surface. The flag effect was done using tube acrylics diluted with matte medium. After it dried, I thinned opaque gouache with water and painted over the acrylic to portray a watery blanket. The structures out of the water were created mostly with transparent watercolor. If you've been there, I hope this painting brings back some of the profound feelings you may have had. Someday there will be no more wars.

ACRYLIC & COLLAGE

"DOWN RIVER" on stretched canvas - Collage and Acrylic 42 x 30" SOLD

Traditional tube acrylics have come a long way in the past 40 years. This painting, done on canvas, was first covered with several layers of small pieces of various textured washi papers. Tube acrylics, diluted down with matte medium, finished the painting, and although the transparency of watercolor is lacking with tube acrylics, I still liked the vibrancy of the painting. The painting received 'Best of Show' at The Fitton Art Center in Hamilton, Ohio, in 2005.

One of my good friends returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon, and after she showed me a slide show of her adventures, I was inspired to create my impressions of the colors and textures from memory. I need to go to the canyon and see it myself, I know.