Monday, July 29, 2013

Even More Play

After doing our pourings we started gathering our many materials and starting experimenting with a vengeance.
Custom patch was our first try.  We started by spreading it on paper in small amounts then on supports.  We had searched for anything with a circle, rectangle, square, oval or odd shape that might be used as a stencil.  Our bag of goodies included everything from pieces of guttering from Home Depot to dish strainers from the dollar store,  we tried it all.



custom patch stencils






















On day 2 we thought we would paint some papers with our iron oxide paint, which we were dying to try.  The iron oxide can get really thick and acquire a strange odor but no matter we were excited to try it.  After it dried we started putting found objects and shapes on pieces of the paper and misting it with rust activator.  This, I think had the most amazing results.  It was fascinating to see show the shapes showed up on the paper and then on the painted supports.  It was great fun to rummage through my husbands tool box and cans of nails, nuts and bolts for treasures.


Tyvek paper with iron oxide paint and rust activator
















On Day 3 we tried the simple technique of squirting glue on Tyvek paper and then cutting it up and painting it different colors.  These were relatively simple to do and you could paint lots of different colors in a short amount of time.

painted Tyvek with glue

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Play Days II

After I did the trees I wanted to start experimenting with some of the other techniques and materials from the workshop.  Carol Schiff (who also attended the workshop) and I decided to try and have some play dates and just well....play.
We got some MDF board and my husband helped me figure out how to cut it up into various sizes we were interested in trying.  Carol also picked up a "roll" of red resin paper.  We got some metal paints, iron paint, rust activator, foil, paste and of course some more acrylics.  We also scoured the aisles of Lowe's and Home Depot and our garages for interesting shapes and tools for stenciling and our mixed media ideas.  We really had a fun time for a few weeks with our exploring and experimenting.
Before we got too into our new projects we also did some more pourings with Carmen one day.  That was truly a play day.  We had newspapers all over the place and plastics cups everywhere filled with pouring medium and paint.  Even with all that and several pairs of plastic gloves we managed to get paint all over ourselves.
I just love the pourings, they are like stationary Lava Lamps. Here are a few to take you to the not so distant past.
 
Tendrils

This pouring reminded me of the ocean and when I ran a comb through
 the wet paint I instantly thought of jelly fish with their tendrils trailing in the water.



Metal Sky

I just love this one, it looks like molten metal yet is very cosmic.


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

It's Been Awhile

Since I got back from the workshop a lot has been going on in my little life.  Some of it to do with art and some not.  I am finally back to posting and want to share some of the projects I have been working on.
I learned a lot at the Carol  Nelson workshop.  A lot about new techiniques, new materials, new products and I think even a new outlook.  It was a great experience in learning to see things in new and different ways with new and different eyes.
I have been playing around with several techniques and it always seems that one thing leads to another when I start playing.  Having lots of new materials to experiment with adds to the winding path I am on lately and I think you will see from my next several posts that everything is quite different.
I am in love with mixed media, collage, found objects and Steam Punk in my pieces and that is what I have been working on the last several weeks.
I will start with some of the collage, mixed media tree type of pieces that I did when we first got back and progress to what I have been working on lately.
The first piece I started at the workshop and finished up when I got home. I fell in love with the branches paper that was in Carole's sharing box and just had to use it. The tree trunk is made from iron paint paper and the tree top from tyvek paper we painted and used an iron to melt.  I liked putting some other paper and materials on for texture.

A Tree is A Tree is A Tree




 














 
In this piece instead of using the tyvek for the tree top, I used a crackling paste.  The tree trunks are made from paper scraps.  I again used the branch paper I liked so much.

Am I blue?