Back to the drawing board....

I have GOT to start hitting this art thing hard again. WHAT is WRONG with me? I am incredibly unhappy when I'm not creating things...or less happy, anyway. I'm also unhappy with my current work. So you would think a sane, reasonably intelligent person would understand that practice is in order. I get it, I do... but it's distressing when you remember how great and talented you were (or thought you were) in high school, compared to where you are now. It's discouraging and just crazy-insurmountable to overcome that fear of failure. It's been pretty much paralyzing. So, I know I need to practice. I need to make crap in order to make masterpieces eventually. Soooo, what to draw? That is always the stickler when I decided I'm going to do something. I get all my supplies together, pencil in hand, and can't think of a damn thing to draw. After looking around for inspiration for a while, I just give up, put the supplies up, and veg out. Very impressive, eh? My next plan of action: I'm going to start copying works by artists I admire. I need to learn to control my colors. I can draw with reasonable accuracy, but colors are difficult. You wouldn't think so, but controlling colors are a bitch. This is yet another of my stumbling blocks. Anytime I use color, I end up with a gaudy mess, or at least something that doesn't live up to my lofty expectations. My grand idea is to try to mix colors to mimic other artist's work, in the hopes of improving my own control of color, composition and space... My first attempt is a rendering in pastel, based on Aaron Bushnell's oil painting, "Carbon Monoxide Icicles," which was published in Southwest Art Magazine's 9/2011 issue. Just to clarify, this is not to sell, not to undercut the original artist in any way, this is practice. If you want to see a good rendering of this, Google "Aaron Bushnell." I love his paintings of urban landscapes and his "Reckless Impressionism," as he calls it. It's not finished, it's at the "stepping back and looking at it before I eff it up" stage. BUT, it served it's purpose, it had me drawing SOMETHING, ANYTHING for a moment in time and hopefully put the squeaky machine in motion again.

With this painting, I wanted to experiment with gold pigment and black ink. I used a metallic gold fluid acrylic paint, layered with a heavier body acrylic. I first applied a blue acrylic wash, allowed/pushed the paint to flow in certain areas and allowed it to dry. This was repeated in multiple layers with the different colored paints and splattered with black calligraphy ink. Interestingly, the gold paint tends to blend with other wet colors differently than other colors. The metallic pigment does not mix with other colors, therefore, it stays more prominent when it flows into other wet colors.

Verdict: I need MORE metallic pigments!

Playing with orange, blue, and iridescence

With these paintings, I took my experimentation further. You can't really tell from the scans, but I used an iridescent acrylic medium to add a clear shimmer in some areas. This gives it one more layer of depth.

I'm trying to develop more ways to make my abstract paintings as deep as a landscape, I suppose.

A few more small pieces, acrylic on YUPO

These are more of my smaller, 8x10" acrylic
paintings on YUPO paper. Creating these pieces involves some direct painting with brushes, spraying clear water on applied paint, stamping with various objects, pouring thinned paint, blowing with straws, etc.

Experimental painting, at it's finest...or at least with the most fun involved!

I mean, if you're not having fun, what's the point?

Smaller pieces, acrylic on YUPO

So, I'm occupying myself with smaller abstract pieces. These are 8x10", acrylic on YUPO. They involve pouring thinned paint, stamping, direct painting with spraying, and other experimental techniques.

I'm thinking of listing some of them on eBay or Etsy, but I haven't decided yet.

I'm having fun with them, though. The next set I'm working on has stamped circles...anything in my studio that has a circular bottom is fair game.... everything has a ring of dried paint on the bottom now

Stay tuned for that!

Empty Easel

I've just discovered a new favorite website via Twitter: Empty Easel. What a wealth of inspiration and helpful articles! I've got a lot of reading to do!

My current favorite I can really relate to. So many times when I tell somebody I'm an artist, I hear the "I can't draw a stick figure" line.... I try to convince them that they just have to try, learn, and practice, but they've already got it fixed in their heads that they CAN'T, so they don't even try. Now I can use the sports analogy! Woohoo!!

http://bit.ly/I6sEO

More playing with Yupo paper and acrylic paint

I'm having a blast! I'm stamping, pouring, spraying and just playing in general with paint and Yupo paper. I love this stuff!