Pointillism in the New Millenium

Another Strange Garden
Acrylic on Canvas
8" x 10"

I didn't think I would ever try pointillism. I am a patient person, but the thought of doing an entire painting using little dots of paint has never appealed to me. But Diane Culhane's wonderful online class "Paint Your Garden: The Language of Paint" has showed me a way to use this technique, more as an accent, or a way to add interest and texture. And now that I've tried it out a bit, I really like it!

One thing I've found it is very useful for is balancing color. If I use a color in one part of a painting, I'll make some dots of color elsewhere to help the colors make sense overall. I love it when you can see dots of color under glazing. It also is a way to adjust value by adding more light or dark without changing the base color. And, even though it seems like it would be tedious, I have to admit that it's kind of fun to do.

Have you ever tried pointillism? If so, how did you like it?

Welcome, Paint Party Friday Visitors! Thanks so much for visiting, and commenting.

Cityscape, Wabi-Sabi Style

Partial Clearing
mixed media on 8" x 8" canvas

In the wabi-sabi style, textures are rough, colors are subdued and mystery is admired. That's what I had in mind while working on this painting. For texture, I pressed wire mesh into modeling paste. I hadn't used modeling paste previously and was surprised at how long it takes to dry! But the texture is great. I also have some wonderful, gauzy paper that looks so beautiful in collage. I'm not sure if I'm finished yet with this one or not -- I'd like to build up the layers of paint toward the top, but I don't want to over do it, or ruin what I already am liking about this piece.  

Thanks so much for stopping by -- I always appreciate your comments!

Works in Progress

Life is busy these days now that I'm back at my day job. It's harder to find time to for art, but I"m determined to keep at it, even if it's at a slower pace. I did manage to start these two pieces this week. I love playing around with paint and had a lot of fun collaging and layering textured washes here:

At this point, I'm thinking of this as the background, but I need to decide what else to do to finish the painting.

This one is also a mixed media painting with collage elements that I've been working on. Again, I used a lot of textured washes and papers in the background. Then, I added the collaged leaf and did some more painting. It's not finished, though I'm not completely sure where I'll head with it, either by adding more collage elements, painting, or both.

Thanks for looking! I welcome and greatly appreciate your comments!

Playing Around With Gesso

I'll be honest. I hadn't used gesso since my college oil painting class years ago and didn't realize it's utility in collage art until I opened Bee Shay's Collage Lab and read the table of contents. Today, I did Lab 1 "Basic Gesso Surface." Here are my results, along with notes on what I enjoyed or did not with each technique. The base is watercolor paper. I tinted the gesso using acrylic colors.

I used masking tape to mask off some shapes and lines. Then I painted a light yellow tinted gesso thickly over everything. Once the gesso dried, I experimented with some washes using ink and watercolor. I like the depth created by the texture of the gesso and washes here. Since I normally do not use masking or hard edge, I enjoyed experimenting with straight lines in my composition.

I started with a rosy tinted gesso as the base. Next I painted some blue gesso on corrugated cardboard and pressed that on the gesso coated paper. Peeling the cardboard away led to the interesting vertical lines you see. Using the wrong edge of a paintbrush, I doodled over the background, creating a lighter line. Interesting effect that I will definitely use again!!

 

In this experiment, I began by stamping the blue tinted gesso shapes with a small glass candle holder. I next sponged some orange tinted gesso in and around the shapes. Once the gesso dried, I went back in with an ink wash to tie the color scheme together. 

I quickly sponged a thick, blue tinted gesso on the paper, following with sponged red tinted gesso shapes over the blue. I used the wrong end of a paint brush to draw some lines to allow the blue to show through the red and suggest more of a composition. 

Conclusion: Gesso is fun! I hadn't used so freely before and enjoyed trying it out today. I will definitely find ways to incorporate it into future collage projects.