More watercolour play and a project

This is a small exercise I have done (and will do more) just to mess about with some colours and mark making.  I am trying to learn about the various properties of watercolours and also to preview some colours for my next project, which may or may not come to fruition (depending on my 'perfectionist' gene!!).  But in the meantime, I am learning lots.  It is such a beautiful medium and I am in total awe of people who are able to make it all look so easy!!! 

Hmmmm.  I clearly haven't mastered the art of 'cropping'.  I don't know how to take an image, that scans at 8 1/2 x 11, and have it appear without its surrounding borders.  (Oh well, enjoy all the white space!!!)  Anyway, this is what I am going to try and paint.  It's one of my photos from yesterday morning.  We'll see.  But it's good to have something in mind.....white space can be a problem when that's all that's in front of one!  (It's why I am totally enjoying the mark making exercise.)  I'll play with some more colours in the next while.  It's all about the neutrals! 

Gel transparency or The Transparent Lunch

This is a photo of my lunch (!!!) the other day.  I messed about a bit with it in photoshop elements, printed it out in black and white on inkjet photocopy paper and then covered it with numerous coats of gel medium.  I soaked it to remove the backing paper and then applied more gel medium to affix it to the prepared 9 x 12 background.  I like the way the background colours show through the transparency of the image. It's a fun technique.  This was for one of the lessons in Jane Davies' Text and Image class.    

The abduction.

OK, clearly I have been abducted and this was done by the five-year-old next door!!!  No really, this was fun and I learned a lot.  I used aureolin yellow, rose madder genuine, cobalt blue and veridian which I now know are transparent watercolours!!!  I prepared the grid, painted washes, let them dry and then did the same thing twice more.  It was interesting to watch the colours change, to watch the paint go where I didn't want it to (!!!) and to watch the lovely blooms forming (I've always loved flowers, don't you??!!).  But still, I am somewhat encouraged and today am going to try mixing colours on the palette and seeing where that goes (maybe directly into the bin, but we'll see!).  And I'm working on another photo transfer piece....really, who does housework anymore???
Back soon.

An acrylic piece.

This is another piece I have done for Jane Davies' class ( http://www.janedaviesstudios.com/).  It is acrylic, 9 x 12 and collaged.  With a stamp that I made.  I'm still not quite there yet with the watercolours!!  But today, today I am going to get them out and even if all I paint is a grid, I am going to do it.  Yes! Yes, I am!!!  And I will post it tomorrow, no matter how it looks....there, I am committed.....see you tomorrow!  (If not, it's because I have been abducted by aliens and taken away to a remote area where there is no internet......what?....it's possible!)

Just one sketch. Time with my demons!! And a trip!

This is one of my pictures from Module One of the Sketchbook class with the Kemshall's.  Couldn't resist just one!!  I really like dots (the pointillism thing) and so had a lot of fun with this one.  It's on tracing paper.

 But,... I have been very frustrated lately with the art-making process and the self-doubt demons!  The second module of the sketchbook class is all about watercolour, the lovely wet in wet, free flowing and gorgeous watercolour look.  Agh!!! Never done that.  Really want to try but everytime I set brush and water to paper I cramp up.  And it all feels so overwhelming.  And the work everyone else is doing......so lovely.  So I have been doing nothing....well, that's a great way to learn, don't you think!!!  So I am going to give up on the idea of a masterpiece (my demons again!).....the old 'it's never good enough unless'..... and just try TRY to play.  We'll see what happens.  And of course because I was stalling so terribly with the sketchbook class, and feeling guilty, I haven't been doing anything for the Jane Davies class either.  Agh again!!  But this morning I am painting again, and am going to tackle the watercolour thing....yes, yes, I am!

Oh, but the great news! We are planning a trip to France in the spring, so I have spent tons of time on the computer booking 'gites' in france, such fun, and have organized what should be a most wonderful trip mid april to mid june.  Sigh.  My guy, my sketchbook, my camera and advil!!!  should be perfect!!  Can't wait!

Digital stitched art

This is a photo of a picture that I stitched last year.  I took the original photo of a wall in early spring out at the Coast Collective in Metchosin just as the vine was starting to burst into leaf.  I printed the picture on fabric and then I stitched into the fabric by hand, first adding some chiffon to enhance, and change, some of the colours.  It was a fun project and one I would like to do more of.    It's all about finding the time.  Sigh.

Lesson two in Jane Davies' Text and Image class

As instructed in lesson two, I have prepared some transparency images to attach to a collage.  I printed some of my photos onto matte photo paper, covered them with several coats of gel medium and then soaked the paper off.  I've then affixed two of the resulting transparencies to a previously prepared collage.  It's a neat technique.  The first image is the collage sans image, and the second has the images affixed.  Next time I would take off the borders around the pictures...I think they would sit better on the page.   Also, it's a bit tricky to get off all the paper from the photo paper and I can see that I have left some wee little bits...and yes, they have come back to haunt me!!  I wasn't quite so fastidious with the borders and clearly, I should have been!! 
http://www.janedaviesstudios.com/  

Jane Davies class on Text and Image

Once again I am taking, and very much enjoying, a new class with Jane Davies.  These are two examples from the first lesson where we were to create a background and incorporate an image and text (hence the class name, don't you think!!!).  We were to have text and an image that were somewhat incongruous..which explains the shoes-aliens piece.  It was fun to try out possible texts with the various pictures.....there were some hilarious examples from the class...very clever. It's quite a fun process! Anyway, these are my first two examples.

Next we are working with gel image transfer pieces.  I'm still working!!  More later... 
Jane is offering some great classes in the new year.  Check it out.
http://www.janedaviesstudios.com/