new series!

 Deflect, 16x20" mixed media on paper

Pieced, 11x14" mixed media on paper

Stabilize, 11x14" mixed media on paper

These are what I've been trying to figure out for the last couple months.  There's a learning curve for how to incorporate new things and it took quite a while to figure out how I wanted to proceed.

I picked up a book at the local used book emporium about embroidery in various cultures.  The pictures are beautiful but the idea that clothing in some places was embroidered to protect the wearer really stuck with me.  I've been sort of mulling over combining stitching with figure drawings for a while and I was ready to move on from the crafter drawings.

The best way I found to embroider onto the heavy watercolor paper was to pre-punch a hole from the front (so I could see where I wanted it) and then re-poke the hole from the back so it was big enough to put the needle through easier.  I didn't really care for the look of the holes in the paper so that's why I came up with the idea of patching bits of fabric over the holes.  On 300 lb. watercolor paper the holes were sort of overwhelming the stitching.  My transfer paper works great on fabric so I thought that would make an interesting combination.  I like that using bits of fabric also gives a patchwork feel to the drawing.

I worked on all three of these at once and I think I will do them one a time in the future...that's a lot of little holes to embroider and my fingers are hurting!

more knitting

Graphite, watercolor, gouache, and image transfers on paper, 11x14".


I think this is the last sheet of this more off-white paper - not sure why it doesn't match the other pieces.  I have a maddening variety of white mats, frames, and drawings...I go to swap something out and I realize that the paper looks icky against the mat or vice versa.  If I wasn't so cheap frugal I would have a mat and frame for every piece but instead I switch them out for shows.


I've discovered that using a gridded ruler works really well for making the lines match up with each other (at least the ones I want to be parallel, anyway).  I already had one for my rotary cutter so now I use it for drawing, too.  Of course, I only have one and I'm too cheap frugal to buy a second one so it's usually in whichever spot I'm not :)

colored pencils

11x14" colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache.


I was poking around in my paper supplies and I wanted to use up some more of this lovely heavy cold press paper.  I got a smokin' deal on a 10 pack but I didn't realize it doesn't take pencil all that well.  It's ok but it's not great either.  So I tried a few different things and it seems to love colored pencils.  Graphite looks dull but the Prismacolor pencils turn out really nice and rich.


So I made this to experiment with the pencils and see if the wax would make too much of a resist for the watercolor, etc.  I think I like it but it's definitely harder to do a really fine line like I'm used to with the smooth hot press paper and regular graphite pencils.  It does make a little bit of a resist but not to the point that it's distracting (I hope).  Plus lines in color!  Very exciting.  I'm going to do a few more of these and see how I feel about doing linework in different colors.


I realized (before I tried it, fortunately) that ironing transfers over the top of colored pencil would probably melt the wax and turn it into a mess.  Although in the interest of science I'll have to try that on a scrap sheet of paper...

experimenting!

I can't believe it's August already! This summer is flying by. Of course, we didn't get any warm weather really until a couple of weeks ago so that may be what's confusing me.

Here's something I've been working on this week. This is pencil, watercolor, gouache, and a little colored pencil on 6x6" cold press watercolor paper. I've been thinking a lot about ways to loosen up my abstract work on paper and maybe incorporate a looser sketchier quality into the figure pieces in the abstract layers, too. So I played around with it in my sketchbook and tried actually painting a couple of things but this is the first one I don't hate :) It's still diagram-based but no rulers or circle templates this time.

Over the top is a mix of acrylic medium and a tiny bit of white and gold pigment to make it slightly opaque, plus a little water to thin it down. I saw somebody doing a faux-encaustic look with acrylic medium somewhere on the internets and I've been wanting to try it.

I got some 300 lb. watercolor paper to try it on so it could handle the thick layer of acrylic without curling up - plus I figured if I don't like this effect it would be great to collage on for the same reason.

collages

I scanned these little paper collages before I put them in their frames last week and forgot to post them so you could actually see what they look like :) And obviously I had the digital ones at the top finished before I printed and framed them, too. I've been fighting a cold and I'm not quite on top of things yet, I guess.

The two digital collages are 4x4" which is, let's face it, really tiny. I tried to keep them sort of simple compared to the big pieces so they wouldn't look too cluttered. Trying to keep some white space when there's only four inches to work in is kind of hard :P The purple is derived from photos I took of my hellebores which are just starting to bloom. The sort of scroll-y patterns are out of a 1920s or so copy of Pride & Prejudice. I've been re-reading (and re-watching) Jane Austen lately...very soothing, much like knitting and such to me.

snip

11x14" graphite and gouache on Fabriano hot press.

I used a pair of scissors that were my grandma's as the reference for this drawing. They're very old and not at all sharp - I should probably try to get them sharpened as I don't have any other scissors this small. I think they work ok as a model, even if they can't do any actual cutting :)

While I was working on this last night I had an idea to try to incorporate some brushier, more expressive watercolor areas into this kind of thing. It was too late to try it yesterday but I'm trying to work out how I want to do it and I think I'll give it a shot on the next piece. Maybe a small one, just to see if it works.

I'm always intimidated by the thought of ruining a big piece of nice paper, so working small lets me worry less. It's taken me a long time to get to the point where I feel like I can dive straight in and start drawing on a nice sheet of paper.

Pins (and needles)

More sewing - although it's just pinning, really. I wanted to include some of the preparatory steps to making things as well as sort of actual making, like with those scissors a few weeks ago.

I did some testing with colors on this paper and I decided I like the neutrals best. Something about the blues and greens didn't look as good as on the white paper. I used the same colors as the last one to mix the grays - indigo and sepia, plus white.

Bits of paper

More paper and glue.  I printed out some images from a gardening book and this is a cut-up drawing of a dianthus.  

Finished watercoloring

Here's that drawing from last week, finally with color.  I think I'm learning to love watercolor paper again after losing interest in it for a while.  I love the unpredictable results I get on Yupo but sometimes I want the drawing to stand out a little more.

Digital collaging

Here's the next one.  The paper texture is from an old piece of paper that was in one of my grandmother's sketchbooks.  The flower head structure today is:  a cyme.  There will be a quiz.

Small collages

I can't seem to stop making collages.  These are 4x6" little things.  I'm loving the thickness of the papers and how they change things from a 2D composition into a 3D object.

Pencils

Why do I love regular old graphite pencils so much?  In my drawing classes, I always wanted to use pencils for everything and the teachers were always making me use something else.  There must be something in art professors' contracts stating that they must always force students to use charcoal.  It's probably a big conspiracy with the charcoal mafia...

But pencils are great.  I love using them and they always feel so comfortable and natural to me.  I feel like I have to fight with a lot of drawing tools but not these.

Anyway, this is 9x12" on more Stonehenge paper.  I'm also in love with Stonehenge (in case you couldn't tell).  It always erases so cleanly and I love the thickness and texture of it.

My creative space: the finished pieces

I felt like giving the creative space its own post and putting these up separately.  I don't know why.  Anyway, here they are.

This time, cold press.

Same idea as last time, but on Arches cold press.  I don't think I've done anything on cold press watercolor paper in years.  Now that I'm doing more pencil drawing than watercoloring, I don't think this works all that well - it's too rough to get a nice smooth line with the pencil.  Of course, I'm tempted to use it up on something because I hate to waste it but it's been sitting around for quite a while already...it can wait until I have something better to use it on :)

Paper - testing, testing...

I seem to have neglected my blog a little bit, haven't I?  I usually only remember to post something here when I've finished a piece that I like and I've been either just doing panel prep work to get some panel-mounted canvases ready to paint on or I've been messing around with watercolors as here.  So the things that I consider to be unsuccessful experiments take just as much time but never see the light of day.  

This one I kind of like, though.  I was mainly wanting to try out this paper that I inherited but hadn't used before (Arches hot press watercolor paper) so I didn't care too much if it worked or not.  I was looking out the window of my studio at the rain making plips (that's a word, right?) on the driveway and drew in the pencil lines.  The watercolor marks are kind of weird and I'm not sure how I feel about the grid-like texture of the paper when you get up really close to it.  But I do like how I can look at it and see the rain.

Bluebells

I started seeing bulb-like foliage peeping up out of the mulch around the garden several weeks ago and some of it turned out to be bluebells.  The previous owners of our new house had done the "cut everything down and cover it up" method of tidying up the garden to sell it so I had no hint of what might be dormant and hiding last winter.  I have all sorts of things that were unexpected coming up around the house, some of which I can identify and some of which I'm still clueless about.  I feel like there's something metaphorical about finding something delightful and unexpected in a new place where things don't feel the way you're accustomed to.  

I have a few rosebushes that have no tags on them and there's two peonies with buds on them so I have at least a few more little surprises waiting for me. 

These two are 11x14" on Yupo and I think all the drawing on paper has spoiled me lately.  I forgot how much of a pain it can be to draw on Yupo because I can't...erase...anything.  Even though I'm tracing it from my sketchbook drawing, every little wobble shows and I keep going over it until it looks smooth.  On paper, the rougher texture doesn't show the wobbles and even if I screw up I can erase (thanks, kneaded rubber eraser!  you're the best :)

Tuesday - at work

At some point I'll get tired of these plain ol' pencil drawings, but I tend to fixate on one thing at a time.  This is another 11x14" on Stonehenge.  I have two 16x20" pieces cut out and ready to use and I think I'll draw some cherry blossoms on them.  There's a plain old pie-cherry type cherry tree blooming in the woods next to our house and while I really like the flowers, they're all in complicated clusters.  I think using some bigger pieces of paper for them will keep me from running off the edge of the sheet (as I tend to do).
 

Friday magnolia

Here's a magnolia for your Friday.  I took a few photos while I was scanning this and I'll write up a short how-to for my best method of scanning something that's too big for your scanner sometime when I'm feeling organized.