It’s been a while again since I’ve posted – I’ve been busy finishing off end of year projects at college, culminating in our exhibition last night. Here’s just one of my pieces (I’ll share some more in a couple of days), for the final mixed media module, inspired by the work of Jacek Yerka, my ‘chosen’ artist for this term.
As I mentioned in my original post, I planned to further work on my drypoint prints, adding tone and colour. Here is a gallery of the results – and the bottom right is the print I have given away, number 13 of 15 – and may be the winner will want colour added? Most of these are now mounted for the end of term exhibition. There are some other prints available to purchase if you’d be interested…
I think some work better than others – I’m not happy with the tea dye one, it’s too dark. I am happy with the greyscale/monotone trees with the colour window. The pastel is very much in keeping with Jacek Yerka’s work on which this is loosely based as he prepares his paintings with a pastel version first. Let me know what you think 🙂
One of the techniques taught in the Creative Chemistry 101 class with ‘Professor’ Holtz was a dabber resist – taking advantage of the fact that acrylic paint is waterproof when dry. Here’s a canvas I put together over the bank holiday weekend making use of the technique, and how I did it follow after.
I’ve just finished designing my fifth tag in my Twelve Tags for 2012 series. This one features a distress stain background using techniques I learnt on my recent Tim Holtz’s Creative Chemistry 101 course, as well as air dry clay Lily of the Valley flowers. I love it when a plan comes together – I couldn’t find a stamp that I liked enough, so this was Plan B and I am rather pleased with the outcome, even if I do say so myself! I’ll be demonstrating how to make it and an accompanying card at the Manic Stamper Craft Club on 21st April. Instructions on how to make the tag are now available here.
Another part of my Extended Diploma in Art & Design course is a photography block. This term’s work followed the theme of ‘manmade’ and the challenge was to incorporate some of the items we’d drawn over the Christmas break into a digital studio photoshoot, followed by image manipulation in Photoshop. I chose to use a manual coffee grinder as that had been the most interesting shape to draw, and my imagination took me off on a flight of fancy – so I emptied the cutlery drawer and with a bit of jiggery-pokery, I came up with this:
If you would like your own photographic quality print of this image (without the copyright notice) then please contact me using the email button in the sidebar.
That’s another block of life drawing finished! This term we’ve looked at the paintings and sculptures of Antony Gormley and used wax and ink to paint the human form. This is the second piece from Week 2 – I’ve already posted my work from Week 3 here. I’m particularly pleased with the crouching figure. Many thanks to our model for his fortitude!
This second image is the result of a four 40 minute sittings over two weeks, starting with a measured outline, then addition of oil pastels for colour using David Bomberg’s paintings as an influence. In the second session, we then broke down the oil pastel with turpentine before adding the background and working into the figure more. The figure isn’t dark enough with the addition of the background, so some of the form is lost as a result. Many thanks to our model for allowing me to share the image (and for sitting so patiently!).
I spent the evening yesterday slaving over a hot oven… though 160 C is probably a moderate oven thinking about it. I was baking butterflies – not as cruel as it sounds, as they were made from embossing powder. I spent more time tying the darn things together than making them, but judge for yourself whether the results were worth it:
It’s Friday, and another mixed media lesson 🙂
This week we had to do a candle wax resist rendition of the still life – clear wax on whitish paper made the initial stages very tricky. However, as the dye wash revealed, I did fairly well! A bit of charcoal and a smidge of oil pastel here and there, and I was done.
I thought I’d give you some feedback on Judy’s commission for her prize winning piece of artwork for her being the top commenter on my blog for the first year. I asked her to give me an indication of what she would like, and here’s her reply: “I would love a Zentangle piece with a bit of Promarker and WOW powder for accent color! (or colour, as is spelled in your town!) I would love the quote, “Creative Minds are never tidy!” The regular 3.5 x 3.5 inch Zentangle tile size would be fine. It would also be easy to find myself a pre-cut frame for 4 x 6 inches (approximately 10 x 15.25 cm).”
She also provided an album of images from my blog as illustration:
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So… what did I come up with? I’ve put a watermark across it so that the original remains the only copy and unique to my winner. A combination of tangling, ProMarker, and a smidge of clear gloss WOW! embossing powder to make the colours zing. If you’d like to commission your own piece of art, either email me, or use the Commissions tab at the top of the page. This is now on its way to Judy 🙂
Hi all – my journey into 2012 in tags continues, with March and April ready to be taught at the Manic Stamper Craft Club on 17th March. I note that a certain Mr Tim Holtz has copied me copying him and is doing his own monthly tags too 😉 – check them out here. But before you do – here’s mine! Full instructions for March and April are posted over at The Manic Stamper blog.
