Start To Finish

Class demo's that turned into paintings...start to finish.

In the mixed media classes I teach at Art On 30th...

I do class demo's to show techniques, design ideas, color harmonies...ofter times these are boards that never go any further than a demo.  Three mixed media classes that I demo in and this time around I actually finished paintings from each of the three class demo's.  

I'll walk you through...

Below started out as a demo for composition and laying down collage papers.  I was teaching the rule of thirds in composition and I'm always talking about getting paper laid down smoothly...see last weeks blog HERE.

My next step is negative painting around the papers I just laid down, to get a sense of where this painting will take me, along with more layers, scratching and mark making.

I wasn't liking the crispy contrast of the original papers I laid down, so I started adding more papers to cover them up, along with a few more layers of paint and a raw umber wash to neutralize it a bit.  The addition of the figure is what brought it to life for me.

I went into my YouDoodle app

and played around with covering more up with Titan Buff, 

just to get an idea of what to get rid of before committing to paint...

I really like how it quieted down.

This is my finished piece "Alice."

  One of my students pointed out the rabbit and the mushroom in the center left paper I added in, though hadn't noticed or made the connection...

 which of course suggested the figure to be Alice and gave this piece a name.

Next up was another lesson in the rule of thirds...dividing our surface into thirds to find the sweet spots where the eye likes to land.  Again I took a blank board and sectioned off the thirds and circled the sweet spots to show were our focal should land.

I love negative painting to find my design, to let it emerge and reveal itself to me.  Flowers and birds show up quite often if I don't lead the way...although I do like that subject matter and it worked well here.  I painted around Nat Geo & Citrasolv and decorative papers that were laid down originally.

Adding in more papers to add color (orange & gold) along with a touch of subtle pink paint to soften it up a bit.  I really liked the original marks to show the thirds on my surface and decided to keep them in the composition...they are my favorite part!

To finish it all off I drew in a large, soft pink flower to fill in the center.

I like the simplicity of color and design in this piece...I'm calling it done.

This last piece was a class demo on laying papers down smoothly...a recurring theme.

I had no real rhyme or reason for the design...

just thought red would be good, so I went with it.

Again I went to the app YouDoodle to play with a few design ideas and show the class how easy that is to do, easier than getting out paint before you know what your plan is.

Flowers Or Figure?

I went with the figure.  I needed a model, so in a pinch I copied off an old photo of myself (prior to short gray hair), copied it and glued it down.  Negative painted around the figure to create the skirt...then decide this denim jacket needed trousers instead fo a skirt.

The trousers were created using dress pattern paper and then just left it alone, 

no paint necessary.

I continued a design behind the figure using a small script stamp to connect the two sides

and obscure the words...always herself.

The plan is to enter these pieces into the upcoming Neutral & Natural show

at Ashton Gallery in March.

So there you have it...start to finish.

It took me some time to get these three piece completed, it wasn't until after the six week class session that I got them done.  And since I'd been sitting with them for awhile the completions came easier than most.

Do you have pieces sitting around to complete...no better time than now!

Take them out and let them breath...

before you know it you'll be inspired and have them finished!