Everyone likes a freebie, right? I thought I'd go over this mixed media piece, since it' was somewhat of a challenge for me. I had a lot of fun making it. :) It's a stretched canvas, 12x12". I started by spilling paint and dribbling and spreading. I don't have a picture of that part. It's just to cover the dreaded white space quickly.
I then tried to see some possibilities in the forms that came up, but nothing really struck me. I painted in a face outline and some flowers. Looked like crap, so I decided to cover the mess with some pages from a paperback book I once wrote. Then I spread some thin paint over those to make them blend in better. I now had a background I could work with, and I kept thinking what now? I had an old journal page with a face that I liked. I was not about to cut up my journal though, so I made a regular photocopy on printer paper. It came out really pale... We're going to pick up the canvas with some pictures now, but I took a photo of the journal page so that you could see the original:
I used colored pencils on this drawing. I was trying to learn shading by going over the page lightly with various colors. I was happy with the result.
Then I decided to cut up and glue the photocopy to the canvas. Scary, and I was a bit worried about the paper wrinkling with the Mod-Podge that I spread liberally on the back, To my surprise, it didn't wrinkle, but I got some patches from the glue, so when I spread paint on the face, pale spots showed up.
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Above you can see the odd spots that I covered with green and yellow just to get rid of them. I gently added a tiny bit of paint to the eyes, and painted on the hair. Nothing fancy... I saw some greenery that could stay on the right hand side and outlined them in white. She was going to read a book, so I painted some yellow book covers at the bottom.
Can't say I liked the "blemishes" on her face, so I blended and smoothed that with some white paint when the green paint had dried.
I outlined the book and stamped on the letters with Staz-on ink. The bird is decorative paper, which I painted with light blue paint. The legs are painted on. I painted a faint outline to the girl's eyes. I didn't want them to stand out more than the rest, but they looked kind of pale.
I enjoyed using the photocopy for the face. I made sure it was very well glued down, with NO air pockets. I don't know how well it will hold up in the long run, but I plan to varnish the whole thing with acrylic varnish. I also found it interesting that the face ended up so different than the original even though they are identical.
Since I'm both an artist and a writer, I'm often torn between the two. Should I be writing more, or do more art? It's not easy to have several interests. I just take it day by day. I will soon have a new fantasy story out on Amazon, the sequel to Trials of Hallion, Two of Swords. I actually painted the book cover for it. When it's complete with graphics, which an artist friend of mine will create, I will put up a picture. Writing is more of a chore. Once you start a manuscript you can't just write randomly. You have to follow a schedule every day to get anywhere. Writing a book is a massive effort!
With mixed media art or painting, I can flow more, and I like that. And I like lots of color! :)
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