Southwest Passage

 "Southwest Passage" is an abstract of many textures and acrylic paint.  Some paint was "floated" onto the paper.  Many types of gel started the undersurface.  There are layers of stained paper and rice paper.  There is a little stenciling of squares along with highlights of foil.

This mixed media piece is about 5 " x 20" and beautifully framed with black core matting with a lightly textured wooden frame.

 Asian 1

Acrylic Monoprint

4" x 8"

Asian 2

Acrylic Monoprint

About 4" x 6" 

Asian 3

Acrylic Monoprint

About 4" x 6"

These small monoprints came from colors placed onto the plate while painting another painting.  I plan to frame these individually with lots of white mat around them with an appropriate frame.  I will enter them into the Essex Studios Walk on December 7 and 8.

The way that I paint these is to use fluid acrylic paint applied to sheets of plastic.  They are then left to dry.  Then, a coat of gloss gel is applied to special printmaking paper, the plastic coated painting is laid carefully onto the gloss gel.  It is again left to dry overnight.  Then the plastic is peeled very carefully away from the acrylic painting and the transfer to the paper is complete.

Sunflowers

Sunflower--watercolor and ink

Sunflower--watercolor on poured background

Both of these sunflower paintings were composed from a photo of my daughter's lovely sunflowers that she grew in a pot in her yard.

Mixed Media Bookmarks

      

          #8                        #9                        #10                     #11                       

     

         #14                   #15                    #16               #17                     #18

    

        #19                      #20                    #21

Here are more bookmarks made from strips of unsuccessful watercolors and donated mat board embellished with ink, stamping, markers, foil, and stained paper.  They are being sold for $3 each and many have sold.  If you want to purchase any, contact me and indicate the identifying number beneath each bookmark.  If it is still available, I will ship it to you for $3 plus postage.  We will work out the details via e-mail.

Mixed Media Collage Bookmarks

 #1

 #2

 #3

 #4

 #5

 #6

#7

Each of these bookmarks is a small piece of real art. Each one is layers of old watercolors cut into strips, mounted on hand decorated mat board.  Then each one is embellished using ink, stained paper, foil,  paint, stencils, and stamps.  The neutral background that is shown here is for photo purposes.  Each bookmark is edged in ink so that it has a nice finish to it.

When I showed these to art friends they were really enthusiastic and immediately bought some!  That's very encouraging so I have now made over  40.  Each is different because each comes from a portion of a watercolor so no two can be alike.  Each presents a challenge to me and it usually takes me 20--30 minutes just to figure out how to design each one.

Sunset Layers 1

This is an abstracted  image of water, waves, sky and clouds painted in watercolor with accents of ink.  Painted in the elongated style, this 9" x 20" painting is beautifully framed in a shiny 

ebony /brown frame.  The mats are the soft shades of aqua and soft green.  It demonstrates the colors of tomorrow.

Marianist Environmental Education Center Exhibit

This series of photos came from the Marianist Environmental Education Center annual exhibit.  The show is always on some aspect of nurturing our environment.  The theme this year was "Living Green."  The gallery is Gallery St. John located in Beavercreek.

This striking assemblage claimed my eye immediately.  The spectrum appeared to be slim cylinders of color held together and displayed as a unit.  In actuality, it was edges of cartons of food from cereal and various fast serve cartons.  I believe the title was "Not Enough Greens." 

 This blue and green "chandelier" looked at first glance like fine blown glass suspended from the ceiling.  Instead it was plastic bottles, painted with transparent paint and cut so as to look like spirals of glass.  Believe it or not, this came from the second grade class of a local elementary school.

 Here are my four little entries (behind the plastic spiral).  They are posted elsewhere on my blog.  Each said, "Live Green--Grow Your Own" with various vegetables.  Two sold and two more will travel with the show to another site in Dayton.

This final shot shows some of the dynamic work displayed.  It was the best show ever!  Here we see a bright acrylic painting with lots of green, a very fine wall hanging on the orange wall, and in the distance some very lovely Asian pieces of ink and color mounted on silk. 

Monoprint Layers==Poppies

 Step 1 of making this monoprint of poppies was to make a film of vertical lines, paint the background blue and then adhere it to paper.

 Step 2 was to make another film with red, yellow and various colors of dots and circular shapes.  This is the artist's view of the painting but it will be reversed when printed.

 This Step shows the red and yellow shapes printed on to the original print.

 This is the third film (or plate) of painted poppies seen from the artist's view of painting.  It will be printed in reverse with the other side of the film showing.

This is is final print, made of 3 plates or films.  Each was painted, transferred (printed) onto paper. Then the next film was printed on top of the first one.  Then the third film was painted and transferred on top of the same print.  Thus the final painting is three layers of printmaking.

Dogwood Acrylic Monoprint

Dogwood

This acrylic monoprint required two plates of paint.  First the abstract background was painted, dried, and transferred to printmaking paper.  Then the dogwood flowers were painted on another film, dried, and then transferred to the already existing abstract print.

This painting (8"x10" also looks very good in a vertical format.

Transfer Acrylic Painting

The transfer process begins on the acrylic monoprint.  The paper was coated with gel medium, the painted film was pressed into the paper and left to dry.  After 24 hours, the film is slowly lifted revealing the painting that is now transferred to the paper.

The finished transfer, ready to frame.

Spring Blooms

"Spring Blooms"

This acrylic monotype was created during a beautiful spring moment.  It could be viewed horizontally as well as vertically.  Soft warm beige, rustic reds, and bright yellow contrast with one another to suggest what spring blooms give us--a happy feeling with a softness that to me says "spring."

The surface is firm, plastic-like created by the strong bond of the Golden Fluid acrylics to the high quality printmaking paper.  Each of these paintings are one-of-a-kind that can't be copied.  The size of the image is 8" x 10".

The challenge for me, as the artist, is to imagine what will happen as I lay down paint then paint over it with more and more layers.  The first layer is what ends up on top as the acrylic painted is transferred to the paper.  It is all rather unpredictable yet exciting to make.

"Undersea"

"Undersea"

This is an acrylic monotype painting created with Golden Fluid Acrylics transferred from plastic film onto high quality printmaking paper.  Each monotype is one of a kind.  This image is designed with compaction of the top so that most emphasis is on the layers below the black lines.

The surface of the painting is highly polished gloss.  The colors are deep and vibrant.

This 8" x 10" painting is somewhat reminiscent of Monet's water lilies. That could be the title but "Undersea" seemed to suggest the depth of water.

Acrylic Monotype-"Cayenne"

"Cayenne"

This is an acrylic monotype created with Golden Fluid Acrylics, gel medium, thin plastic film and printmaking paper.  Exciting color and depth are generated as I paint in reverse. The paint that I apply to the film first is covered by other layers of paint as I progress.  The further layers obscure what went on first.  The excitement is in the great color, deep contrast and deliberate design.

This painting is about 8" x 10.5" and has a very shiny gloss and feel of polish.