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.