New Practice - Exploration

This piece is inspired by the imitation of an original painting of Auguste von Harrach by Heinrich Abel Seijffert circa 1828. An interesting note about the piece from the Royal Collection Trust is that the original painting was done in watercolor on ivory--such an uncommon combination based on what I can find in a Duck Duck Go search.

This work was done on Strathmore Visual Journal watercolor paper (140lb.) It has one coat of Liquitex Matte Medium on it. Applying Sharpies over the coated paper didn't work (results were too transparent). So the painting has been completed with Folk Art matte acrylics. The black lines were made with a Pentel PointLiner (0.3mm) and gold embellishments made with a Sakura PenTouch. In this one, I also had to go over the black lines after painting it...difficult to do.

I like using this paper but have yet to test Sharpies applied directly to it. That said, what I like about this piece is, again, the gradation of color families to create the lighter and darker wavy line-shaped areas. I also like the yellows in the background because they complement the face and draw the eye to it. I also like the sleeves/bodice of her gown, and the gradation of the neck color from orangish chin to light pink chest.

This will be my last piece using the Folk Art matte acrylics. I've learned they are not my cup of tea. Now it's on to experimenting with tempera paints, tube watercolors, my new Nova Color paints, acrylic gouache, and Golden fluid acrylics.

The exploration continues...

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Introducing 'Kaleidoclown'

For fun, I've drawn one of my own photos (yes, I was dressed in a clown outfit) and added a wild and crazy background to accompany it for today's practice effort. As part of sketching the piece, it was split into four sections with two opposing diagonal lines. In terms of color choices, I've worked with color gradations for some shape sections. Can you believe, there are five major shapes in this effort? There really are -- circles, squares, trapezoids, triangles and spirals. I think the substrate is Biengfang Watercolor Paper (140 lb.). The materials used were Ohuhu markers, Micron 01 pigment ink pen, some red Stickles glitter glue for the nose, and a white Posca pen (for white dots on the face and to highlight eyes) and a yellow one (for yellow dots in the center of the flowers on the hat). There was no intention in working on this piece other than to have fun...and based on how it looks, I'd say well done!. One thing I learned is that blending with the Ohuhus i

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas. It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw. There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along. I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges. The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .

Announcing new book - The Soliloquies of A Wayfaring Trio!

I'm so delighted with my new book -- that I designed, wrote and illustrated, and is now in print thanks to Blurb! 'The Soliloquies of A Wayfaring Trio' was a months-long effort this year. I had no plan to create a book when I started reading unpacked journals from years ago. Those journals -- started in 1979 -- was at a time when life was about to serve-up some dramatic changes including a solo move from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast. I wasn't writing poetry then. In fact, I had never written poetry before, and it was only through those journals that I started writing creatively. In 1981, that creative writing began with prose (one to four sentences in length). While taking a 10-month journey to Europe (1982-3), poetry in free verse form started showing up. An edited version of one of the poems written during that trip appears in the latest book and is titled 'A Day at Nea Kameni' (a location in Greece). Thereafter, and in looking back, new poems s

Cay Denise

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