Sketching today, more about the recent news … and “All the Women”.
Can They Listen?
As this painting has evolved, the title has changed from “Can We Listen” to “Can They Listen?”. The finished color palette of the painting (at left) is so “white guys in business suits” that the figures are no longer “we”, but rather “them”. The figures have now come to represent so many of the predominately white male U.S. senators currently in the news.
I did not set out with quite this plan, but I have been listening to the news, and thinking of the Senate Judiciary Committee members as I created the painting. Some all the Republican Senators who will soon vote on Donald Trump’s poorly behaved Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, have climbed onto my “canvas”.
Can We Listen?
I sketched this piece in water-soluble graphite on board, taking photos of three drafts. I do this for documentation & evaluation, AND because I love the possibilities of digital magic. Often the simpler, rougher sketches are the best basis for digital transformation into new, quite wonderful artworks. These are best online, but can make very good prints also…
I decided to continue with the original, which was pale and ineffective in graphite, and try my hand with acrylic paint. I do use acrylics, but usually work in mixed media, incorporating textures, pieces of prints, etc. such that the paint is a secondary material. Not sure what will happen here!
Of course I am still photographing at every step, and still creating digital versions as I work. The top images are most recent, the images at left are the original photos, and those at right are digitally manipulated.
Can We Listen
Photo Play
Painting on Embossed Paper
I started with a large sheet of heavily embossed paper, with a swooping but formal machine made swirling pattern. I liked it, but … it was disturbingly regular & repetitive. So of course I wanted to mess with that! Above, on the top row, you see draft #1 at left, done with watercolors, then draft #2 with the addition of a few layers of soft pastels and various clear artists’ mediums.
And in the second row are two digitally manipulated versions of draft #2.
Green Fantasy Heron
Digital Waving
Flexible Cutting Mats
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- With a standard bulb
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- With LED string (on battery)
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- The parts
I have found things to do with clear flexible cutting mats! I have made lamp shades, but there are many other options.
Clear translucent flexible cutting mats are readily available and affordable. You can apply paint, acrylic medium, art papers, and digital transparencies on this material. With a little care and planning, the cutting mat can be transformed into a great lamp shade, and the design will glow when lit. If you want to feature a design, photo, or artwork, use translucent paint or print to a transparency. Or apply opaque papers or paint if you just want to see the artwork when the lamp is unlit.
The lamps above are not new, but I don’t think I have ever featured them in my blog. It is an interesting functional way to display my work, although it does take some trial and error to get the translucency and color saturation to work. I wanted to enjoy the designs when the lamp was unlit and when lit, because I am greedy that way :-)!
I applied my art to clear flexible cutting mats to make the shades. The lamp bases came from thrift stores, and are probably bases from broken lava lamps.
I have used this technique to create wall sconce shades that feature photo portraits of community members; these are installed in our community common house.
I was limited by the mat sizes, but 18″x24″ and 20″x30″ mats are available now, which provides me with more options. I am currently working on a different home improvement project that will also feature my art over flexible cutting board material. I found larger sizes available from ChopChop Food Service and from Norpro.
This is a really handy material: stiff but flexible and easy to cut. It is very durable, the sconce shades have been in place for about 10 years.
It was a surprise to me that I did not find anything when I Googled “things to do with flexible cutting mats” or “things to do with flexible cutting boards”! Nothing on YouTube either. Someone else must have found a creative use for these affordable & readily available mats.
Found: Fantasy Night Heron
1) purchase special black art board,
2) sketch with pastel sticks,
3) scan,
4) repeat #2 &3 four times,
5) draw w/metallic ink & paint pens,
6) scan,
7) add colored pencil,
8) repeat #5-7 several? times,
9) print color-adjusted, previously drawn scanned fantasy heron,
10) position & glue heron,
11) scan,
12) work on heron w/colored pencils & adjust background,
13) scan,
14) repeat #12-13,
15) hang in RW Common House,
16) lose for 3 weeks,
17) find returned to my CH cubby, 18) add dappled shadows,
19) scan,
20) glue on fine pieces of embroidery threads, & touch up with colored pencil after glue dries,
21) scan & publish here.
BTW, I left out a few steps for the sake of brevity!