I embedded a few twigs & leaves in five spots of my new “freeway”: the concrete sidewalk between the house & my studio that lets me charge back and forth safely even in the dark. The concrete was pretty hard & I was in a hurry, so I did not get much done. but these are fun and I am adding color & resin. It won’t last very long outside, but it amuses me for now. The imprint of a salal leaf may be the best one!
Mixed media & the Start of an Exorcism Series
The finished work: after playing with some digital collages (prototypes for the design), I used my water soluble graphite stick & disk to paint in the dark ground and the tree & sky background.
I had scanned a some images in the Rubens’ book, and isolated the three figures I wanted to use from the black & white photos of his paintings.
I sized these for my work, printed them, then added these using matte medium to my graphite painting, making this mixed media collage. Then I went to work with watercolors to tint the figures. I have left the background only partially tinted: just a hint of color.
I am amused, at least for today, and that is satisfying! And now I have framed this piece as if still on the drawing board, with the title: Rubens: An Exorcism via the Drawing Board. I have left in the paper clips, used acid free paper tape on the corners, etc. but all after carefully flattening out the paper, using framing spacers, etc.
The Rodin book with “Hand of God” drawing added (artistic license 🙂
Select the image to see the rest of the story….
The photo now added is the start of a new work based on another 1939 era art book by the same British publisher, George Allen & Unwin, LTD London. These books are hardbound with plain cloth covers, just the artist’s name in large letters across the very top, and the full name along the spine. They include some biographical material, but are largely made up of black & white photographs of work, with a few color plates. These belonged to my maternal grandfather, Robert Sivell.
Framed
On the drawing board …
I started this by looking at one of a set of art books belonging to my artist grandfather. I have had these for years. The books feature very famous artists, mostly “old masters” and are mainly in black & white, with only a few color plates. I don’t want to keep them, but don’t want to get rid of them either!
Perhaps this painting is something of an exorcism: maybe I will lay the ghosts of the “old masters” of realism, and also the ghost of my grandfather such that I can finally give away the box of art books that are stored up in my studio loft.
Just shipped: 3 paintings by Grandfather Sivell (aka Bob)
I have just shipped these three portraits by Robert Sivell, RSA to The Stewartry Museum in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. It was a surprisingly difficult process, but the paintings should arrive there on March 3rd. The package is underinsured at $600 for all three, but … done is good. I love to think of these on display periodically in Bob’s home town museum, where I hope they will be enjoyed. These paintings represent this artists’ town history, as portraits of Kirkcudbright residents, by a resident artist. Left to right are: Robert Sivell, self-portrait, Agnes Wylie Sivell, the artist’s mother, and Robert Sivell Sr, the artist’s father.
Workshop at Corvidae Press
The workshop was all about re-working / completing old prints. At left, I reprinted an unsatisfactory etching over monoprint, then brought it home for more work: drawing with pen & ink over the layers. The center piece is a collaboration: I printed using monoprinting with brayer and stencils over an etching from workshop participant Nancy Fredrick; we all passed an old print left, and worked on what we received. The lovely tree branches were etched onto an acrylic plate then printed with black ink by Nancy. The print on the far right is not finished yet!
Just Sold: Grandparents Light
Yay! I have sold this art light to a good friend & neighbor. The key was finding the right LED string. I needed plug in lights (not battery) that were not too bright, and not a 30′ long string for this small piece.
I found a 16′ string of LEDs on a dimmer that is a bit fussy to use, but works. The lights can be plugged in to a timer, and will retain the last setting used. This lets us ignore the many flashing modes, and determine the preferred brightness once and leave it alone!
I added a top cover, mounted the acrylic to a glass tile base, touched up and sealed the image, and it is delicate but stable enough to be functional (as well as fabulous of course :-).
The image is based on two overlaid images: a drawing inspired by a photograph of my maternal grandparents Bob & Belle, and a sketch of my granddaughter Fionna. The other two sides of this piece are displayed in previous posts.
Variations on lighting the Grandparents
This is a new variation on a small light featuring my digital collage of drawings in mixed media using Inkpress backlight film. If I can find or make a working string of plug-in LED lights that is not too long & too bright, I can mount this piece onto the glass tile in a way that will be somewhat secure, though still quite fragile.
I found I had to add a color diffuser layer inside, around the LEDs, and touch up the color on the printed film for the saturation I want. I printed to the matte side of the film, which takes the ink beautifully, but is very matte/dull. For this light, I wanted a brighter more saturated look, so added watercolor and finished with gloss clear spray. It is now almost a satin finish …
The film I used is very stiff, and cannot be readily folded to wrap the corners of this 3-sided acrylic piece, although it could be wrapped around a cylindrical tube. It is not stiff enough to work without a support however. I have been experimenting with various transfer methods, all of which are problematic in one way or another (of course!). All require considerable additional remediation/enhancements to be satisfactory. Working with the lights is not easy: I cannot predict the clarity & saturation that will satisfy me and much trial & error with rework is needed.
Water soluble media sketches
More with Lighting: another variant
This is another variant of a digital drawing collage. The two adult figures are my maternal grandparents: a drawing derived from a very lovely photograph of them together.
The child is a transfer of a poor likeness of a a portrait of my granddaughter (by marriage). The whole is 11″ x 14″, in an acrylic box frame backed by LED lights.
Sounds simple enough, but it took a LOT of work & rework to get this right. There is just enough color and light diffusion so the piece looks good lit and unlit, I think.
The plug in LED lights are very bright, and come in long strings. I have not experimented with shortening them for a bit less light, but I do want that option, especially for smaller pieces.
