Canvas Collaboration with Ayala

Lucky me! I get to do a canvas collaboration with Ayala Art. She'll be posting a video (check her post here) of her process while I'll blog about my techniques.

Right now, we're just at the background stage. At right is the 8 x 10 board I made to send her. Ayala will make a nice and pretty painting on this board while I'll do the same with the background canvas she sent me. I can't wait to see the results!

Step 1 I love big and bold color so went with bright and cheerful orange and blue. I used a couple of different background papers (dictionary pages and music sheets) stuck on with a gel medium and white glue mixture. Over top, I added some pretty handmade papers as well as patterned scrapbooking paper.

Step 2 My next step was to take some Golden acrylic paints and dab on over top with a paper towel. I used a bit of Acrylic Glazing Liquid in my mix because I wanted transparency. I much prefer artist grade acrylics over the craft brands for the texture, the colors and the feel. I find craft paints too matte. I like shiny!

Last step - cutting out flower shapes from patterned paper. Again, these were stuck on with my gel medium and white glue mixture.

I can't wait to get started on painting Ayala's canvas.

Art and more art, and a few more arts

I've been busy, arting away on various projects such as Decos, postcards, ATCs and my own canvas art. Plus work. It's a lot of art making!

At left is a postcard for my friend, Ann. She's a Flannery O'Connor fan so I made her an author postcard for a trade we had on illustratedatcs.com. This one is colored pencil on a thick kraft type cardstock. I used inks over top of the pencil.

Below is a big set of Favorite Artist trading cards for a big swap on illustratedatcs.com. Everyone who participates picks a favorite artist and collects cards in the style of or a copy of a master by fellow artists on the trading site. It's one of my favorite swaps since you get to create in a very different style from your own and you get introduced to artists you might not be familiar with. I usually go for the German and Austrian expressionists and have a wonderful collection of mini Beckmann, Klimt and Shiele. Lucky me!

 

At right is a fun watercolor set of still life mini paintings for yet another swap on illustratedatcs.com. I spend a lot of time there, clearly.

Sadly, I didn't have tons of time for 29 Faces this September but I probably have drawn about 20 faces anyway, lol! I should have posted about it. Ah well. There is always February.