Closure

I shared my finished class piece with Margie and some friends at my project group and I was validated that it does look a bit better in person.  The Fabulous Florals class was a 5 week journey and some of the steps were a real challenge...but good things can happen out of comfort zones. I'm so glad I took the plunge.  Here are a few final thoughts....then I can have some closure.

When I started making the leaf prints....I laid some of them down on my childlike underpainting and thought they could actually save it. I ended up painting over the circle plants...and added them back in with the collage papers so I could reposition them.  To get the circles uniform...I tore the paper around a dime....I thought that was pretty clever.



I put some of the more bluer leaf prints on a scattered pile of ephemera and saw even more potential for them.  When there are actually leaves in the yard....I'm certainly going to play around with this again.



This paper was in my stash....a beautiful textured paper with gold accents.  It was a lovely teal....but I over painted some of it with a deep blue and love the depth and richness of the new color. I think it would make a beautiful vase in a collage.

From fresh flowers to sketching to under painting to painting papers to collage to finishing touches to closure....trust the process.  I learned a ton!

Trust The Process

"If you want to be good at something you must first be willing to be bad at it." author unknown

As I mentioned yesterday I was hesitant scared to paint a neutral background on my collage project.....but I did....and I can honestly say it improved it. It's far from perfect but I can actually say I don't hate it and I learned a ton! Trust the process! 

I think the neutral could have been a little warmer...but it is what it is. I have a lot to learn about about mixing acrylics. I think it looks better in person than it does here...or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

When I submitted it online to the class I admitted that I TOTALLY LOST the light and shadows.  I just went for contrast in my paper decisions....making it a little more cartoonish.

I do like how the neutral paint accentuates the circles and makes them pop....and the grassy paper really helped soften the hard edges and adds a little whimsy.  The paint also helped redefine some lines....giving it the breathing space it needed.  Phew!

The splash of dots in the middle was a last minute attempt at adding a missing focal point...something I could have solved a little earlier. Hindsight is 20/20.  I will likely revisit the process a bit in tomorrow's post....then I'll have closure.  

Home Stretch

Yesterday's freezing rain coated the trees with ice and the light from the sun was beautiful through the sparkly trees.  The first photo is the morning light in the front of the condo....the second is the late afternoon light in the back.

I'm almost ready to wrap things up in the Fabulous Florals class.  It's been great journey but I'm ready to put it aside for a while and tend to other things. I've learned a variety of new techniques and can't wait to put my own spin on it in the future.

I'm not sure my piece is anywhere close to fabulous....but finished is better than fabulous. I'm done collaging my big piece and the final step is to paint the negative space with a neutral color....which scares me to death.


I'm actually fond of my contrasting blue background....but Elizabeth says painting the negative space opens things up and helps define shapes and colors.  It gives a little breathing room. Since this is a learning opportunity I'm going to give it a go and honor the process because I think mine needs a little breathing room....it's pretty tightly packed.

Somehow holding it at an angle like this seems more forgiving.   ha ha  I'm on the home stretch and tomorrow I'll have closure before I head back to Lexington.

And speaking of fabulous.....Anne finished her fun-a-day cathedral window project.  Fun is just the same as fabulous! Thanks for taking me on your journey with you!  Well done!

Black, White, and Rainbow

There was a light snow pretty much all day making everything so crisp and clean. It was one of those snows that clung to the sides of the trees and collected on the tops of branches...there were even little piles on the tops of all the tiny sycamore seed pods. 

It was pretty much a black and white view out the back in the late afternoon light....the white was almost a cool blue actually.

I was compelled to walk out and get a closer look at the little birdhouse....I loved the way it looked in the low light with the snow piled on top.


 

It looked like there was a little snowman sitting in front.

I didn't go back to my little collage today....but I did a quick little project to practice blending colors from light to dark.  I'm not sure I love it...but it was good practice. I used the little single bloom under painting I did earlier in the class?  I decided to go wild with it and infuse a whole rainbow of colors....quite a contrast to the black and white out the window.  I may share a little more about this tomorrow....or maybe I'll experiment with something new.  

Full Disclosure

"Every piece of paper is a paint stroke." Elizabeth St. Hilaire

I found the painting part really hard....and so painting with paper might be just has hard.  It's going to take some practice.....but I did have fun giving it a go for the first time.

The new and final video lessons for the class came out this morning....and I jumped right in. 

This is a little side view of where I landed for today....and after some feedback I'll give it a second look tomorrow.  It's got issues.

OK....here's full disclosure.  I am still not comfortable with my larger painting so for the sake of the class I did this little zoomed in 6 x 8 as more practice a few weeks ago. The feedback was helpful and obvious....LOOSEN UP the lines and the flowers should have been a little more floppy. That bottom left leaf was stiff and terrible.  So I painted it out and inserted some of my leaf prints today as I started practicing collage today.

 

I decided to go ahead and show the full view.  It's got problems....but I won't list them. I'll get feedback tomorrow from Elizabeth and see how I can improve it.

It's a start....and you gotta' start somewhere.

Leaf Prints

One of our lessons this last week for the Fabulous Florals class was making leaf prints on some of our painted papers that we'll tuck into our final collage.

I had pressed some of the leafy greenery from my original bouquet so those along with a few snips from my schefflera plant is where I started.  I had a blast! I can really see where the multiple layers really pays off revealing interesting texture and depth on the cutouts.

I rolled a paint layer on my gel plate, laid down the leaves then pressed down a pre-printed piece of paper making sure to work my fingers around all the leaves.  This was one of the leaves I used over and over....and it's beautiful all painted up.  I wonder how long it will last this way....it's quite lovely.

Elizabeth warned us that it didn't work so well when the leaves were touching if you're planning on cutting them out..and it's good to thin some of them out. 

I learned that the hard way but those parts can be used for something else. I think bits of this paper is like fused fabric...every scrap useful.

When I cut them out I left a little bit of the contrasting outline defining the shape and giving them a bit of a frame.

I'm a big fan of these....but I'm in the wrong season to be shopping the yard and I don't have enough variety in my house plants. If I visit you....don't be surprised if you find your plants a bit pruned.😉

Painted Papers

Here's a glimpse into the colorful fun I had today printing with my gel plate. I hope to take some step by step photos of the process tomorrow.  It's kind of addictive...and you never quite know what you're going to get.

Our first task was to create light colors solids. The goal is to build patterns and textures starting with light colors building up to the final darkest layer. Elizabeth does multiple layered papers for her collage work.


I used all kinds of papers....maps, book pages, deli paper (thanks Lynne) and even the release paper from my fabric fusing projects. This green one is the index page from an atlas which may be my favorite paper actually.  It pulls the paint off the gel plate really well.

The next task was to play with stencils for a second layer on top of our light solids. I had purchased a few fun stencils...and you can see I was quite fond of the circle one...partly because it was always close by. A few others I haven't even used yet. Some of these have two stencil layers.   

Here are a few closeups. I didn't have a lot of contrast on the first two layers...but there's a nice soft texture behind the dark blue. I'm still learning.

And I love the bits of map showing through this one. 

These next two only have one stencil layer. I like the simplicity of them....but more texture may be needed. 

It's been a fun, colorful day painting papers and I'm learning a lot.

Tutorial Tidbit

The new lessons and videos are out today for the Fabulous Florals class...and this week we are finally printing the collage papers. I played around some last week...but really wanted to wait to share until I had the lessons so I could improve and learn new techniques.  I won't get back to Maine and my supplies until Thursday....so much more to come on that later in the week.

While I was patiently waiting I put to use a "Tutorial Tidbit" I learned from Elizabeth from one of her short Youtube videos where she shares tips and tricks.  I have quite a supply of specialty papers that I've collected over the years...embossed, metallic, textured, and even glittery. Elizabeth suggests painting them with fluid acrylic paint which is colorfast and will not fade.  Not only do you get the color you want, but they have more character and a handmade quality.

I watered down the paint on a paper plate and either painted it on with a big brush...or used a makeup sponge and smeared across the paper.  I may go back and give some little more color variation and texture. Some of these papers were already a color and the paint just enhanced it and sometimes changed it and other papers were white or cream to start. The metallic elements resist the paint.

The one on the left was cream...now it's a a few shades of rosy pink with little gold flowers and the one below started off as a very light aqua blue...now it's a rich blue with gold dots. There are so many uses for these!

Go Big or Go Home

I'm certain I'll be using many of the skills from the Fabulous Florals class in my art. But I'm also quite certain I won't be painting too many fresh flower bouquets. It's hard.

I tried....I really tried to paint something that even suggested that beautiful kale. Our finished product, after all, is meant to be impressionistic giving the suggestion of the flowers....not realistic renderings.

But I was totally uninspired and actually quite discouraged by my kale blob. I also felt like the painting needed a bright pop of a different color as a focal point. And I want to play with a variety of colors for collaging.

I solved it by painting a big bright sunflower over the kale blob. Go big or go home.  I like the pop of yellow and I think I can work with this.  I'm only posting this view for now....if I showed it straight on you might mistake if for a 1st grader's work.

I put it aside for today and will touch it up a bit tomorrow....then just let it go. Next week we finally get the lessons on mono printing our papers.....what I've been patiently waiting for.

The ease of putting the greens into the puzzle was a nice change of pace.

This puzzle is one of those where the long skinny pieces go horizontal and the chubby ones go vertical.  When you lay the pieces out by shape....it almost puts itself together.  Unlike my painting.

I'm still trying to do just one color a day.  It was hard to stop today...but I'm timing it to have a little bit of it to do every day before I go back to Lexington on Saturday.  Silly?  Probably. Go slow...then go home.  

Good Lighting

As I have gotten older good lighting is more and more important.  Actually, I've become quite passionate about lighting....maybe because so many times I've gotten it wrong.

Since my puzzle table is in the middle of the room in Maine....I needed a good light. I've been auditioning ones I already own....and nothing was quite right.  So I ordered this sleek, affordable little Ott Light...and it's great. It has 3 settings for brightness....and the neck flexes up down and sideways so the light can be where ever you want.  When the light is going sideways like this....it illuminates almost the whole table...even at night.  Maybe I got it right this time.


Margie did this puzzle in just a day or two....but I'm going to stretch it out.  Yesterday I did the pink...today I worked on red and red orange.  Taking it slow....a button color a day.

Speaking of light....while we are working with our flowers for the Fabulous Florals class we are supposed to illuminate them with a light source from one side to emphasize the shadows.  The new lesson came out today and we were to do 4 thumbnail charcoal sketches to audition different compositions for our underpainting: left, right, center and zoomed in.  

Once we picked the one we like we were encouraged to practice it a bit more before we sketching it onto our boards.  I chose the left orientation. 

These are just rough....all we are working on is composition.  I'll probably practice more before I commit to the board...and I look forward to feedback from Elizabeth.  Sketching with charcoal is actually more fun than I thought....I don't think I've done it since I was in school.                       

One of the pleasant little surprises of good lighting was the shadow of this slivery filler from the bouquet on my sketch.  I don't know if or how I'll include it in my underpainting.....maybe just a suggestion of it in some way because I really like it.  The thoughts about painting the whole bouquet on the board is a bit daunting....but I'm just going to trust the process and go for it. 

My flowers are fading fast so I need to get rolling soon.  I reworked it last night trying to liven it up before the sketches today.

Practice Patience

...and trust the process.

When I take a class from a professional artist it's always worth it....and I always have to practice patience and trust them and the process.  I'm usually so excited about where we will end up that I forget there are all kinds of important learning steps along the way.  Practice patience...and trust the process...that has to be my mantra.

Last week we introduced ourselves and gathered our supplies for the Fabulous Florals class..  This week we purchased the flowers that will serve as our muse and inspiration and are practicing on single bloom underpaintings.

We are looking for shading, shadows, and simple shapes....not worrying about details and being too literal. We are encouraged to put our own spin on things.  I love the kale ....which is what drew me to this flower bunch in the first place.....but I was afraid to start with that.

I have a table all set up in my studio for painting and printing textured papers with my gel plate to prepare for the collage part....but that's still a few weeks away.  Practice patience...and trust the process. So I set up on my dining room table...and gave underpainting a whirl.  I've already admitted that I'm terrible at painting....and the only way to get better is to practice. Keep in mind that these paintings are not finished products....we will be collaging on top with our torn painted papers. (which I'm waiting patiently to learn to do)  I'm letting go of my embarrassment...and sharing my practice paintings....I've got a lot to learn.  I exaggerated the size of a little burgundy mum for one painting and the green berry looking filler for the other.  

Next I tried a version of the reddish spiky looking flower.  At this point I'm going to practice a little more on paper....and maybe even give the kale a try.  These are on wooden paint panels making them easier to collage....but one can only use so many little flower collages. And if I don't collage them I can paint over them and use them for something else.

Next week we will be sketching and underpainting a whole bouquet....yikes. Don't be surprised if it looks nothing like my inspiration flowers.  I still can't wait to paint my papers and start collaging....but I'm going to practice patience...and trust the process.