Ladies Outing

 

This was a piece from my Exploring Color With Mixed Media class this past winter.  On this day we were exploring the versatile uses of acrylics using watered down acrylics for a watercolor affect.  The class took their 3 different watered down acrylics and poured them over the watercolor paper letting them run.  On my sample above I added collage and pencil, using my own figure stencil to create a thinner version of the figures.  I let the flow of colors show me where to go in creating the background.  This doesn't happen fast for me, I ponder the possibilities for days and even weeks.  It's important for students to see the process isn't always a fast one.

I will be posting some of my student work from this class soon.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Vines & Branches Continued

 

This is part of the ongoing project of three pieces started a few weeks ago where mask was applied first then paint and mask removed.  Now I have moved on to adding the collage pieces, you can see I've got this vine and branch kind of thing going on and it almost has an asian art feel to it.  I played with moving different pieces of collage around before gluing, it took me forever before envisioning something.  You can see that process below in the next photo.  It gave me a start and something to go by but it may move in a different direction, not sure at this point.  So the next step is to add a connecting paint layer in darks.  I started adding some pencil designs to the piece to help me along.  The title is only temporary making it easier to refer to.  

Uncontained

 

Uncontained seems appropriate for my new mixed media piece.  There really are no limits when you work with mixed media however you still strive for good design and composition.  That's always been a problem for me working with abstracts so I decided to get help by taking a virtual workshop with Karen Knutson.  She has amazing design skills and I'm beginning to get an understanding or feel for abstracts.  They are super hard for me so it's challenging, I spend way more time creating abstracts than my representational pieces.  It may look like I just threw a bunch of stuff on a board and walked away but each collage piece and pen work was very intentional.  I've got three more pieces started it will be fun to see where they go, even if they fail I will have learned something and moved farther along.  Still working to loosen up!

This painting is 8x10 inches and a combination of watercolor, collage and pen.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Our House Update #2

The last couple of days I've been hard at work mapping my composition, this process helps me visualize the painting and hopefully avoid any bad composition problems.  It's been fun using Photo Shop Elements to alter my personal photos that I have chosen for the project.  I can then enlarge or shrink to fit each space and paste up on my work surface (16x20 inch watercolor paper).  Remember the finished piece will be a painting not a collage, so the photo you see of the paste up will only be used for composition purposes.  Also I'm trying for a collage type affect not true proportions.

At this step I can still rearrange subject matter and come up with a pleasing composition.  Taking a photo of the project and seeing it in a smaller version makes problems pop.  At least I can avoid the big problems before I dedicate any time to painting.  I already see something to work on, so more changes ahead.

Ok made a few changes I think it's ready to go and since nothing has hollered to be changed this will be transferred to the surface.  I'm getting antsy to paint which for me is the fun part and things will continue to evolve as it progresses.  I've used old family photos for the people, my Mom is in the front, Dad is with the dog, then I added my husbands grandparents.  Oh there is a little photo of myself slipped into the big window during my braid years.

Stay safe, stay positive!
Deborah Ann Kirkeeide copyright