Living On The Edge

 

Click Here For More Information - $125, 6x8 inches, acrylic on Ampersand gessobord

The photo reference is from my favorite place to hike, Wisconsin Interstate Park where there are these fabulous cliffs bordering the St. Croix river.  One side is Minnesota and the other Wisconsin.  The best place to hike is on the Wisconsin side where the trails are all along the cliff.  The rocks, the views, the trails with moss and mystery are right out of the Lord Of The Rings.  Best time to go is morning in the middle of the week and you have it all to yourself.  I'd like to live on this edge. 

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Hidden Purpose

 

9x12 inches, acrylic on watercolor paper

This painting began a year ago with something like throwing color in the air, letting it land where it will then scraping it across the surface of the paper.  I didn't actually throw the color in the air more like dropping paint in puddles on the paper but it has that same out of control feeling.   So thats the fun part, the next step is what to do with it, that's when a lot of thinking and sketching comes to play.  The sketches were not making me happy so I shelved it and occasionally would get the painted background out to ponder.  Just recently I did a new sketch adding and rearranging elements including negative space ideas for this final design until satisfied.  This type of painting takes me way longer than my usual acrylic paintings.  I spent half my time just looking and pondering until something clicks.

It was intentional to keep the owl blended into the background but still keep it visible and identifiable letting the background enhance the image and vice versa.  What I love about this process is how it makes me go places never thought of.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Mother's Day Flowers

 

Decided to get my drawing stuff out and have some fun.  It's always hard for me to pass up an opportunity to draw or paint flowers, they are so short lived.  And the back lighting from the window just made all these wonderful negative spaces, plus working on toned paper, as I've said before, is my favorite.  

Funny story about these flowers: Walking in Walmart the day before Mother's Day and getting ready to leave I saw these flowers, they must have called to me because I couldn't stop thinking about them.  I went over to check them out and saw they were not in the tubs of water (as they should have been) but laying along side a tub.  Looking at them closer I saw that some of the stems and flowers were beginning to wilt so I shoved them back into the bucket and noticed others and shoved them back as well.  Finally I decided these flowers needed help, they called to me, so bringing them home I cut all the stems back so they could drink up the needed water.  They responded beautifully giving me over a week of pleasure and this drawing.  I can't understand, for the life of me, why people would not return beautiful flowers to the water they so needed.

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©

Drawing With Deb Spring 2022 Class

 Just wrapped up a four week virtual drawing class with this group of creative ladies.  We worked from photo references capturing values, comparative measuring, negative space, some composition and the possibilities of changing or additions to make a piece unique.  They also learned about working on toned paper with white pencil which is one of my favorite ways to draw.  I threw a lot of stuff at them but they were champs and powered on, here are some of their lovely drawings.  

Click image to enlarge.

© by each individual artist

Exploring Color With Mixed Media Class 2022

 So I'm finally adding some photos of the student work from this virtual winter class.  We worked with acrylic on watercolor paper, mixing color with a limited palette of Chrome Yellow, Magenta and Phthalo Blue (green shade), white and black.  The students created their own color wheel, painted backgrounds, explored collage, stamped from items found at home and stenciled from patterns provided.  They also discovered how versatile acrylics can be when using it with a watercolor affect.  These are some fun and lovely pieces some of the students have allowed me to share.  The students were imaginative, fun and worked hard!  Click image to enlarge.

© by each individual artist.

  

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 ©

One Bunny

 

Having fun drawing with my drawing class this spring!  This was a fun photo reference I found on pixabay.com.  I gave the class an option to add flowers to the background and decorate the egg if they wanted.  I love giving options to students, it's an eye opener to see possibilities for creating.  

It's odd how my iPhone picks up and enhances the texture of the graphite.  I'm trying to figure out how to tone the texture down.  I've even taken the photo into Photo Shop Elements to edit.  Any ideas?

Happy Easter!

Deborah Ann Kirkeeide ©