Painting a Sunset

I wanted to have a serene painting for our bedroom. 

I found a photo that I liked, copyright-free. Plus I used acrylic paints - they dry quickly and mix with water.

I started by painting Gesso (Liquitex) on  a 24 x 36 inch wrapped canvas. Gesso is a primer base, helping acrylic paint to adhere to the canvas surface.  First I brush side to side with a 2 inch brush, wait a little bit, then up and down for even coverage.

Golden acrylic paints before & after painting - cleans up with water.

Several years ago Hobby Lobby had a clearance sale on Golden Acrylic paints. I was lucky to find this pricey paint on sale. They last forever too. If they dry up a little, adding water to the jar works fine.

I started painting the green bushes. First light green which is Golden’s Green Gold, then darker strokes of Jenkins Green to show depth. For the jetty I used Yellow Ochre mixed with Titanium White. I also used these for the sand with more white mixed in.

https://youtu.be/35JcqznA_iU - Click this link for the short video - under one minute!

I applied the turquoise water next using Cobalt Teal, spreading it on the canvas with a palette knife. Then brushing in some Cerulean Blue, Chromium with a 2 inch brush.

At first I did not have a sun setting, the photo did not have one. Before I added the sun, I thought it looked plain to me. I added the sun, some rays, red streaks with Quinacridone Crimson which I did not like either. And the right side of the sky looked too dark.

So I brushed on Titanium White, making a streak across the sky. I liked it better. As with all my art I am not 100% satisfied, but that is why I make art, to see how I can improve next time.

The final part is signing my name and applying the wire hanging. Using a screw eye on either side about 2/3rds of the way up, I attach the wire cord and it is ready to hang. Here it is in my bedroom along with my Degas Ballerina.

©Anne Rita Taylor

After Degas' Ballerina

I visited Degas’ ballerinas. The exhibit was at the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston in December. I wanted a ballerina of my own.

I tried to figure out which ballerina I wanted; I especially liked the woman bowing holding flowers in her green tutu.

I bought a Tracer Projector several years ago & tried it once. The postcard sized photo goes under the Tracer and projects about 2 feet away to about 18 inches tall. 

The projected shadowy screen image frustrated me.  I thought I’d try to use it again before I gave it away.

This time I used it in a darkened room; it gave me a good outline to follow as long as I did not move the canvas too much. I had to re-position it a few times.

And I worked in the dark!

Pastels seems to work OK. 

Plus these earth tones:

After drawing an outline I turned off the projector and drew in the details with the pastels. 

It came out similar but it is an Anne Rita Taylor, not a Degas. I was pleased anyway. It is 16 inches wide by 20 inches tall. It hangs in my bedroom. What do you think of it?

©Anne Rita Taylor 2017

Collaborative Art Journaling

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

One of my collaborative painted pages

There are many ways to make art with Mixed Media - layering paint is one of them. When you Google: Mixed Media, you get 65 million results! Paint, ink and collage on canvas is the most popular form of art journaling.

Nicole's sample page

Last Saturday I went to a Meetup group with a price tag - $20 - Whole Hearted Art with Nicole Bray. Nicole’s blog showed she was knowledgeable about art and I thought it would be fun too. 

On Laura’s page I wrote “PASSION” plus drew the daisy.

Also I understood the word “journal” to mean writing. I brought a sample of my art journaling for show & tell - there were four us - and they were surprised that I wrote in my journal.

An art journal page of mine from 2009

In this three hour workshop we painted first in either primary or secondary colors for 5 minutes, switched our pages with our neighbor who then painted in the opposite warm / cool colors in our pages.

Laura finishing a page

I was having fun and also was perplexed, my pages seemed over-worked. It was actually fun to throw caution to the wind, playing with Nicole’s stencils. She explained about the color wheel and the use of thirds on a page for a pleasing arrangement.

Valerie painting her page

Besides instruction, Nicole provided brushes, acrylic paints, stencils, and she gave us each a piece of 11 x 15 inch water color paper. She had a great hand-out for us: 18 Must Have Mixed Media Supplies. Plus I found out about a nice circle maker and cutter by Orbis too.

Nicole's page after collaboration

We finished by painting another layer; we could obliterate the entire page if we wanted to…  Or we could find a face, plant or animal to emphasize. --- Please let me know what you think of the layered painting process. Do you use paint layering in your art journal pages?

Visual Art Journaling Techniques

©Anne Rita Taylor 2016

I recently met with ladies in Houston who have a Visual Art Journaling group. It was fun to catch up and make art while visiting. My supplies included a 9 by 12 pad of 90 lb. paper by Strathmore, Golden Fluid Acrylic paints and old calendars. These paints come in squirt bottles. Densely pigmented, a little goes a long way; and they dry quickly. Art Journaling helps me to express my feelings while I am playing. 

I cut out images: a flower and a tiger. I squirted Green Gold directly on the paper painting with a one inch brush. I used my 3.8 mm Pilot Parallel pen and Uncial calligraphy for the quote by George Burns. On the next page I painted Yellow Oxide for the background leaving some white space and used a UHU glue stick to attach the tiger. I chose a 1.5 mm Pilot Parallel pen for the quote in Italic calligraphy.

I was working quickly while we talked for a couple of hours.  I cut out a turtle from an old calendar. For this background I painted Ultramarine Blue, lightened a bit with Winsor & Newton Permanent White gouache. My 3.8 mm Pilot Parallel pen was perfect with Italic calligraphy.

For my last page I cut out a seabird called a blue-footed booby and left in some of the rocks, water  and sky background. Using the Ultramarine Blue I lightened with Silver gouache paint by Pebeo. I used a 6.0 mm Pilot Parallel pen for the quote: I am my possibilities by Gabriel Marcel. 

The quotations are from a book by Richard Kehl, It Takes a Long Time to Become Young. I may add more collage elements or writing to each page. Visual art journaling is all about self expression, so we can see where it takes us.