Mixed Media and Colored Pencils

Hey, welcome to my blog.... Over the past couple of months I have been busy doing a lot of things, but NOT artwork. I have finally settled down and am concentrating on some new projects.

I just finished this wall hanging, and it was a lot of fun to do. I did not follow any specific instructions...I just made decisions as I was going along. The project is done on 12x24 inch stretched canvas with 3/4 inch sides. First I covered the canvas with Texture Crackle, sanded it, then sprayed it with Krylon Matte. I then basecoated the entire piece with acrylic yellow ochre...after it dried I taped the different sections off and started stippling (using acrylic paint) with a sea sponge. The basic colour scheme I used was deep burgundy, dark brown, medium yellow and metallic gold. After spraying the project I applied the pattern (original sunflower pattern is by Linda Lock and can be found in her book Altered Art), basecoated it with acrylics, sprayed it, and then rouged on all my highlights and shading with oil paint. All the butterflies and inspirational words were applied using a stencil and Texture glass (with some acrylic paint added). I really enjoyed doing this piece - it ended up a little more colourful and bolder than I was expecting, but I am very pleased with it.

This piece, which I displayed in an earlier post, is the mate for the one above. Although I used the same basic colours as above, this one ended up with the lighter colours more predominant. It is quite obvious that I did this one first...it seems the more I do the crazier I get with my colours!

This pattern was designed by Sherry Nelson and can be found in her book Painting Songbirds - the bird is called a Blue Tit, which is a garden bird found in England. What a strange name for such a beautiful bird! All the instructions for this piece were for oil paint. I decided to convert everything to coloured pencils, and I completed it on 9x12 mi-teintes paper. The coloured pencil set I have consists of 150 different colours, so I found it easy to find all the shades to do this little blue tit. When I finished the main picture, I found the background paper to be very dull - it was a soft aqua colour. So, I decided to dress it up a little. I sprayed the picture with three coats of Krylon matte. Then I took a mop brush and VERY lightly brushed the light blue colour of the bird here and there on the background. I then did the same with the medium yellow colour from the flowers. I was very happy with the result.

 After working on the above wall hangings, I feel rather adventurous, so I am lining up some different projects to work on at my cottage this summer. I will be doing some silhouettes, quite a bit of texture work and some image transfers. I am looking forward to doing some experiments - should be fun. As usual I will be posting my work as I complete it. In the meantime, I still have lots of photos of artwork completed by the girls in my art sessions....I will post some of these pictures in a few weeks.

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. Thank you for visiting my blog, and please check back soon.

 Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi, and welcome to my blog:

I have been in Florida for the last month and just returned a couple of days ago - we had a wonderful time, but it was a shock to come back to this cool weather!

Now that my vacation is over, I am ready to get back into painting.

Our winter art sessions finished on February 20, and I have several interesting projects to show you.

The first piece was designed by Sherry Nelson, and can be found in her book Painting Garden Birds. Sherry's instructions are for oil paint. Sue decided to convert this piece to coloured pencils, and she completed it on 11x14 mi-teintes paper. When she finished the pic she sprayed it a few times, then added some blue oil paint to the background. There are a lot of colours in the female cardinal, and, I think Sue has done an incredible job on this piece.

This is a Christmas ornament, which was done by Ginette mostly in pen and ink with oils.....although the actual basecoating was done in acrylics. I do not know who originally designed this piece. Ginette decided to do it using a 4 paned wooden window, which is approx. 5x5". The snow at the bottom is white oil paint sprinkled with glamour dust....I love this piece.

This piece is called Evening in the Foothills, and was designed by Mary Owens. It is a pen and ink with oils project. Monique decided to do this on an 8x10 wooden board. The board was prepped by whitewashing it twice, then spraying with a few coats of Liberty spray. The project only used three colours of oil paint. The finished piece turned out lovely.

Nicole did this project on a large canvas (do not know the size) in oils. The original designer of the project was Arlene Beck, and Nicole found the picture in a 1993 decorative painting book. Nicole started by applying some Texture Crackle to the canvas, sanded it, sprayed several times, then started to apply her oil paint. This was a big project, and it turned out great.

I did this project a few months ago and posted it on my blog at that time. Guylaine liked the piece and decided to do TWO of them! The design is by Tracy Moreau and can be found in her book Trendy Textures. This project uses some different techniques...Texture Crackle, stencils, Texture Glass. Guylaine was very happy with the results, but, after doing two of them, I'm sure she was glad when they were finished.

That's it for now - I still have lots of pictures of projects the girls did in our art sessions, and I will keep posting them from now until our art sessions begin again in the fall.

Over the next couple of months I plan to do some silhouette work (pen & ink with acrylics and oils), and I also plan to work with texture, stencils and image transfers. I have some projects lined up and I am anxious to get started...I will post them when finished.

Thanks for visiting my blog - hope you enjoyed it.

Joan

Pen and Ink on Texture

Hi, welcome to my blog:

I have just finished a couple of projects that incorporated some different techniques, and I am very pleased with the results.

This piece is called Le Chat Noir, and was designed by Linda Lock. Linda's instructions for this project are for acrylic paints. Since acrylic paint is not something I use on a regular basis, I converted most of the project to pen and ink with oils. I started by applying a layer of Texture Crackle to the board, let it dry, sanded it lightly, sprayed it with about 4 coats of Liberty, let it dry, then applied the pattern. I outlined all the main parts of the pattern with pen and ink, then I used my pen to ink in a lot of the detail (roof, chimney, steps, etc.) Then I used oil paint to apply most of the paint. When I was finished with oils (and after spraying) I used acrylics to apply all the greenery. With all that finished, it was time for the highlight of the piece - to do an image transfer of 'Le ChatNoir' sign. I had never done this before, so, it was quite an experience! However, with the help of a video on YouTube, and with some practise, the transfer worked great. And, I already have two new projects to work on that use image transfers.

This piece was a lot of fun to do - I prepared a textured surface, used acrylics for the background, pen and ink and oils for the flowers, and Textured Glass (with acrylics) for the words. I used a stencil to apply the design on the strip that runs from top to bottom. The basic design for the flowers was from a pattern by Doxie Kellar (in her book 'Trendy Textures'). After all my painting was done, I sprayed, and I was ready to add the final touches to the piece - Texture Glass. It was applied with a stencil - and, although it was a bit tricky, by the time I stencilled the last word on, I was actually having fun doing it. I plan to do a matching piece with the colours varied with a sunflower on it. When done the set will be put on my diningroom wall - the colours will match perfect!

I am so intrigued with the Texture Crackle, Texture Glass and image transfers, that I have several projects lined up to work on over the summer. Hopefully, by the fall, I will be a pro at using all these techniques!

My winter art sessions end in a week - all the girls are finishing their projects, so I will take pics and post their wonderful work over the summer. My fall art sessions will begin in September.

Take care and thanks for visiting my blog.

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi:
Welcome to my blog. I hope everyone is enjoying the cold, snowy weather - I do not like it at all, so, I am planning to get a lot of painting projects done over the next several weeks. I am quite happy to sit in my workshop, with my music playing, and work on new, and, hopefully, interesting projects. I have already started on a couple of 'textured' pieces and also a coloured pencil project.

I have some wonderful art pieces to share with you that were done by the girls in my art sessions prior to Christmas.

This piece was designed by Roberta Hall, and is in her book titled Silhouettes (Maple Sugar II). This book is full of different silhouetes with various colours of sunset glows in the backgrounds. It is a lovely book. Sue decided to do this picture on 8x10 wood. She mixed her oil colours and did the sky and ground first, sprayed it, applied the pattern for the silhouete, inked everything in, then sprayed it. It turned out great.


Let it Snow is a pen and ink with oils design by Mary Owens. Marie did this on a large (16x20) stretched canvas. The instructions called for the sled to be a brown shade with reddish hilights. Maried decided to do her sled green - she mixed a lovely shade of green and, the large picture with the green sled and big red bow, turned out beautiful.


Cecile decided to try working with texture and chose to do two wall paintings....she took ideas from several different patterns. The surfaces she chose were large MDF boards that had been prepped. She applied the texture, painted and sprayed the backgrounds, then proceeded to use several different techniques: pen and ink, acrylic and oil paint.....
The first one has a bright yellow background with deep red poppies. Most of the painting on this piece was done with acrylics, and the poppies just seem to jump off the page. The leaves were done with a much lighter touch and seem to fade into the background. The printing was done with pen and ink and the gold border was added with a gold leafing pen. I think the picture turned out great.



This is the matching piece that Cecile did. The background colour looks wonderful next to the yellow one above. I believe Cecile did most of the painting on this piece in oils - note the double colour on the tulips...she has done a wonderful job of bringing the two colours together. The printing and gold border were done in the same manner as above.


The two paintings look wonderful side by side.

This piece was done by Lauren - it is very simple, but also very effective. She did this art on 4 separate pieces of stretched canvas - I think each one was about 8x8. She mixed 4 different colours using acrylic paint and painted each square (the sides were also painted). She then sprayed the canvas, applied her pattern and inked the design in. I love the colours she chose and the design looks great on it. Oh, did I mention, this is only Lauren's second pen & ink project?



This is a Mary Owens pen and ink design called Beach Chair. Renee did it on 11x14 stretched canvas (she always works on stretched canvas - does not like the cheaper canvas!!). She did make some changes in the colours of the objects in the picture. I think the project turned out great.



Our winter art sessions are now in full swing and will run until late February. I have lots of wonderful pictures of the art being done, and will post them over the next few months.


I have been experimenting with some different techniques - texture crackle, texture glass, stencils and image transfers. So far I have been very pleased with the results, and I will post two of my new (and different) projects in a few weeks.


Thanks for visiting my blog and please check back to see more wonderful artwork.


Joan

Colored Pencils and Pen and Ink,

Hi, HAPPY NEW YEAR, and welcome to my blog:

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I certainly did, but, as usual, I ate, drank and partied more than I should have...but, I did have a wonderful time! Now, all the decorations have been put away, the tree has been taken down, all the sweet snacks have disappeared from the fridge, and I am settling back into a normal routine. Quite frankly, I am ready to have an organized, calm life again.

Prior to Christmas I finished some ornaments, and I would like to share them with you.

The first two pictures include Icy, Flake, Chill and Noel. The other character in this group is Believe, and he is posted in my November 30 post. These characters were designed by Jamie Mills-Price, and can be found in her book 'Christmastime 6', along with a lot of other wonderful projects. These ornaments are done on wooden cutouts. I did all my basecoating with acrylics and also a lot of the decorative dots, bows, leaves, etc. All the black areas - the hats, penquins, etc. are filled in with a Faber Castell brush pen, and the rest of the pieces are done in oils (all the shading, hi-lighting, etc.) I painted the backs of all the pieces and added snowflake stencils. These ornaments were a lot of fun to do, but, there is a lot more work than what meets the eye!

I found this little angel - I don't know who the original artist is - and I decided to make her into an ornament and use coloured pencils. So I started with a wooden heart, glued mi-teintes paper on, traced my pattern, then did all the work with coloured pencils. When I was done, I found some acrylic paint that matched the colour of the mi-teintes paper, painted the back of the ornament, and added white snowflakes (I used a stencil for this). This is the first ornament I have done with coloured pencils, and I am sure I will be doing more.

I think this ornament is funny - all the snowmen hamming it up in the woods. With the exception of the ornaments on the tree, everything is done in pen and ink with oils. It is a very quick project to do - did not use a pattern...just starting inking in trees and snowmen. The 'snow' is applied with sno writer, and the glitter is glamour dust. A very fast (and silly) project.

One of my granddaughters is right into Strawberry Shortcake and the other is crazy about Minnie and Daisy. So I decided to do them each an ornament as part of their Christmas presents. The ornaments are wooden cutouts. I sealed and basecoated the mittens, traced and inked the pattern, then used oils to rouge the colour on - I used acrylics for the Christmas tree decorations. To finish them off I used white oil paint for the 'snow', then sprinkled glamour dust on all the snow. I am pretty happy with the way they turned out - my grandkids loved them!

This year I will be holding winter art sessions on Monday evening and Thursday morning beginning the week of January 9 and running until late February. So, over the next few months I will have lots of new artwork to show you.

I have a few ideas about new projects I plan to work on, and, after taking a Christmas break, I must admit I am anxious to get started on some new pieces.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and please check back in a few weeks

Joan

Weekly Art Sessions

Hi and welcome to my blog:

'Tis the Season - so I have put together some of the Christmas projects the girls in our art sessions have completed. I still have more Christmas pieces to post, and I will post them over the next month or so.


'Believe' is a Christmas ornament designed by Jamie Mills-Price - it is part of a 5 piece set, which also includes, Chill, Noel, Icy and Flake. Sue did this ornament on wood with acrylic paint - lately Sue has been working with pen and ink with oils and coloured pencils, so it was a switch for her to work with acrylics. It turned out great - I love it!


This is a pen and ink with oils project called Let it Snow - it was designed by Mary Owens. Colleen did this on 11x14 canvas and followed Mary's instructions. This is Colleen's first experience with pen and ink with oils, and I think she did a great job...she must have enjoyed it, as she has started another M. Owens project.





I had to post Vanna in Velvet - although it is not a Christmas piece, she certainly looks dressed up enough for Christmas. This is a coloured pencil project and was designed by Tina Sue Norris. Bev did this with coloured pencils on 8x10 mi-teintes sand coloured paper - it was Bev's first time working with the pencils. She followed all the instructions, added some bling bling to the hat, and it turned out wonderful!



Marie found this project in a book by Bonnie Seaman...the instructions were for oil paint. Marie decided to do the pattern on a sleigh she had - unfortunately, my picture does not show the bottom part of the sleigh with the black runners. After basecoating the sleigh Marie sanded it in order to get the lovely painting surface she had. Marie used a combination of acrylics and oils to complete the piece - she is thinking of nestling it inside a wreath - I'm sure it will look lovely.



Ruth did the Snowman and Mouse design on a porcelain oval, which had been etched. The oval was about 3 x 4. I don't know who the original designer of this piece was. Ruth did it in pen & ink with oils, and finished it off with some 'snow' and glitter. Looks great!






Lauren just started coming to our art sessions a few weeks ago, and this is the first project she did. The piece is called Gerbera Daisies and was designed by Mary Owens. Lauren did it in pen and ink with oils on 11x14 canvas...it turned out wonderful. Since completing this piece Lauren has done two more pen and ink pieces, which I will post soon.

Our fall art sessions have now ended, but I still have lots of wonderful artwork to post - pen and ink with oils, coloured pencils, pen and ink on texture, as well as oils on texture - I will be posting these projects over the next few months.

Starting in January I plan to hold 'winter' art sessions, and will be posting more on this in a few weeks.

Thanks for visiting my blog.


Joan