Outside My Comfort Zone...

When my daughter started designing her new living room, she took a walk on the wild side by going with an African theme. She surprised me by asking me to create a piece of art that would work in the room, but also had some personal imagery. This sort of request is way outside my comfort zone. More painting than collage, custom theme, not really cutesy...But I decided to give it a try.

I started with a 14"x18" canvas panel, and layered it with papers and ephemera. I found magazine photos of elephants and giraffe, a map of Africa, and a great line on cardstock called Safari Chic, by DCWV. I gave it all a really good coat of gel medium and used my brayer to smooth it out as best I could. The magazine pages gave me some real fits, right from the start and even after they were down flat as can be, when I started adding paint, they lifted right up again, and made bubbles, which I don't like, but have to live with...
I added washes of color, and used the brayer to added thicker, grungy layers of acrylic paint. Then painted the mountains and background, working my way forward to the tree.

My daughter is a redhead and became the warrior in the piece. She is very fond of her cat, so I made him a bit larger, more of a panther sized, to be a companion in her wanderings. I was pretty nervous about painting the two figures, so I created them on a scrap of paper first, using a sketch and watered down acrylics, then cut them out and collaged them to the painting. I left the foreground mostly untouched, so that more of the collage papers would show through. I can't seem to do anything about the wrinkles in the lower right corner, and I am trying to accept them as a "textural element"...

I added a coat of acrylic encaustic, which did help smooth the pieces out a bit, and blended the figures into the background, so they didn't seem so "cut and paste". So here it is, my finished mixed media canvas; "Forever Fierce". I hope she likes it...

This weeks Every Inchie Monday theme is "makeup", you can see the others in this challenge right here!

Art Every Day Month Day 21: Zentangling...

Today I am working on a Christmas gift for my grand niece and nephew. On a recent visit to Spokane, I purchased this wonderful book, Zentangle 4 by Suzanne McNeil.

   I was intrigued by this art form, and liked the idea that I could bring it with me anywhere and required only a handful of supplies to achieve some impressive results...

What I didn't expect was how relaxing the process can be. I started "zentangling" that night, during a family gathering, since every other adult was watching the UFC, and as I drew, my tiny grandniece and grandnephew were slowly drawn-in. They were fascinated watching me, and called out for different shapes to start a pattern, the dragonfly above was one of their suggestions. Now these little ones are only 3 and 5 years old, yet they sat quietly for over an hour watching me draw! I guess that is the "zen" in zentangling...
  After I finished my first tangle, they begged for another. At this point, I borrowed their grandpas office and printed copies for each of them. Then, as I was drawing, they sat next to me with colored pencils, coloring in their own tangles. For a total of three hours, we were pleasantly occupied, without a squabble, or whine at all. I drew my brand new sharpie pen dry!
  So I am now creating a series of tangles, with the plan to bind copies into a coloring book for each of them. I really think they will enjoy the books, and I will feel better about giving them something handmade and heart felt, rather than another plastic toy to be lost in a host of other plastic toys...

As a special gift for their mother, my niece, I traced out each of their hands onto a piece of water color paper, and am creating a tangle out of each one, this is the first. I think these will make a beautiful keepsake, when matted and framed.
  I have heard this art form referred to as both Zentangle, and Zendoodle

Find more information on Zentangle at; http://www.zentangle.com/