She has a lot out on Lac des Isles in Saskatchewan (only 45 min from my door step), her view is amazing and it is is pretty quiet. The sound of the wind in the trees and the water lapping on the shore are two of my most favorite sounds in the world. The sounds take me back to my childhood of weekends at the lake and at a time when the rest of the world really didn't matter - just how early could you get out on the water or what you would cook on the fire today? No phones, no tv, no hassles! Needless to say, I had a hard time coming back Sunday!
Our goal for the weekend was to paint - yes paint! We are both painters, but so different in every way possible. Both self taught, and both used to Tole paint years ago before we veered to Scrapbooking and have made out ways back to painting.
If you follow this blog or my Facebook page, you see that I share not only my own work, but links to many others that I feel are relevant in this industry. I am all about sharing! There is so much out there for you to see and learn from. I follow many painters and have learned many tips and techniques from them all.
So for this story, I am going to bring up one that I shared with everyone a few years ago....Painting with Jane. Jane Font is a very talented artist and shares so much information on her YouTube channel - FREE - for the learning! All you need to do is take the time to watch and learn. Really not that hard. You can also follow her on social media, all her links are on her website. Lynn suggested we try one of Jane's paintings that she thought would be pertinent to both of us - Creating Texture with Layers.
I worked on some of my 9x12" Canvas Panels. Notice I said some, yuppers! I of course couldn't do it as planned, I needed to play more - so I bought three different types of paints (cause I have enough paint...more than three by the way)! I brought Liquitex Basics, Liquitex Heavy Body and Golden Fluids. Lynn had brought both Golden and Liquitex Heavy Body. We got to painting right away following along as Jane had instructed - okay in all fairness, Lynn did and I (surprise surprise) didn't - but have never followed the rules in any aspect of my life now have I (why start now)!?!?
I started out doing them side by side. One using the Liquitex Basics and the other Golden Fluid Acrylics.
This first one is using the Liquitex...
This one is with Golden...
Aside from color variances, it is hard to tell the difference in a photo. For me, the noticeable difference first off was the sheen. Liquitex is more matte, whereas the Golden are of a satin to gloss finish. Even taking into account I was using Ultra Matte Fluid Medium (Liquitex) on both applications. Jane had suggested use of Fluid Matte Medium, but my bottle of that is a litre and I didn't want to take the large bottle so decided to take the smaller option. I did however, bring my Open Medium so see the difference in the option provided.
Time to start bringing in the rust on the wall and floor. It is a combo of colors one wouldn't expect...and it works!
There are many layers of paint along the way to get it to this point. Getting it to a happy place for me was quite the ordeal.
Sadly, you are now seeing the (original) Golden one now covered with Liquitex paints (sans the Unbleached Titanium and subbed for actual Titan Buff) as Lynn had a leak in her trailer window and my original Liquitex one got quite wet, saving her seat back from saturation!
I enjoyed the learning process of this technique, just not the final image. I tried doing another canvas panel with an image in my head of a window that was leaking the rust (hmm. wonder where that came from). This one was done using Golden Heavy Body paints. I tried to use the Open Medium with this technique - nope, not gonna work! Again, the idea was good - just not the final result. Remember peeps, patience is not one of my best attributes! This one is not near done, but by Sunday afternoon, I was done with it.
Here are a few close ups of the tree panels - you can see the color left to right (for color help) - Golden/Liquitex, Golden then Liquitex (panel that got wet).
These next two are close ups of the (wet) Liquitex panel. You can really see the textures that are created with this format of painting. It is something I will do again, kinda!
Here is a close up of the window one. I really thought the rust needed some depth, so I added the cracks. I might have over done it a tad, but the idea is there to be worked on.
These last four shots are close ups of the 'finished' one that started out with Golden Paints and ended using Liquitex Basics (with the addition of Golden Titan Buff instead of Liquitex Unbleached Titanium White). The additional underlying textures you are seeing are actually from a previous painting. I decided I didn't like it so gesso'd over it and started all over again. I wanted the textures there so did not do too heavy of a coat.
So, what did I learn? That I do not like to paint an picture; nor I do not like to paint an image of a picture. I find it makes me feel constrained. It puts me in a box, in a corner, in a way that I am unable to paint freely - to just paint!
I am an abstract painter. And by that I do not mean it literally. I mean it in a way that it allows me to think and paint outside the norm. See something how I see it. If you don't see it, that is totally A O K! This lesson taught me something huge - more than a new technique. It taught me that it is okay to try and fail (if you want to think of it as failure, I guess). I already have some great new ideas on how to incorporate this kind of painting into MY style.
...until next time
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