Creative Señorita: Seascapes and Poppy Fields

I managed to finish a few paintings this week. I am sad to say I didn’t finish all 20 paintings in May, but I am glad I made so much progress. I’ve learned quite a few techniques in the process, and I will continue this project until it is done. I still have finish 6 paintings to complete the 20, and I’ve already planned out the finish product. I just hope they turn out the way I plan, but I suppose that really isn’t the point of experimenting with all of these different techniques.

These two paintings above are the finished crushed wedding flower pieces. They are meant to be hung either side by side or above and below the main roses painting with my wedding bouquet. They didn’t quite turn out the way I thought they would, but I learned some key tips to make this process go much quicker. It would be better to spray paint your flowers the main color you want them to be in the end. Additionally, sprinkle your crushed flowers directly onto the gloss and emulsion mix so they will stick. This will save petals, time and the gloss varnish you will have to use to stick them on after the paint has dried.

I had to make this painting in layers. First, I created a bumpy texture, then I painted the background with a mixture of white, blue, orange, and pink acrylic paint. I blended them together with a wet brush. After the background dried, I created the grass with a combination of gloss varnish and a green acrylic paint. I then mixed different acrylic colors with water to create the drops.

When all the under layers dried, I started painting on the poppies. I used a combination of red and pink to give them texture. The canvas will be finished when I paint on their dark center next week.

I’m not quite sure where I’m headed with this one. I used a brown acrylic paint with a combination of gloss varnish to create the base. Then I used the same combination with a red acrylic paint instead for the top coat. I want to see what reaction this creates, but I’ll have to wait until it dries.

This next one is a bit interesting. I still haven’t quite gotten the hang of making large circles with my gloss varnish and acrylic mixture. I’ll continue to experiment with this until I find the right mixture. Nevertheless, I did like the result I obtained in this piece. I created the texture with a light blue acrylic paint and texture paste mixture. Then I used the gloss varnish and acrylic paint combination to create the circles. I plan on creating a Koi fish stencil to to place on this piece followed by another round of green swirls over that. I am interested to see how this turns out.

This is Mr. Marmalade after his hair brushing, fulfilling his duties as our resident studio guard cat. Here he is sitting next to a few of Lisa Nunn’s fabulous flower paintings. He has always been a very happy cat, but he was especially friendly today. I think he was after my lunch to be honest, but I didn’t give him any. I didn’t want us to have a sick kitty on our hands. His company is always so very pleasant.

Creative Señorita: Golden Flakes and Melted Paints

I wasn’t able to get to the studio as much as I wanted this past week, but I did manage to make it in for a few hours on Friday. Julie called me on Monday apologizing about the state of one of my paintings. She evidently thought one of the swirl paintings was dry so she positioned it on its side to showcase the result. When she came in on Monday, it was very apparent the underneath layers hadn’t dried yet. The top red layer shifted downward, and the bottom part of the painting looked like it was melting off.

I must confess, when she called me I didn’t think it would be that bad. When I saw it I was a bit surprised, but I know it isn’t anything we couldn’t fix. This actually happened before with one of Julie’s canvases. We thought it was dry and put the painting up on display. The next day, there was a giant mess on the floor. Now we know to leave these to dry three weeks at least before hanging.

My original intention with these three swirl paints was to create one center canvas with large roses in the middle. The other two could either go above and below or to the left or right of the middle piece. I wanted to crush my wedding flowers onto these last two, and create a gradient of gold and red flower petals. I’ve seen the fabulous Ms. Julie do this with pink and white so I decided to give it a go with my signature gold and red.

After doing one canvas I realized I should have crushed the flowers before the top red coat dried. This way I could have saved myself some gloss varnish. I dripped the varnish onto the petals to make them stick to the canvas. I still have to create the gradient effect. I am certain I will complete these two pieces by the weekend.

This next piece is going to be similar to my blue poppies canvas. The difference are the colors and the textures. My mom wanted something similar to the blue canvas, but in a brighter color scheme. I am making a small one to see if she likes it before we commit to a larger canvas. I created a texture with red acrylic paint and gloss varnish for this piece. Then I blended white, magenta, orange and turquoise for a background. I then used a mixture of two acrylic green pigments with some gloss varnish to make the grass. Now I have to let this dry to continue. I hope it turns out.

This afternoon our lovely friend Jeff played a few tunes for us on his harmonica. It was outstanding. We had no idea Jeff could play so well. It was a real treat. We were all very surprised. Here he is sitting in front of John Hancock’s painting and a few of Julie’s as well. I love Brighton.

Creative Señorita: Painting The Roses Red and Gold

I’ve had great success with my 20 paintings this week. I’m thinking about renting studio space from Julie, but I am not sure about it quite yet. I’ll have to think about it a bit more. I did manage to finish one of my cupcake swirl design paintings with Julie Anne’s help. I am making 3 of the swirls, and I’ve finished 6 paintings in total. I don’t know if I am going to make it, but I am certainly going to try.

The good news is that the chemical reaction I spoke about last week happened. I was a bit worried it wouldn’t cause the gorgeous cracking effect caused by using emulsion and gloss, but it happened. The result was beautiful. I spray painted the roses two different shades of red, and the middle one I spray painted gold. Then I sprayed gold and red paint over the canvas and roses. I stuck the roses on with a large glop of brown acrylic paint.

This next one is very interesting. I saw John and Jan use this technique a bit ago, but I was afraid to do it. I finally had the courage to, and the result was lovely. I used gloss varnish mixed with a drop of black acrylic paint. I mixed it for about 30 seconds until I get the consistency I liked. Then I used a paint brush to drizzle it on. I am not quite fond of the finished painting, but I am glad I learned how to create and manipulate the gloss varnish and acrylic paint mixture.

This next swirl painting will be similar to the rose canvas. It takes about 2 weeks for it to dry completely and crack. This one will be a bit different. I am going to crack new spray painted flowers on top of the paint. Then I will spray gold and red paint to create a chunky gradient effect.

These are the finished paintings from week 1. The tree painting was made using cat litter, sand and a hand cut stencil of a tree I painted years ago. The lips were made using a hand cut stencil from a vector design I made for a t-shirt. The paint is a mixture of texture paste and dark blue acrylic paint. The background is a blue acrylic paint with glitter spray.

This is Richard Newman taking some pictures of his work. We managed to catch each other doing the same thing outside the studio. It was a fun day. Sun was shining, and there were lots of people out and about. Had some one on one time with Mr. Marmalade cat as well. He enjoyed his hair brushing.

Creative Señorita: Cupcake Swirls And Kitty Litter

I’ve been hard at work this week, trying to finish these five paintings. I want to get 20 done by the end of May. I am trying a few new and old techniques with these particular designs.

The swirl painting is actually going to be part of my preserved wedding bouquet. I preserved the flowers with 3 coats of spray paint so they would hold their shape. This way they don’t crumble. I learned this technique from my friend Julie Anne Gilburt. She creates beautiful paintings using this swirl technique using different variations of flowers, colors and shapes. She taught me how to create a very interesting chemical reaction using gloss and emulsion. These two paints create a cracking effect on the canvas that is absolutely beautiful. You can kind of see the cracking starting to take effect. This is my first attempt using this technique, and I have to admit it takes quite a bit of skill that I just don’t have yet. Julie assures me it will come with time and lots of practice.

The butterfly canvas was created using titanium white and crimson acrylic paints. I used a round tip brush to fill in the pencil drawing I made of the butterfly. This canvas is not finished yet.

I used an acrylic paint for the base of the yellow and brown painting. The texture is actually a mixture of unused cat littler and sand to make it grainy. I wanted create large clumps of paint that would form a rocky texture. I had to use kitty litter because Brighton Beach has no sand, and the rocks are far to big for what I had envisioned. This painting is not finished yet.

The blue painting has an acrylic paint base, and the lips are a design I created digitally. I printed the lips out and created a stencil. I plan on caking on a mixture of dark blue acrylic paint with texture paste. This will hopefully give the lips a very chunky, swirly look. I’ll post the results next week.

Creative Señorita: Experimenting With Paint

Today is the first day of Brighton Festival Fringe. The event is a month long internationally acclaimed open access arts festival. There will be events and exhibitions all around the city, everyday for the month of May. I am incredibly excited about it.

I am spending the first day working on my 20 experimental paintings. I am using these 20 canvases to experiment with different types of paint, techniques and chemical reactions. It should be fun. I plan on finishing these 20 canvases by the end of May. Hopefully, I can pull myself away from the festivities long enough to finish.

These are my first few paintings. The large one with the flower looking circles on it was my first one. I used texture paste mixed with acrylic paint to get the texture. Then I used different consistencies of  acrylic paint to make the grass, flowers, and the gradient. Lastly, I used gold spray paint to add a bit of shimmer to the canvas. After finishing this painting off, I decided to only use small canvases for this project. It would be less expensive, and they would be easier to transport between my home and the studio.

The base of the pink canvas was made by using texture paste and red acrylic paint. I mixed it to create this pink. Then I used tape and different colors of acrylic paint to make the stripes. I used a combination of two different reds to make the square effect. I used a palette knife to apply the mixture. This painting is not finished yet.

The chocolate and white painting was made using a brown acrylic paint for the base, and eggshell tinted emulsion for the stripes. The red stripes were created using a watered down acrylic paint.

The yellow canvas is quite interesting. I tried to break seashells I found on the seafront into tiny shards of shell to create a bumpy texture on this canvas. Unfortunately, the seashells either pulverized or remained in tact. I used sand as a substitute. It was perfect! I mixed in a handful of sand with a brown acrylic paint, and used tape to get the straight line. This painting is not finished yet.

The flowers are part of another canvas. They are spray painted with at least four coats before they can be used as a finished product.

A Little Something For Dennis

I’ve been working on these for a bit now, and I finally finished them yesterday. Dennis has been somewhat down these past couple of weeks, and I wanted to give him a little cheer up. I made him three little colorful abstracts paintings that complement his anniversary present. I hope he likes them.