Artful August Challenge - in January! Week Three

For 'Metal', I used an embossing folder and silver card for the centre panel, which I then distressed with acrylic paint and a dry brush technique.  The cogs and keys were stamped and then gilding flakes were applied.

A collage base with added 'Splatter', using some of my ephemera, stamps, die cuts and digi kit photos.

My 'Quote' was one about books - very appropriate as we have books in every room!

'Fold' was using some scrapbook paper and taking the the colours from the paper for the page.

If you unfold the paper, this rather serious face peers out at you.  My portraits have really improved over the last year and I do enjoy creating these small images. This was out of my imagination. 

'Abstract' gave me a chance to play with some new dies from Sizzix and Tim Holtz.  Originally, I was going to use the pieces that came out of the dies, but after having cut them, I loved the panels which were left, so used them instead.

'Paste' was simple, using texture paste through a stencil and then adding colour with watercolour pencils.

'Watercolour' was again using stencils, but with watercolour paint it gives a much gentler effect.  A stamp gave me the foreground image and some gold splatters finished it off.

One more post to come...
 

Wanderlust 2022 - weeks fifteen to twenty-one - Artists' acrylics

The art journaling course continues and I am learning a lot about the different media.  This block was about artists' acrylics, which are highly pigmented, generally consistent with colours throughout different ranges and heavier bodied. We began by colour mixing with a limited palette and then focusing on a female artist who was overlooked during their lifetime (there are many to choose from!) I chose Camille Claudel, a pupil, muse and lover of the sculptor Rodin.  She had a terrible life, Rodin leaving her, her father dying, she had a breakdown and then her brother had her committed to an asylum for the remaining thirty years of her life.  She wrote to him to ask him to get her released, but he didn't.  She now has a museum in France dedicated to her work.  We had to paint three quick portraits of our chosen artist, choose the one we liked best and work on it, then create a page. 

Week sixteen where we created a gel plate printed book and made a stamp using foam letters which we incorporated into the pages in several places. We also made collage paper to add to the pages.

My stamp was 'enjoy the moment' and my book ended up being really grungy! 

Portraits for week seventeen was not a week I was particularly looking forward to as I find faces difficult.  However, we were given a step by step lesson and encouraged to use a 'Posterise' app or Photoshop effect to show the different areas of light, medium and dark.  While we were encouraged to use a self portrait, there was no way I was going to do that, so instead, I chose a face from a royalty free photo site.  It is probably the best portrait I have painted and I did enjoy painting it, but not an area I particularly want to explore. However, it is good to know that I am slightly better at it than I thought.  The paper we wiped our brushes on became part of the portrait, which was a nice touch.

I much preferred week eighteen where we layered colours with white or black.  My patterns went rather curvy and organic, but I went with it!

I loved week nineteen where we chose a song and added words and images. My song was 'Walking on Sunshine', a really happy song by Katrina and the Waves from the 1980s. 

We were encouraged to make a second page where we created a collage on the left and wrote out some of the song's lyrics on the right. This time, it was 'What a difference a Day makes' by Dinah Washington.

Week twenty was all about the layers - creating a patchwork of collage and adding acrylics to bring some of the pieces out and fade others into the background.  It took quite a while to build up as we had to let layers dry.  We were encouraged to add words and I wasn't going to, but noticed I had stuck a piece of collage paper with writing which said 'we watched the clouds...and listened to a lullaby' (it was from a digikit of diary pages) right in the middle off the page (serendipity in action once more), so they became my focal words. 

Abstract botanicals was the focus for week twenty-one, where we layered up petal shapes and knocked them back using layers of translucent acrylic. I added an image of a mushroom gill print which my colleague from work had been making and kindly sent to me for collage.

Again, I learnt a lot about acrylics and how they can be used. The next seven weeks are focusing on Craft acrylics - should be interesting! 

BP Portrait exhibition 2016

We were lucky to be able to see the BP portrait exhibition at The Usher Gallery in Lincoln last Sunday - it is on until November and the ticket enables you to visit as often as you like, so we hope to go back.  I took lots of photos (without a flash) of the portraits which I particularly liked.  Neither of us were that impressed with the winning portrait and I didn't take a photo of that.  The portrait above is by Jean-Paul Tibbles, of his son Jean.  He is one of the 'poster boys' for the exhibition. 

 This portrait had us discussing what material the artist's daughter had swathed around herself - I felt it was a silk with the blue/green sheen in certain light whereas Chris though it was more like a black plastic.  Whatever it was, it was beautifully painted and reminded me of a Velazquez painting, with the rich colours and dark background.

This is a close up of the sequins on the little girl's bodice.  This is one reason to revisit the exhibition as I neglected to note this artist's name.

This portrait is by the same artist as the one above, of the artist's son who put a bag on his head. 

Chris really liked this portrait.

 This is called 'Portrait in the mirror: the veil' by Antonio Lagua.

 The artist explained that 'the model's reflection became the starting point for work to begin'.  He has captured a really intriguing expression here.

This portrait is called Vacuum 2 by Thomas Ehretsmann as is of his friend Simon.  It is acrylic on wood panel and is incredible - it is hard to believe it is a painted image. 

This is the winner of the BP Travel award, of Petras, by Laura Guoke.  It is a huge painting, which I found quite moving.

The hands were fascinating. 

 

This was one of my favourite paintings called Alessandra by Daisy Sims-Hilditch and was inspired by the work of John Singer Sargent.  We both thought it would look perfectly at home in a country house - The Honorable somebody or other, daughter of Lord/Earl/Duke whoever! 

 This painting is the 'poster girl' for the exhibition and reminded me of a Waterhouse painting.  It is my absolute favourite as I love the expression and the way it is left sketchy in the background, really focusing on that beautiful face, neck and hand. 

She is the wife of the artist, 'Laura in black' by Joshua Larock. 

I was immediately transported to Wuthering Heights when I looked at this portrait (Mila by Simon Richardson), as she looks to me as Cathy might have looked when she was a girl. 

The portrait of The Rt Reverend & Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO Lord Bishop Of London by Elena Vladimir Baranoff was a blaze of colour with the red and gold robes.

It was painted using egg tempera on gesso board and does share the quality of a medieval painting, with its small size and jewel-like colour.  The detail was beautiful.

The portrait of 'Dad Sculpting me' won the BP young artist award.

The portrait of Sir Andrew Motion also stopped me in my tracks.  Looking at the books behind the sitter was interesting, but it was the intense gaze which was so arresting and his eyes definitely followed me.

It seemed as though he might speak at any moment. 

The exhibition showed a huge range of styles of portraiture and shows that there are many extremely talented artists around the world.  It is well worth a visit, or two, or three...