On a creative journey in the north east and Adventures in Oil sticks and water

It's February! And the buzz around the world (ie: twitter/FB/Bloglandia) is that February is the new January. I'm not so sure about that - but I will take it.  I think that any day is a chance to start anew- but after the stress,strain and expectations of the holidays- I think we should have a month of reprieve- ie: January- before plundering on into a brand new year. All that excitement in one month is just overwhelming! So- I concur- January should now be known as the month of relaxation and recuperation and we should all start fresh in February!

You will note the jar of gesso as the opening picture to this post. It comes with a lesson. Too much coffee, too much art clutter and dancing like a wild person comes with a price. It used to be full. it is now empty. 'Nough said. just know that the trick to extracting gesso from a vintage oriental carpet is 4 quarts of water to every one pint of gesso, loads of paper towels to pull the diluted gesso from the fiber all the while making sure to mutter various words not fit for children under your breath (this is crucial as it lets the gesso know that you are serious).

I went to check my PO box this past weekend- to recycle the junkmail that gathers there- when what did my wondering eyes find- but a copy of this quarters Art Doll Quarterly sitting there.  My first thought was "what in the world?" I haven't submitted anything to ADQ recently. I can't remember writing any articles lately sooo why is this here? ( I have to admit that the postage charges for ADQ scare me so i always pick my copy up at the local B&N.) Still befuddled- I rifle through the pages to find that my up-cycled sculpture"A Modern Day Medusa- on a woman's mind" has made an appearance! HOOT! Who knew?! I surely didn't! They did a lovely little story on her and her creation. How it wound up in the ADQ- I may never know- but I am not going to complain- no ma'am.! If you have your copy, keep flipping pages- she's in there! Though, this is what she really looks like:

So- that has just about made my month- and it has barely started!

 I have been playing around with oil sticks - alot- lately. I have found that they are wonderful for bringing out texture and color and depth. wonderful depth.

Layers and layers of modeling paste and  acrylic paints and oil sticks and WATER! (yes- i will prove that oil and water DOES mix!) and you wind up with this warm, deep coloring over fabulous texture! It is quite addictive, I assure you!

one step further though. add a heavy gel medium.

Without Gel medium

With gel medium.

It adds a whole other dimension to your work. yum.

It also helps with the depth of the entire work- as you can see with the "cliff" there- the gel medium adds enough dimension to highlight the "glow" and add that extra POW. good stuff.

This  gel medium/oil and water technique can also be applied to other forms. My two passions are mixed media and art dolls- so obviously (LOL) i would attempt to marry the two in a most perfect union.

Ok- so I would actually try anything if it meant that i didn't have to sew- but I really think this is cool. It is messy and color-filled and fills all of my requirements! Give it a try. there is no particular order that it needs to be applied in- i have tried all possible- just make sure the gel medium is last.

Which brings me to my QUESTION: to all of the photography hounds that visit my little blog here. I am more of a "point and shoot kind of gal". My camera is much smarter than i am. So- how do i get the glare to stop on the paintings? It seems that I have tried every direction possible with the lighting- however I know i must be missing something because BAM- there it is every time. The Gel medium refracts/reflects the light so intensely the only way i can get it to stop is to shoot at a hard angle- which- we all know throws the proportions off and will lead me to troubles when listing things for sale. Do any of you have any suggestions? A little hint to the secrets of your world?

And so the last lesson for the day is this. Know your pens. seriously. the writing kind- not the "GO PENS" kind. I have this habit of just picking up a pen when i go to sketch or draw something. I learned to draw using a regulation bic ballpoint- so, me and fussy- not so much. It's not really important. right? Until the day that you get lost in what your doing and can't remember which pen you used to do what with. This is an important thing with mixed media- a little insider secret- as everything reacts with everything else.


Remember this gal?




After I did the inital sketch- i even remember saying to myself- self- which pen did you use? Since I just pulled out of my pen can- I had no idea. and as a result- she now looks like this:











OOPS.
I had grabbed the Sharpie fine line instead of the PITT. The pastel and colored pencil I used for the shading, over the past three weeks, has pulled the ink out of the paper and absorbed it.
Fixable? I can probably salvage it with a few hours of color manipulation and highlighting- but more importantly- i have now segregated my pens. PITT on one side- everything else on the other side. Sometimes the smallest thing can have the greatest impact.

What new things have you learned on your creative journey? How many "Oops" can we come up with?

enjoy each other.
Live well.


addendum: had to "reboot" the tweeter twit there- got stuck on 5- I appreciate the retweets! Thank you!