Drop and Drag.......................

Drop and Drag was the second exercise that we learned in the Karen Rosasco workshop last week. I loved it and it offers a real element of surprise.

Pretty much what it is, again working with Golden's Fluid Acrylics, you drop and swirl paint around watercolor paper (using 3 colors) and then apply a strip of one last color across the whole top sheet of the watercolor paper. Using a long, flat scraper tool, start dragging the paints downward. We actually used two sheets of watercolor paper and the bottom sheet was used to catch the last swipes of paint which we saved for a future project :)

What occurs are these wonderful and surprising shapes of colors and what we, as students, had to do was study the shapes and decide what we think the shapes represent. It took me awhile but I felt that my shapes looked like a bridge with tall buildings behind it. New York City, at night, came to my mind. The tricky part is once you decide what your shapes represent, you must paint around the shapes with a darker color to outline your painting.

We added line work by scraping with a cut-up credit card, I added some gold leaf in certain areas, some various lines with dimensional paint, masked the building areas and splattered some gold metallic paint on the sky with a toothbrush.

For some final embellishments, I stamped the word LIVE and added a script stamp to bottom right. I really love this technique and plan on creating more!

Artfully yours.....................Marilyn

THE BIG DARK..................

This past week I have had the privilege of taking a 5-day, Mixed-Media Water and Acrylic Painting workshop of Karen Rosasco's. Her website is: http://www.karenrosasco.com/
if you'd like to visit her site to get an idea of her art. She is a nationally reknowned artist whose art I so admire. I had the pleasure of attending an exhibit of hers in Cooperstown, NY and that is how I got "hooked". The workshop I attended was in Duanesburg, NY and, to my surprise, I discovered that Karen doesn't live that far from my area. She lives in Delanson, NY!! Twice a year, Karen rents out the fire hall in Duanesburg for local people to attend her 5-days workshops. I have to say it was the most intense, challenging and exhilarating art workshop I've ever taken. Starting today, and then throughout the upcoming week, I will share with you some of the projects that I created while attending the workshop. Please keep in mind, these are not finished pieces but what Karen refers to as "starts".

These pictures are a result of what Karen calls The Big Dark. We always worked on a large sheet of heavy-weight watercolor paper (140lb hot press, sometimes 300 lb weight). This, in itself, was a huge challenge for me. It's just a little larger than a 4 x 4 or an ATC :) The beginning "starts" were on 22 x 30" size watercolor paper. We could cut them down, eventually, but the beginning piece was always done on the large sheet. Wow! The large picture, here, is my first start and we used Golden's Fluid Acrylics, which now, I will use nothing else in my art; I'm hooked! We had to start with black, paint geometric shapes and fill in with lighter colors. Once we did that, we could add texture stamping with acrylics using rubber stamps, bubble wrap, screening, corrugated cardboard; you name it, we used it! We could scrape with razor blades, cut-up credit cards, Xacto knives, it was just so much fun.

Karen's main theme to try to get across to everyone, was having us paint in abstract all throughout the workshop which was very challenging and sometimes stressful for me as I am such a realist with my art. Plus, and this is a huge plus; I am not a painter. Karen really challenged me to think geometric shapes and once I got where I could see that, then I could stamp, scrape, texturize, add more painting, etc. The smaller pieces, here, are the result of The Big Dark and now I have a series of sorts to add more painting to and ultimately frame!

We did do some collage work but always after we painted. I will share more of that at a later time. I promise not to bore you with this but I am bursting with wanting to share the projects and my thoughts on attending the most exhilarating, yet, exhausting workshop ever that I have had the privilege to take. There were 16 students, I felt like I was among the elite; the room was filled with real painters who exhibit and sell all over the country! The first day I felt like running home, getting my "blankie" getting in the fetal position in my bedroom :) I did feel a bit out of my league. But; Karen is so calm and encouraging and she really made me feel confident that I can apply her techniques to my style and applications.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Love - Marilyn

"Wonder"

Well; more Photoshop Elements practice. I really am having fun with this! This picture consists of 6 layers. The "bubbles" you see there are actually glass healing balls. When my husband and I were visiting Woodstock, Vermont, I found a very charming shop named Primrose Garden. There was a back porch that was part of the shop and while you're standing on the floor boards, you can actually see down to a creek that is running and you can hear the water; it was so relaxing. These healing balls were hanging from an old wooden beam and I wanted so badly to take a picture of them. I asked the owner of the shop for permission and she so graciously granted me the okay. I new I just had to have them for a photoshop project. I actually added a couple of layers of these healing balls, the figure is from a cool book that I found at an antique shop. I added some butterflies including one right in one of the balls.

I wish you all an artful weekend! Love, Marilyn

Canvas art.............................

I love working on canvas. These are pictures of some small canvas pieces that I did. One of my favorite ways to use a canvas is to work on the back side vs the front. I tend to purchase canvases that have the square opening in the back as I see these as potential shadowboxes! The first collage is such. The "front" back was done with torn masking tape, Gesso, washes and foam stamps to give it lots of texture. I then flipped the canvas over to make the "back" the front and created a little shadow box. Around the opening I adhered decorative papers, used old script paper, rubber stamping, stamped domino and a few other embellishments. I distressed the papers with Distress Ink.

The other picture is of two 4 x 4 canvases that I hinged together. I used images from www.paperwhimsy.com (one of my favorite websites), backgrounds were created with crinkled-up tissue paper and gel medium, washes, quotes and little embellishments.

I wish everyone a good day and upcoming weekend!

Love always - Marilyn

A couple of art projects for today.......

These are pictures of a couple of art projects I worked on today.

One is a 4 x 4 page for a friend of mine and the other is the front page for a friend's Art Deco book. Her theme is Medieval and this was my interpretation of that theme.

Now; I'm off to watch some football with my husband and I'll see how long I can last at that! :)

Love to all....................Marilyn

Hope.....................

A little digi art before I start my day. It's a slow go but I'm just taking my time playin' around with all the different effects with filters and such.

Heather Cockrell (blog link below) is a friend of mine from Texas and she loves taking digital pictures of cemetary angels. These two images are digi pics that Heather was willing to share with me. Thank you Heather! They really call to me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Heather's Blog: http://brokenhalo6.blogspot.com/

Love to all.....................Marilyn

Some Halloween "Digi" fun................

Today I took a day trip with my husband to Woodstock, Vermont. It's a beautiful little picture-postcard town and especially in autumn.

We had fun walking in and out of the shops and I brought my digital camera with me and took some really cool and fun shots.

This is a picture of a glassware's shop door and I was across the street taking the shot. The door is glass and it came out all wiggly and funky but I ended up liking it.

I decided to work on some photoshop tonight I had saved this pumpkin picture in my files and decided to add it and the text to this door picture for Halloween.

Love to all and thanks, so much, for your support and lovely comments. I just cannot do what I do without you! Hugs, Marilyn