"Joy!"

"JOY!"
Acrylics and Mixed Medium
Birch Panel

24" X 24"
(SOLD)
 

This painting began (again) with a prepared background 

that I had composed quite a while back.
As I said earlier, I do Backgrounds  and set them aside until the right idea comes to mind 

for what I have to work with.
I realize this seems to be a slap-hazard way of creating any type of art, but it works for me.
(What can I say?)
When I thought of a whale breaching in the Ocean 

In my Minds eye I was picturing joy and freedom.

Firstly I set out deciding the positioning of the Whale

and what part of the Breech I would portray.
I drew a small sketch
(Yes, believe it or not I have now drawn a Bird a Fish and a Whale )
I knew (again) that I wanted to portray water and an immense span of it.
So I set up the boundaries of the level of the water.

(the white goop shown below)

and

 that determined the positioning of my main focus.
I poured the Liquitex pouring medium just below the top 1/2 of the board and it did not pass my barrier (thankfully)
I (at this point) just had one line of pouring medium

(as shown in the below photo)

Again, please understand that I am working by the seat of my pants here.

 I do not know any tried and true way to do this so I improvised with what I had on hand.
And luckily for me, it worked.

 I then penciled in the Whale with a water colour pencil and painted it in.
above and below what was now the water line

Close-up of painted water/wavesThis photo shows how the Pouring medium makes the water realistic as in a splash!

 

Detail

I hope this kinda gets you all into trying new techniques and products.
Yes, I know Pouring medium is not a new product, but it was to me.
I love working with new ideas and methods.
Yes I fail at them as well, but it sure is fun  trying.

Sometimes it is well worth trying to use a new art product without really knowing what it can do.
I knew that Pouring medium dried crystal clear and looks like glass.
With this work I used the medium in layers letting one level completely dry before adding another.
I wanted the water to look and feel like actual waves.
I think I achieved what I set out to do!
Later everyone
~~Kathleen

"Ocean,Kelp,Sky"

"Ocean, Kelp, Sky"
Acrylics and mixed medium

on Birch Panel
24" X 24"

I started experimenting with mixtures of Blues on a Birch Panel a while back.
The beauty of this method is that one never knows what the actual end result will look like.
You end up with what the paint gives you.

on this one I applied Gold leaf across one side on an diagonal
Let the whole thing dry, placed it on the shelf.

I then promptly forgot about it

until the other day.

While flipping through the Rack
I came across this one and thought
"Would a fish ever look great on this!
so I penciled in a fish.

I was at complete odds with myself as to how I would paint in a fish 

so it would look  like it was in actual water.

Not as if it had been applied atop the already prepared  background.
As a mixed media Artist, I collect things.

I collect a lot of things

and 

like a Raven or a Magpie, I especially love shiny things.

yep, Blue foil.

I then got the insane idea that I would cut out individually each strip of foil 

and compose the flowing fins as individual pieces.
Affix them to the background and have wonderful movement.

And I set out.

three days later I had a reasonable looking  Beta Fish

that actually had movement.

The next photo show the progress of this endeavor!

When the Fish was done I taped off the board following the Gold leaf

and

poured Liquitex pouring medium on the blocked off area.

You don't want to know how long it took the medium to dry.

You can see in the photo below 

on the upper Left corner how the area is now like Glass.

(reflection)

 I then  (again )waited for it to dry more.

after the Pouring medium was totally dry I rubbed a deeper blue over the Gold leaf

(Blue and yellow make green)

and had my kelp

the top right hand corner is a matte finish as opposed to the Glass like bottom with the Kelp as a separator

a rather poor detail of the beta Fish.