"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.

"Seasons"

"Seasons"

(Taken at an angle to show the varied sheens)

16" X 20"
Acrylics and Mixed media
on Canvas

Recently I had the pleasure of being gifted trial sizes 

of 

Liquitex products.

among these were two trial sizes of

spray paint.

so, of course I had to try them.

I had begun a canvas with tree trunks , 

intending to let my imagination run with whatever happened.
What better than Leaves?

This was the Partially finished canvas I started with.
Birch tree trunks atop Gold and Copper Metal leaf.

Obviously, this was not anywhere complete,
and
for some reason I just didn't tune into what I had.

Stuff was sorely missing on this canvas.

 So, I grabbed one of my Stencils and started out with the Gold paint

then added leaves of Silver on top of  them.

and the shape and form began.

I notice that I had left a serious gap in the middle of the canvas

So I added more Gold & Silver leaves in the middle,

toned down some more  of the Metallic paint

by washing the canvas with a very light leaf green

and scrubbed it off,
I then faded some of the leaves in and out.
The Seasons of the year fade in and out with grace.
and so do the leaves on the trees.
I wanted the leaves to look like some were emerging and some were fading away.

and ended up with this;

I like the Liquetex Metallic sprays, you can paint Acrylics over them.
(Something that is next to impossible with other Metallic Spray paint.)

I will always hold the actual  Gold and Silver Leaf dear to my heart.
I love working with leaf.
That said, the effects of these sprays is great!
They are almost too bright (Shiny) for my liking, 

but that can always be toned down 

with an overlay of acrylic wash or paint.
I hope you enjoy this painting

and how it came about.

It was fun experimenting with new products.

~~Kathleen