ABSTRACT MIXED MEDIA PIECE INSPIRED BY DENISE LOVE
After all my recent precision work with calligraphy, I had a real urge to do something more free and abstract. I also wanted to experiment with some recently acquired art materials.
I follow Denise Love on YouTube. I love her mixed media and abstract pieces, and have been inspired a lot by her gorgeous work.
Materials
9 x 12-in watercolour paper, ArtGraf Tailor Shapes (earth tones), ditto (white), Kuretake Gansai Tambi Graphite Watercolours, Arrtx acrylic marker set, 6B matte graphite pencil, fine black Sharpie marker, Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White, Ditto Gold ink. I forgot to include black and white acrylic paint.
Beginning the work
What Denise often does is to scribble randomly on the blank sheet with a graphite pencil. She says this eliminates the dreaded “blank page paralysis” which I am sure we’ve all experienced! Often these scribbles get completely covered up but they can serve as an initial guide where to lay down the first colours.
I wet the area contained by the pencil marks with a soft round brush, and then dragged the black Taylor shape over it, and added some of the yellow and blue Kuretake graphite colours.
Before it dried, I dropped on some water to create some cauliflowers and granulation.
Adding texture
This first texture addition wasn’t a great success. I used a piece of plastic bathmat with suction pads on it. I’ve had great success with this on the gel plate where it makes simply gorgeous ghost prints. I think the problem here was that the paint was already too dry, but it did leave a few circles, which became less obvious later. I spritzed on some water and created some drips.
A credit card dragged through damp paint creates some lovely straight lines.
I added some lines with the edge of the white Tailor Shape.
Stencilling
I chose a couple of fairly small stencils from my stash and sponged on some white acrylic paint straight from the pot, using a piece of cut up kitchen sponge.
Further stencilling with a piece of punchinella to create circles.
Stamping
I chose one of my DIY foam stamps for this. I made these a while back from fun foam cut out and stuck onto pieces of yoga mat. I bought this thick black foam mat and still have acres of it left to use up! I painted the stamp with black acrylic paint before each impression.
Dry brushing
I dragged a fan brush over the piece with white acrylic straight from the pot. To start with I thought I’d made a major mistake with this as the whole thing was beginning to look like a total mess! However, one must always remember the motto of the mixed media artist: “When in doubt, add more layers” haha!
Ink spattering
I used black India ink and the fan brush to add some spattering over the whole piece for added texture.
Mark making
This is when a whole project begins to come together. I selected a limited palette of colours from my Arrtx acrylic marker set, and also some Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White (brilliant stuff). I did feel the project needed a bit of colour. The initial blue Kuretake graphite watercolour was pretty subtle so I chose a blue to enhance this, and then added a complimentary bright orange.
Shoshi went marking mad at this point, I think! I did have fun with it.
Gold circles
I recently bought a couple of fine liner bottles with the extra fine tip, and put a little Dr. Ph. Martin’s ink into the bottle. I used this to draw several circles in gold, and added some gold dots and a bit of spattering by flicking the bottle randomly. When I tried making circles before, with the regular sized tip, it was much too thick and difficult to control. Holding the bottle at a more horizontal angle really helps control the flow as well.
The completed piece
This came out better than I’d hoped at various stages during its creation. Still a bit wild and wacky! I think I need to be more minimalist, and leave more white space. I shall definitely be doing more of this kind of thing as it was the most tremendous fun.
Some detail shots
Finally, a video to show the gold
