I’ve had several requests for this one, so here it is finally, the first in what I hope is a series of explorations that I’ve tried and can now share with you so you can try.
-o-o-o-
I was giving my eldest daughter a bath one night, swirling bubblebath around in the tub, when the bubbles suddenly grabbed my attention. They had a beautiful texture. I wondered if they could carry paint and leave a print on paper. Of course, I had to explore the idea.

Read more on Gumnut Inspirations.

Experiments - Paper mosaics and motion

Motion, paper mosaic and acrylic, approx. 480 x 370 mm.

This is what happens when you experiment. You never quite know what you're going to end up with. This one is slightly weird. I could have added more to it, but it had such a sense of motion to it that I stopped in case I spoilt it. It is also a lousy photograph. But I'm fairly happy with it. It keeps asking me for more colour variety, but I have no idea what to give it, so it stays as it is.

Can you see the movement?

Nutty
(building a new blog on her own website - http://inspired.gumnut.net )

Painting experiments - Caught

Caught, acrylic, watercolour pencil and gel pen, approx. 265 x 195 mm.

Here you go. My attempt to create a painting from this. I love bits of it, other bits, not so much, but hey, it's only an experiment :D

So Christie, you scored :D It was a fish I had in mind. It would be interesting to see if it was the same fish :D

Nutty
(dashing off back to all consuming motherhood - I painted this in the last hour or so while the kids were asleep, bit of a rush job)

What can you see? - painting experiments continued

Furthering on my experiments from here, here and here...what can you see?

I know what I can see and what I'm going to add to it as soon as I can, but I'm interested in what other artists might see.  This is the beauty of experimentation, you never quite know what is around the corner.

And thank you so much for all those wonderful people who commented on my last post. You certainly encouraged me and I am really excited about this new avenue I have found to play in. Exploring my art is just so much fun!

Nutty
(playing)

Sunday Sketches - Balloons

Dreams of Balloons, acrylic, watercolour pencil and gel pen on illustration board, approx. 250 x 200 mm

Still more experimenting with paints in line with yesterday's post. I was mesmerised by this idea the moment I saw it in the paint. It has it's faults, but I'm happy with the movement.


Since I spent a good part of today doing this, I'm submitting it to Sunday Sketches. Drop on by and see what everyone else is up to.

Nutty
(crawling off to bed)

Dream

Dream, Acrylic, pen and gel pen on illustration board, approx. 200mm x 250mm.

The experiment from the previous post? Now a completed painting.

The scan seems to have obliterated most of the stars. Right down the centre of the piece is a spray of stars in yellow and white.

What do you think? Not quite my normal stuff. :D

Nutty
(experimenting)

More painting experiments

 

 

Everything seemed to come to a screeching halt when Art Every Day Month ended. There I was chuffing along churning out art, and I suddenly stopped. Didn't feel like it anymore.

So I've taken a few days, reoriented, and given myself a new target, one I had set up before the challenge started, but had put aside. I've gone back to my experiments. They are so much fun to do and even if the results don't work out, it is still a challenge to make something out of what ever mess it is I've created.

I flung a heap of paint around today to get the result above. The experiment has pretty much finished, but the painting hasn't and I intend to add to it, but as I haven't posted here in days, and it gives me a sense of accomplishment, here is today's effort.

Isn't adding stuff to a project that looks okay a little nerve wracking? One mistake and all that work goes down the drain (unless a rescue effort is viable).

Nutty
(mad artist at work)

More playing with pens

I started a painting today, but it hardly got anywhere due to whining children and 38C/100F heat, so it is still sitting on my easel awaiting attention.

So driven into the lounge with the airconditioner, I found myself doodling with my new pens again.

I have a very limited pallette with these pens and the single green I have (every colour is single) is NOT a gumleaf colour, so I was challenged to try and blend the pen strokes, something not usually done with ballpoint pens. I consider the results interesting if not realistic.

I do know that I like my pens :D

Nutty
(doodle, doodle, doo)

Colour experiments - Green Fireworks

This effort was a follow through from Fallen and Embers. It has more in common with Embers, but was actually inspired by a piccy that I found right next to the piccy that inspired Fallen :D

Green Fireworks, acrylic on board, approx. 300 x 300 mm.

I was angry and continually distracted by the children while doing this, so it was done fast and not with the care I normally give a piece due to time constraints. There was much frustration and mumbling under my breath as I struggled to get it done. I didn't give the subject what it was due and technically speaking it is not completely finished as I haven't painted the sides of the board as yet.

So my impression of it is currently stained with my emotional state at the time. I will have to put it away and get it out later to determine fully whether I think it works or not.

Speaking of emotion...

I'm considering starting a new challenge.

I've been thinking about hosting a challenge here for some time, simply because I'd like to contribute to this wonderful creative blogosphere, but there are so many challenges out there, it has taken me some time to think of one that would add some value to participants rather than just repeating something that is already out there.

This is my idea...

Many of us sell our work (not me yet, simply because I don't have any to sell), some of us just create because we were born to do it, would likely die if we didn't, and just like to share what we've done (I'm in this camp), and some of us are in both camps. In any case, we all like people to look at our art, maybe comment or give that dash of feedback, or simply feel what we wanted them to feel, know what we wanted to communicate.

I recently read an article somewhere, can't remember where, about why people buy art. The main point made was that the buyer needs to have an emotional connection to the work in order to even consider purchase.

So how do we get those who see our work into an emotional state that will have them remarking, commenting, telling their friends, or handing over their money?

I propose we exercise and experiment with this idea. I'm thinking of setting an emotion, a reaction, or a state of mind to generate in those who see your art. For example, you can make a person feel sad with the right imagery and mood in an art piece like rain, morose faces, or you can generate fond memories with images of children at the beach or playground or something you think you and your audience might have in common. Heh, our kitchen tap drips. It is the most irritating sound on the planet to me, so if anyone develops a sculpture housed in a silent room with a tap that drips at just the right speed, they could inspire a whole pile of violent emotions in me :D

So what do you think? If I post a challenge, say, once a fortnight (or maybe a month? This one requires more brainpower than I have available in only a week, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to pull off successful artwork for this myself, so extra time is needed). And we can see if we can generate the right response in our audience and ourselves. This would also be a great opportunity for honest feedback on this aspect of art between challengers, because we all need to learn.

It should also be noted that I would like all the responses suitable for mature audiences, but not delve into the depths of NC-17 (or R18+) as it would be easy to fall into that trap with emotionally strong content. Advertisers do it every day without breaching those lines on TV, so we can do it too.

So do you think you can make your audience love, hate, cry, grin, laugh, remember, groan, wonder?

Nutty
(always full of ideas)

Afterwards

Afterwards, acrylic on board, approx. 300 x 300 mm.

I've been meaning to attempt an Illustration Friday challenge for some time now. This week's is 'afterwards' and after one busted attempt to fulfill it, I thought that yet again I would miss it. But late this afternoon I came up with a sudden simple idea that ties in with my interest in colour and my experiments in acrylic. I didn't have much time to do it tonight as nights here are always busy with the kids, so it was a gamble to even get my paints out. But I did it.

Likely the fastest painting I've ever done in my life, it took me around an hour from blank to complete. Incidently it was warm here today and at the rate the paint was drying (I couldn't be bothered to add a retarder), I had to work really quick anyway. Consequently, I found myself painting in a way I had never painted before. Lots of dry brush and strokes that only hinted at form, rather than clearly defined it. very unusual for me the perfectionist.

Afterwards, detail.

It's slapdash, but I kinda like it just for that reason. I think it gives it more energy (despite the photograph not being as good as it could be).

Incidently, does anyone have any idea of the concept behind it? What did I illustrate? I suspect it isn't as clear as it could be. But hey, it was fun :D

Afterwards, where I painted it on the back porch, lit by the setting sun.

Nutty
(who has never done so much artwork in such a short time in her entire life...even without the kids!)

Colour experiments - Embers

I did my first acrylic painting in nearly ten years today. It's not much, but it is finished.

Embers, Acrylic on board, approx. 300 x 300 mm.

Hmm, jpegs certainly can't handle reds very well. This is rather more orange than it appears in this piccy. That and the poor lighting make for a pretty poor photo. Apologies.

Anyways, I didn't know what I was going to paint when I started and it just happened. I wanted to play with colour graduation (but then I always do :D) and decided to go with the yellows through to red. I also wanted to play with thick paint, something I've never really done before (I'm too much of a stinge). It was fun, and I like the glow.

Ooh, and the day is not over...I might be able to do something else. What an odd concept :D

Nutty
(I did something, finally)

Oil pastel experiments - Swirls

Saturday I felt like doodling and since the Drawing Lab Challenge I had missed involved doing exactly that, I did some. I grabbed my oil pastels, a piece of watercolour paper and just drew some swirls. No plan, no design beyond the idea that I'd like to play with some graduated colour (I followed the order of the pastels in the box mostly :D).

For the challenge I was supposed to listen to something distracting, but since I can't afford the time to be totally switched off at the moment, I just listened to my kids playing with my sister. My attention was half taken.

Doodle done, I then wanted to experiment. I was inspired by the transparent effect I stumbled across in my last oil pastel experiment and decided to explore the use of white oil pastel to create that effect. So I did some more swirls.

This is simply white and a few other very pale shades of colour directly on top of the other colours. I was really happy with this effect and plan to explore it further.

The piece as it was didn't satisfy me as a composition. It needed more, so I experimented some more.

Please excuse the poor quality of the picture, we had moved inside as the weather had deteriorated and the lighting wasn't crash hot.

I added some white swirls with acrylic. Initially I just painted in a basic line swirl, but I followed it up with some light wash over the top to give the swirls more body.  I wasn't as happy with this effect as I was the white oil pastel swirls, so I continued to fiddle.

The composition lacked contrast, so I added a thin dark blue wash in places that could give the white swirls more dimension. Still not happy and beginning to wonder if I should never have gotten the paints out in the first place. Then I hit upon another idea.

I scratched off the white lines.

I'm much happier with it now as the remaining wash highlights and shadows are now just as transparent as the second layer of swirls and the whole piece has much more dimension. Scratching those lines back to the first layer colours also brought some more vibrancy back into the piece as those colours are brighter than the washed and the white oil pastel swirled surfaces.

But it is still not finished and this is where it stands at the moment as I try to think of what to do with it next. I'm tempted to cut one side off to make it square which would balance out the composition much better. I'm also thinking of a silhouette in either black or a very dark shade, maybe a tree or something else swirly. I'm not happy with the lack of contrast.

But anyway, this is my contribution for today for Art Every Day Month. I did most of this over the weekend, but I did finish the scratching off today. There is no way I can complete a piece of art everyday, but I can DO SOMETHING every day, so that is my challenge.

My favourite bit

Oh, and it should be mentioned that since the weather went bad, we all ended up in our kitchen and it turned out to be a fantastic afternoon. KJ and Sis joined in the arty experience and soon the kitchen cupboards were adorned with drying paintings.

So even if I end up trashing the painting, it was worth the memory we made.

Nutty
(who had a great day with family)

More experiments - Five centimetre paintings

Frozen rivulets, acrylic on cartridge, approx. 50 x 50 mm.

Got a chance to play with some paint again today (I should have been doing my taxes, but KJ wouldn't go to bed, so we ended up in the backyard painting together).

This is a followup experiment from my One centimetre paintings. These ones are five centimetres square instead. Probably as big as I'd want to go.

Blue Storm , acrylic on cartridge, approx. 50 x 50 mm.

They are basically studies of colour in the small. I'm a strong believer that we miss a tremendous amount of beauty just because it is small and we aren't looking. I love the swirls of paint and the interactions of the colours, so I've made these paintings very small so those aspects can be focussed on. Look at the shades of colour, see their twists and turns, things that would be missed in a normal sized painting, the small things distracted over by the extent of the work. I'm attempting to focus on the little.

These are blue because this experiment also ties in with my paper mosaic experiments, and I have an idea for my next piece.

Drawing Lab Challenge - I haven't posted my results today because I was rudely interrupted by Izzy tonight in the middle of doing it. It is nearly 1am here and I've only just now managed to get her to bed. I'm posting this simply because I'm too stubborn to let it go until tomorrow. Hope you are all having better results than I.

Nutty
(to bed I go)

Creative Everyday

I've joined a new challenge. This should be no surprise to anyone since I've managed to drown myself in the things in order to keep myself on the art track. But this one is a good laidback approach that might just keep me doing something everyday.

 And this will be followed by the slightly more challenging 'Art Every Day Month', the artist's version of NaNoWriMo.

Anyone want to join me?

As for what I'm doing at the moment....

I have a one-eyed monster under construction and this...

Some more oil pastel experiments :D Hoping to finish this soon.

Nutty
(totally challenged)

Oil pastel experiments

I'm learning!

Remember this from yesterday? One of my one centimetre paintings. Well, they were designed to be inspiration points, so since I had time to paint today I took this one and turned it into this:

Oil pastel on watercolour paper

I finally got out my oil pastels to play. I laid down the background and then etched in the wobbly doodle with an unused nail file. I neglected to measure for squareness.

I could have left it there, but I was unhappy with the level of contrast and was game to experiment more. I had no idea where I was going and it was rather scary to do what I did next.

Storm blue acrylic gouache over oil pastel on watercolour paper

My first true mixed media attempt. And it failed miserably. I was attempting to etch in the doodle lines darker. It worked on a test, but I think I had the paint too thick on the actual piece and when I scraped it off...well, it was okay, but definitely not what I was looking for.

Now at this stage in the past, I probably would have dropped it and stormed off, considering it a failure. But there is one thing that some of tou have taught me in these past few months...never give up. If it isn't working, keep working until it does. The beauty of mixed media is that you can layer upon layer upon layer.

But I was stuck for inspiration. What I had was a multi-green piece of paper with blue splotches all over it. What do I do? Time was a factor, so seeing that it needed an object focus, I reverted to an old painting favourite and drew from my brain. I was quite happy with what it turned out to be.

Transparent Lily, Oil pastel and acrylic gouache on watercolour paper, approx. 200 x 170 mm

If you look carefully, you can see the blotchy background underneath. Did I need to do all that work beforehand? Maybe. In any case, I've now learnt a bunch of new things and have a new little painting to show for my efforts.

And where was Izzy during this? Beside me :D

More experiments to come.

Nutty
(exploring)

Painting experiments

I did some experimenting with paint today.

Nine One Centimetre Paintings, Acrylic on paper, approx. 9 x 10 x 10 mm.

I think they are pretty groovy and have ideas what to do with them. I really like the subtle blending of colours. I'm certainly going to continue my experiments in this area.

Nutty
(experimenting is fun)