Peek into my Studio – Mixed Media Paintings and Some Sorrow

I’m having a difficult time writing this week. I’ve done some painting but have been disrupted by sad family news. My older brother is nearing the end of life, and it breaks my heart. Currently I’m making plans to try and see him before it’s too late. I knew he had been admitted to the hospital but didn’t know the extent of his illness. This is a guy who was an Army Green Beret, paratrooper, and medical doctor! Unfortunately, heart disease and joint issues run in my family and my brother has inherited all the bad genes it seems.

Before I found out about my brother, I personally wasn’t feeling well.  I have a digestive disorder called collagenous colitis and is like many other inflammatory gastrointestinal conditions. Most research indicates it likely has a genetic basis and may have links to other autoimmune diseases. I get flare ups and you would think I’d recognize the symptoms by now.

Anyway, I didn’t feel much like painting but did manage to finish my painting from last week and moved on to start another along the theme of “Wine, Women, and Song.” I also spent time with the Affinity Photo 2 app and feel more comfortable creating sources using the app.

Sitting on Top of the World

I decided to further define the globe the woman is sitting on to resemble the earth. I added blues and greens and tried to make the shapes resemble Central America, a bit of Florida, South America, and some Caribbean islands. I also decided to add a hurricane whorl as this woman is a storm in the making.

I then went in with oil paint and worked on the flesh tones of her face, neck, and hands.  I decided to use some Phthalo Green to mimic the effect of the Northern Lights. I finished with details to her hair and clothes. What do you think?

Not Dead Yet

I created a source in Affinity Photo that I thought would be an interesting painting using the theme of Wine, Women, and Song. The song part is a reference to the birds I will add to each painting. I like the attitude of this woman!

I started with washes and drips of acrylic paint and some acrylic ink. I wanted to get the motion of the ribbons and tried tilting the canvas at a 45-degree angle.

Next, I used water-based spray paint and a stencil I recently bought to add more layers. I started the sketch in charcoal and sealed it with Workable Fixative before starting to paint.

I laid in the underpainting for the main figure. This is the first “ugly stage.”

I worked more layers into the figure. I decided the rainbow ribbons that I had painted originally looked too much like a child’s crayon drawing, so I blurred it out with more washes and spray paint. I saw a wine goblet shape resulting from the blurring efforts and decided to further bring it out of the background.

I decided to do her hair with paper collage and started ripping and gluing papers I had previously painted and stored by color. I was thinking of also using collage for some of her clothing, but I’m liking this transparent effect that allows the early stenciling to show through.

The next steps will be to use oil paint to flesh out the skin tones on her face, neck and hand. Then I will need to decide about whether to do collage on her clothing or not. What do you think?

Takeaways

It has been a difficult week and concentrating on my art has been challenging. I find if I can get the motivation to just go and start doing something, I get lost in the process and it is comforting and meditative. I sense next week will be lost so my ability to post will be marginal.

Thank you for being here and hug your loved ones tight!