Premonition Pink

When I attended an art educator convention in Boston during the spring of 2005, an ad using pink with orange flames got may attention. So, I used the color combination in this final mixed media piece.


mixed media on paper, 17.5" x 24"

Premonition Green

In this charcoal dust and watercolor mixed media piece, I repeated the process. This time my colors were inspired by the film "House of Flying Daggers."


mixed media on paper, 17.5" x 24"

Premonition Orange

Some years back I'd seen a technique demonstrated involving charcoal dust. Water is applied with a brush to areas that are to remain whitest. Charcoal dust is then sprinkled across the page. Then a bucket of water is splashed across the page. The dust sticks to the areas that were dry. This process is best done outside because of the mess involved.

Afterwards I used spray fixative to keep the dust on the paper. On top of the dust I painted watercolors. I was pleased with the result.

This is the first one I did for my students to show them what was possible. Folks have told me it looks like a map. I simply painted complementary colors.


mixed media on paper, 17.5" x 24"

120 Colors

During the spring testing of 2005 I drew this piece beginning with a grid. Using Prismacolor Sticks, I drew expressive lines across my grid. Then I added circles inside each box. I proceeded to blindly pick six colors at random as I filled in each box and the circles within. Filling out testing forms had inspired this part of my piece.


colored pencil on paper, 21" x 26.5"

After I rendering with the six colors, I again chose six random colors. When I reached the last of the 120 colors, I put the rest back in the box and picked at random again. This went on until I completed the piece.

From the outset I was determined to use all 120 colors that came in the Prismacolor box. So often artists are advised to only use a limited palette. Anyway it took a while to finish this drawing.

Curls Gone Wild

My reason for creating this drawing was to show my students a finished color pencil piece. I wanted them to see what was possible when layering different colors of color pencil.


colored pencil on paper, 20.5" x 28"

Abloom

watercolor on canvas, 12" x 12"

Afire

This was my first attempt at a watercolor canvas painting. Although I didn't have my students working on this type of canvas, I had them see what is how different it is.


watercolor on canvas, 12" x 12"

Reef Madness

This piece started with a demonstration I did for the Jefferson Art Guild. I poured paint as a start. After that I had to let the paint dry. It wasn't until days after that I went back into it.


acrylic on canvas, 24" x 30"

Pink Sensation

This one started as a demo for the West Bank Art Guild back in 1995. Mostly I used a stencil and sprayed acrylic with a toothbrush.


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Glow Worm

This painting started with a tennis ball rolling an orange acrylic path that proclaimed a glow worm. The texture came about from imprinting pine straw. The Metairie Art Guild was fascinated by the tricks I showed.


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Blame It on the Comet

This piece was painted around the time of the Hale-Bop Comet passed us in the 90s . . . members of a cult killed themselves in the belief that they would catch a ride on a spaceship traveling with the comet . . . The smear became the comet occurred at the demo I did for the West Bank Art Guild. It was a "happy accident."


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Algae in Bloom

At the demonstration where I began this piece, another artist pleaded with me to stop. She liked it the way it was at that stage. "Well, I'm not finished," I told her.


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Cosmic Windshield

Again, this painting began a demonstration for the West Bank Art Guild. I used string dripped in acrylic paint. Also, I scraped som paint around. It was an expressive mess. All I could think about was how it looked like a messy windshield. But that bright yellow-green seemed more "not-of-this-world" - hence my title "Cosmic Windshield."


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Splash of Pink

This one contains a lot of the experimental watermedia techniques I use, but I never felt like it worked out quite the way I had hoped. I just sort of had to say to myself "It is time to stop."


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

What the Hey?!?

This one resulted from scraping acrylic paint with a credit card. The technique takes advantage of the rough canvas texture. The art guild I demonstrated this one to enjoyed seeing me work.


acrylic on canvas, 18" x 36"

Are Those Dinosaur Eggs?

A local Catholic school had a special day when artists demonstrated at tables at the school. This is one of several I worked on as the girls came by to look. I had seen "Jurassic Park" around the time I worked on this piece - hence the dinosaur eggs. I played with stencils and sprayed acrylic with a toothbrush.


acrylic on canvas, 12" x 16"

Just Right

Some years back I was asked to demonstrate non-brush watercolor techniques to some kids who attended an art camp program. This is one of two pieces that were begun with a demonstration. I then worked back into them to finish.


watercolor on paper, 19" x 25.5"

Ridge

This was an experiment to see how color pencil would work on some mat-board I had in my classroom. I was demonstrating drawing with color pencil to the students. Specifically I wanted them to understand the layering of color pencil and the use of warm and cool colors. Also, I wanted them to see an example of how to make a landscape from imagination.


colored pencil on illustration board, 6" x 12"