Sacrifice of Joy

If one were to scroll back through this blog to January of last year, they would see my first "mixed media" peice, using paint, coloring utensils, and sandpaper on wood. These next two projects, were also completed via this non-traditional method. I rather enjoy using things such as tissue paper, magazine/printed images, and traditional drawing techniques together to create a masterpeice. In doing this, one can almost tell a story with their art far deeper than the one acheived via a simpler peice. It makes a person question "How many ways can I use this?" I recall often calling tissue paper useless as a child, and loathing water color, saying "It is too thin" However, in this peice I made use of the low opacity of those two materials, layering them to crate a fading effect.
This picture, is dedicated to my kindered spirit, she knows who she is. When I was looking through the theme options, I noted several that made me think of her, one of which was 'what is currently on your mind?'. Having been speaking with her the previous evening, I recalled how she was going through some low points in life. I longed to relay to her how much both I and Christ cared for her, and how Christ shed his blood for so that she might be free from that darkness. Thus, I set to work.
I began with a coat of Gesso across the whole of the two pages, then proceeded to layer various shades of tissue paper in the lower righthand corner. After coats of watercolor, oil pastel, pen, magazine pages (to create the hand) and some more gesso, I felt something was missing. Thus, grabbing some red ribbon, glitter, and more oil pastel I envisioned the blood going from my image of Christ's hand to the crying girl.,  and placed it on. This not only adheared the peice together, but surved as a unifying line that embodied the theme better than I had orginally planned.

Sweet Clay

In the process of making this project, I learned the importance of layers. It took about 4 layers for each peice, at a minimum. Were I to redo this project, I likely would tint the polyacrylic glaze in over  the shortcake to give the apperance of strawberry juice. The cakepops I would have made larger, and molded each of the details out of clay to simulate the fondant or candies one would use to decorate a cakepop. I did enjoy the combination of acrylic paints and clay, as it allowed for texture, shading, and details to be added which a glaze would not acheive, or not do so realistically. Overall im happy with the product, and would enjoy this process again.

Sunny Daze

First off, I must honestly say how pleased I am with how this project turned out. I was ecstatic about the photo when I originally took it, and then I became enthralled in happiness when I discovered that for this project I would be researching a wonderful artist such as Vincent Van Gogh, and imitating his style for my own original work! Van Gogh is my favorite artist, and I adore all of his work. During this project, I encountered various obstacles as I had not yet worked with broken strokes, nor had I painted a landscape in a few years. The paint often seemed thin when I placed it onto the canvas, thus not achieving the thick bold strokes used by Van Gogh. However, eventually after layers upon layers I overcame this.
Throughout the project I learned a handful of new things about painting, before I had not known of a wash, and I must admit I'm rather fond of the effect the wash gave to the painting. The paint clung to the canvas easier, and it gave the whole piece a wonderful undertone that I find extremely inviting. Consistently in the piece I was given advice, and deciding to stray from my stubbornness, I followed this advice, and was more than pleased with the effect. From placing brown strokes onto the shingles of the barn roof, or adding more broken strokes into the piece, it seemed to get worse with every stroke, till I laid the last stroke.
Though I could not tell you the location of subject, I could detail to you that the photo was taken on a warm and humid afternoon, while I was on the bus to head to a Youth Retreat this past fall. For near thirty minutes, I held up my tablet and just took a picture of everything that passed, as that time of day the sun was in a gorgeous positioning that made my heart flutter. Possibly this was because of my obsession with light, which may also be my origins for my love of the simplistic and stunning works of Vincent Van Gogh.

The Original Photo

The Wash, Burnt Seina and a LOT of water

A Few sketches for the basic idea

My Baby :3 The Final Piece: Sunny Daze

Polychromatic Dreams

Possibly one of the most frequent events reoccurring in the Bible are dreams. Constantly God uses vivid dreams to speak to those he selects for important tasks. Many dispute that in modern day this doesn't happen, bit my piece reflects that often it can. We grow distracted, confused and darkened by the modern bustle that surrounds our daily lives. However, if one only steps back they see  the world at a much gentler point of view. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that we are all but Dreamers, living in a dream.  

While working on this piece, I will honestly admit I encountered many problems. Colored pencils broke, pens ran out of ink, or perspectives were just off.