Spring has already thrown us for a few loops. It was hot and humid for a while, and then it got almost chilly for a day or two. Some areas near us have had flooding rains, too, though we missed the worst of it. It’s been nice for the past few days, but I’m sure it won’t be long before summer settles in for the long haul.
(That makes me sad, but I guess some people enjoy it, and we do need it for food production, so fine! You heat-lovers can have your hot, sweaty summer. I’m staying inside with the A/C and all my indoor hobbies.)
Our first daylily of the year bloomed on Tuesday, April 8th!
So, returning to the more usual subjects on this blog… Getting back into the habit didn’t go so smoothly, but at least it’s only been weeks since the last blog post. Sometimes it’s been months!
I don’t have as much to show as I did when I was doing something in the sketchbook every day, but I try to get back into the craft room at least once a day. Here’s what I’ve been doing since last time:
Experiment:
Watercolor (& More) on Clear Gesso
I wasn’t sure what to expect with the clear gesso, because other people’s experiences and opinions seemed to vary so much.
My first experiment started with just watercolor on an old magazine page primed with clear gesso. At first, I wasn’t terribly impressed. The color of the paint didn’t seem very vibrant, and it’s true that the watercolor sits on top of the paper and is difficult to layer. (Each attempt to go over with more paint tends to lift what’s already there.) However, I suppose it’s bright enough. You could always reserve this technique for times when you don’t need as bright of a color, go over it with other media (as I did here)… or just use acrylic or gouache instead.
I tried a few other media on the same page, just to see what happened. I think I used water-soluble crayon for the background, which I tend partially smoothed out with water… I definitely added ink pen, marker, and white acrylic paint pen. I think I also see some color pencil in there, too, but I don’t remember for certain exactly what I did.
The results are mixed. I think the background page I chose, while interesting, is maybe competing a bit too much with the drawing/painting. This is something I’m sure you learn with practice—which background works best with which type of subject.
I used higher-end watercolor for my next test, and just kept it simple with lots of circles. I do think the color of the paint felt more vibrant with this one, probably thanks to the higher pigment load—but it’s still not my favorite way to use watercolor.
For this one, I just filled in the background with black lines in ink pen, then called it done.
I haven’t done any more with the clear gesso, at this point, but if I remember, I think trying it over a more homogenous text background and choosing a simplified, easily recognized subject would be my next attempt.
Something, Anything
I think when I started this next page in the sketchbook, I had no ideas and just wanted to do something, so I turned to the inspiration decks of cards:
Some days even the prompts don’t really help! I gave in to the lack of inspiration and just doodled with plum-toned markers on top of a purple background (with an attempt at salt texture). To meet the “metallic” element of the prompt cards, I used some duo-tone (a.k.a. interference) watercolor that looks pinky-purple from some angles and more blueish from others.
The whole thing is boring, but it was a good reminder that those metallic and shimmery paints are available. They don’t photograph as well as regular paint, but they can be a nice touch on things like cards (if I ever remember them).
Also in the “eh” category is this doodly page where I decided to try watercolor pencils and regular color pencils layered over one another. I don’t love the picture itself, but it was something to do, and experimenting with both types of color pencils helps me learn a little more about how they work, what colors I have, and what I like and don’t like about them.
Reverse Coloring
A couple of entries back, I tried to make some reverse coloring pages using salt on those new Koh-I-Noor Anilinky/Brilliant Watercolors. I finally felt like doing some easy doodling on one of the pages, while I watched TV one evening.
This one had four big blobs of more pink paint, so I started with those and then added more to fill out the page. I didn’t really know what I was going to do until I started, but it ended up being succulents, I guess. They’re pretty messy, but it’s all just for fun. After I was done doodling, I mixed up some Payne’s grey and black watercolor (nothing fancy) and filled in the areas between the succulents, which was a big improvement. Before, it all sort of blurred together, because the ink lines weren’t particularly strong. The dark background helps the bright parts pop.
I think this would be fun to try again, maybe taking greater care and trying to do a better job on the succulents (or flowers)—but even with a messy doodle, I still think it doesn’t look bad!
Tangent:
When it comes time to edit photos or scans for this blog, there’s nearly always some color correction to do, because the lighting isn’t usually ideal. I don’t tend to spend a lot of time fussing around with it, but this time, I ended up with two fairly different results, and I thought I’d just post them both, for fun.
This one’s more cool-toned…
And this one’s a bit warmer…
Which is more accurate? I’m not even sure, and it’s not here with me to check.
Once, I would’ve felt obligated to try to get things “right”, meaning accurate. But no more. What looks “correct” on my monitor will look slightly different on my phone, your phone, and every other screen or monitor in existence, probably. And since this is all just for fun (no-one buying something and being shocked that the colors aren’t as expected), I don’t feel obligated to aim for accuracy. I’m just going for whatever looks best to me (on my monitor, when I’m doing the editing). After all, people who sell prints of their work (or scan it to be used as illustrations) feel free to tweak as needed, so why shouldn’t the rest of us?
Above, I’ve prepped another page with two sections painted with the Anilinky paint and generously sprinkled with table salt. I love the cool and unpredictable effects the salt creates!
I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with these, but I hope it will be fun.
I Feel Like a Gel Printcess!
Ok, not really, but I did have a great time this week doing some gel printing. It feels like a long time since I did any gel printing. I tend to put it off because (before now) I’d always done it in the kitchen, which felt like a whole production. I had to clear the area before and after, drag out the supplies and put them away, clean stencils, etc., etc.
This time, I just cleared the art part of my craft room table set-up, only used a limited palette (fewer tubes/bottles) and only used paper stencils and other tools that didn’t need to be cleaned after each use. (Some people don’t bother cleaning their plastic stencils, either, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that, yet…)
This way, I could just leave it all out where it was when I was done. The kitchen needs to be cleaned for food prep/serving, but my craft room table only needs to be clean when I say so, and in this case, I just left it out for a few days before deciding that was enough.
This set-up has its limits (not as much space, for one thing), but it worked better than I expected, and it was fun to just sit down and have a relaxed playtime with the gel press / gel plate.
Here, I was already in the middle of gel printing. You see a few pages already printed to the left, my pages for cleaning the brayer to the right, and in the middle, a textured layer of paint drying on the press.
I put down some green and yellow paint on the gel plate, then pulled this:
It’s grungy, but I like grungy prints!
Below are some of the other prints I pulled this past week:
Some of them may get more layers before they’re deemed “done”. That’s the beauty of gel printing: If you’re not happy with your results, you can rescue it with more layers.
Most of these will be used for collage—but it was worth making them just for the fun of the process, even if they’re never used at all.
Something From Nothing
While I had the gel printing stuff out, I decided to try a trio of smaller gel plates I’d bought for cheap. They’re a circle, a square, and triangle. I’d seen people use them almost like stamps to print directly into an art journal, and I thought I’d give that a try.
I think they need breaking in, because the paint was beading up and drying really quickly on them. (Or maybe I was just too stingy with the paint or too slow. I was using them to catch some of the leftover paint on the brayer, and it wasn’t a lot.)
Anyway, I eventually printed the circle a few times into my current sketchbook. Two yellowish-green circles and one that just left a very slight outline print of the circle in black.
Later, I looked at them and wasn’t sure what to do with them. Originally, I’d thought the green circles would be trees, but it felt odd to have two identically sized shapes, and then when I did the black one on top, that took me further from the tree idea.
The only other thing that kept coming to mind was balls of yarn, which suggested a cat, so that’s what I ended up doing:
It’s not my best, but it was kind of fun to do. Eh, it’s all a learning experience!
More Somethings From Nothing
I hadn’t sewn much for a while, since finishing those latest string blocks. I just haven’t felt like taking the next step on that or anything else quilt-related. But I’ve missed sewing!
One day, I finally cleared up some stuff that I’d been dumping in that part of the room (since I wasn’t using it, anyway). There were lots of blue (and now grey, from the latest project) crumbs sill next to the machine, so I just sat down and worked on those for an hour here and there.
There’s something freeing about sewing with scraps—especially the ones so small that most sane people would throw them away.
You know that whatever happens, even if it turns out kind of weird or wonky, you’re giving these pieces a new life.
I just like seeing them come together, something from nothing.
…But I really do need to make myself take the next step on the string quilt. Or one of the other stalled-out projects.
So many projects, so little time!
