Mountain Zentangle

Recently I have been exploring the art of Zentangles (see blog post here). My inspiration for drawing has come from reading about and viewing Zentangles online. However, I think my designs are reminiscent of the type of printmaking I did in art school and have origins in other types of sketchbook drawing that I’ve done in the past. I have practiced some of the ‘official’ Zentangle designs, but I enjoy using my own patterns in this meditative drawing form. I started this image with the “fiddlehead” shape and mountains. As the design evolved I was thinking of my brother who is a rock climbing and back country ski guide, so I sent this design to him for his birthday.

Layering mixed media in landscape

Please click on the image to see a larger image with better clarity and detail.

My aim with this painting was to play with textures to create a simple landscape composition that would be rich in layers. This is another in my ‘liberation’ series where I’m painting over old paintings. This landscape started with some acrylic grounds that were already on this 12 x 12″ wood panel. Wood panels are great because you can really layer them and you don’t have to be gentle with them; sanding, scraping, collaging – they can handle it! The wispy lines in the sky and horizon of the painting were created with a handmade paper that featured long strands of fibre. I adhered the paper with a very thick coat of acrylic medium that took ages to dry, even with the help of my trusty hairdryer. The rougher parts in the lower half of the composition were created with an acrylic medium that performs like plaster but unlike plaster it doesn’t chip if you look at the wrong way. Again I was playing with warm, bold colours as a base, and using both additive and subtractive (scraping) techniques. I’m quite pleased with the results but it makes me long for larger work surfaces.

Acrylic techniques exploration

Paradise Meadows, 8 x 8"

I’ve been pushing myself to try new colours and techniques in my painting. Right now I’m exploring the use of mediums and collaged paper to create textured grounds. Many moons ago during my art school days I often used Cadmium Red Light as a base for my landscape paintings. Little flecks of the underpainting would show through the blue sky or ocean. Now I’m exploring warm bases (see image below) of Azo Red Middle, Hansa Yellow and Rose Red (all by Stevenson).  New favourite cool colours include Cadmium Green (Stevenson) and Primary Cyan high viscosity (Tri-Art). This painting was inspired by a recent hike in beautiful Paradise Meadows, Strathcona Park. Soon I’ll be exploring the park in my snowshoes!

Paradise Meadows underpainting

Liberation courtesy of gesso

This poor canvas had been put in different places in my studio, packed, moved from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, unpacked, put on display to patiently wait for my attention and inspiration, and finally tackled with some fresh paint only to be placed back in a box again. My attachment was to both the beauty of the place, Whidbey Island, and the beauty of my photo that I was working from. There are times when a painting simply isn’t working. I decided to keep the photo and let go of the painting. Yesterday this canvas, with the help of some Stevenson modelling paste and gesso, was liberated from my analysis and stress over not finishing it. A fresh ground and it is ready to see meet new inspiration.

If I can paint over one composition, why not a second? Below is a new landscape in mixed media featuring modelling paste, acrylics, and graphite. Now I’m off to hunt in the garage for other things to paint over!

Running, biking, mapping, journeys

For a long time I’ve had a love affair with maps. This must stem from my childhood experiences sailing the BC coast and learning to read nautical charts. The charts have found their way into my ocean scape paintings in the form of collage and photocopy transfers. Though this early exposure to charts certainly accounts for a familiarity and understanding of maps and their symbols I have yet to pinpoint my fascination. I find them both interesting to study and aesthetically pleasing. I love the muted colours of sailing charts, the numbers indicating the ocean depth, the repetition of line and the arrows that indicate current.

This collage [shown left] was created in a visual journal that I kept during my Bachelor of Education program at UBC in 2008. The first page in a new sketchbook is always exciting and daunting. This image representing the start of my journey is what grew on that first sketchbook page.

It seems natural that I have been thinking again of mapping and journeys since I moved from Vancouver to Comox Valley a year ago. Maps are essential to newcomers. I have found myself cruising Google maps for driving directions and to locate services. Since I took up running last January, I have been using Google earth post-run to measure my distances through the neighbourhood and track my progress. I’ve used a variety of locally produced maps to find running and mountain biking trails. The valley has a phenomenal number of well kept mixed use trails.

One of my favourite running areas - BC Hydro Puntledge River

So once again elements of mapping are entering into my artwork. I’ve continued the sketchbook project I started earlier this month though I haven’t been working daily as I had aimed to. I need to jumpstart my artwork practice again and keep myself engaged in creative activities through the long dark winter. This sketchbook is not one of those beautiful visual journals where every page turned reveals a completely new stand alone art piece. This book exists to quickly jot down ideas without feeling any pressure to necessarily make something pretty or fully realized. Perhaps it is baby steps back to painting as I search for a new core subject. In the sketches below you will see elements from charts. I also recognized after I’d done the sketches that the little barred paths are the wooden berms I find myself running across (not often riding as I’m a chicken on my bike) on the local trails. With the first page I was lost as to what to create – blank page syndrome. I thought of one of my Capilano College painting instructors, Marcus Bowcott, who always said that if you needed to pull a painting together, make sure to use a grid. If you look at the circles, which are the first elements that I painted, you’ll notice that they are loosely painted on a grid.

 

Journal for a friend

In my last post on sketchbooks I mentioned that I created a journal for a friend. Now that I’ve presented it to her, I can safely upload the photos. This book is made from a deconstructed bound notebook (lined paper), wall paper, and handmade art paper. My favourite technique to play with was sewing paper together and elements together. I was as delighted as a child playing!

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Sketchbook Project

It is fall and I’m settling back into a new schedule. I was reading about a truly inspiring project in the UK called Sketchbooks in Schools:Using sketchbooks to inspire, motivate and engage. Immediately after reading all about the project on their website, I wanted to start making sketchbooks. If I had my own class in a school, we’d be launching a sketchbook project the next day. Since I’m a teacher on call, I will have to wait for that opportunity. So I went about collecting and spreading a stack of paper, ribbons, maps, craft punches, pens and rubber stamps on the floor next to my sewing machine. I spent the next hour or two cutting, sewing and arranging a journal for friend. It was the most artistic fun I’d had in quite some time. [Photos to come after the gift is presented]. So what about a sketchbook for me?

I haven’t worked in a sketchbook regularly since art school. Read: years and years! Occasionally I write down and idea or paste a fragment or photo that I find inspiring into a small book. For the most part I work on pieces that I will hopefully finish and sell, keep or give to someone. In retrospect I have been putting a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to always be starting with this “finished project” goal in mind. Time to embrace the messy world of the sketchbook again! Mostly inspired by the Sketchbooks in Schools and partially inspired by the Screw Work Let’s Play  30 day challenge [check it out - it is pretty inspiring], I decided that I should aim to work in the sketchbook or in some other creative capacity every day. Below are the initial results.

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If you’d like to make your own sketchbook, check out the videos below. Happy sketchbooking!